For Some Netflix Users, Red Envelopes Gather Dust By MATT PHILLIPS July 18, 2006
Having grown up in a religious family that seldom went to movies, David Morrison didn't see a film in the theater until his early 20s. So when the Greensboro, N.C., resident heard about the DVD-by-mail rental service Netflix, he figured he could use it to watch great films he may have missed. When he first joined, he packed his Netflix queue -- a member's running list of rental requests -- with diverse films. He watched Robert Flaherty's 1922 documentary "Nanook of the North," which follows an Inuit man's struggle to survive in the Arctic; Roman Polanski's 1974 detective film, "Chinatown"; and Sofia Coppola's 2000 teenage suicide drama "The Virgin Suicides." But soon, his excitement over the arrival of the bright red Netflix envelopes began to ebb. And the DVDs began to collect, unwatched, on his coffee table. "They were just coming to my house, sitting around and I was sending them back," said Mr. Morrison, 37, who cancelled his subscription after a few months. Netflix Inc., which boasts nearly five million members, often trumpets how its all-you-can-eat rental model is changing the way people are watching movies. But Netflix may also be changing the way people don't watch them. Through its Web site, Netflix makes it easy to comb through a massive catalog of 60,000 films. It offers access to everything from Charlie Chaplin's 1921 silent tramp movie "The Kid" to recent Academy Award-winners like "Crash." And some members admit that when browsing the Netflix backlog, they overestimate their appetite for off-the-beaten-track films. The result: Sometimes DVDs languish for months without being watched. ... http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115255814013802582-M1q9pbUxty8N5ItDg5CdaiVP6_A_20070717.html Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
