I got a shock earlier this week. My husband had gone to town (We live in the country) and came back to tell me that our favorite movie rental place was going out of business. Everything in the store was on sale. I managed to buy Hugo, The Adventures of Tin Tin, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes for $10 each. I also bought 3 older movies. 6 movies for $45. Not bad if I do say so myself.
The sad part is I've been getting movies at this place since the 80's. It's going to feel so strange not going there anymore and seeing familiar faces.
Unlike most people, we don't pay to watch our TV. We just don't watch it enough to see the extra expense. I spend more time on my computer than the TV. So getting movies on demand like Netflix is something we don't have access to. And it's driving the rental places out of business. Makes me wonder how we're going to see movies at home or anywhere except the theatre if this trend continues. I just hate it when new technology forces someone to spend more money and change their lifestyle just for the sake of some at home entertainment.
Don't get me wrong. I love how some advancements have enhanced our lives. I'm using one of them right now, though some of you may not think of computers as something new or high tech. But for me, it is. I lived through the era of dialing telephones, black and white TV, transistor radios, etc. High excitement was watching Man walk on the moon for the first time on live TV. That beat anything at the theatre all to hollow. Speaking of theatre; back then that was the only place you saw movies with only one movie to pick from. How things have changed.
But some advancements seem very unfair. If the time comes where I can't rent movies to see at home anymore, I'm going to have to decide whether to buy the movies I want to see, see them at the theatre, or break down and start paying to watch TV just so I can see movies at home. What a bummer.
Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :
Netflix is available through the internet for your PS3, Wii, Xbox, PC, Mac, iPad, Apple TV and more. In your circumstance, the $7.99 per month seems a good deal (especially with today's gasoline prices).
Similarly, Hulu would be another choice.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob
Posted by MAP (Member # 8631) on :
What about red box. That is where we rent most of our movies. You can usually find them at grocery stores or McDonalds.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I had an opportunity to get in on one of video rental store chains back in the early 1980s---didn't 'cause of that "no money" problem---and I used to regret passing on the opportunity.
Now they're all closed...and, I suppose, if I'd'a gotten in I'd'a stayed in too long, and lost my shirt...
*****
So far I haven't taken to downloading videos, though I've got a few music videos on my computer...and if I want something on DVD or Blu-Ray, it's usually obscure and I have to order it online anyway.
Probably I'll switch over when they're no longer available---like vinyl records.
Posted by Crystal Stevens (Member # 8006) on :
I'd forgotten about Red Box. That might be the way to go for us. My husband is computer illiterate and doesn't want anything to do with them. So watching movies online is out. Also, one of the other things we refuse to do is have a credit card or any kind of plastic money (though we do have one debt card for our equity loan that we very rarely use.). I just don't trust buying anything online, but that's just me I suppose.
I also don't have a cell phone and don't want one. There may come a time when I won't have much choice, but right now I like not paying to watch TV, not having a credit card, and going without a cell phone. My life has been doing quite well without them.
Posted by Crystal Stevens (Member # 8006) on :
Robert; Your post came through while I was posting mine. LOL
I agree with you. That's the way I feel about Blu Ray. I won't switch until DVDs are no longer available. Unfortunately, I don't think that's too far in the future anymore. I see the Blu Rays taking up more space in the stores all the time and the DVDs dwindling. Times are changing, my friend, but for the better? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Oh, I like Blu-Ray just fine...but not everything is on Blu-Ray, and probably never will be, and with some things, like episodic TV taken from old videotapes, there's just no point.
I suppose downloading will improve along the way, and the resolution will improve to something comparable to Blu-Ray. But I'll stick with what I got as long as possible...
(The HD resolution, even when showing old stuff, can be startling, sometimes. I have this old video of NBC's minute-by-minute coverage of the Kennedy assassination, which I transfered to a DVD. Grainy, mostly black-and-white footage...extremely interesting in a cinema verite way. I played it back on my HDTV. When Jackie Kennedy arrived back in Washington with the body of her husband...I don't know for sure what the viewing public saw back then, but what I could see was quite shocking.)
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
I love Video stores and I will miss them. Don't like that cheesy red box-- and from some columns I've read, I'm not the only one.
I could download a movie, not sure if our new TV can do that or not or what hook ups it might need if any but I would rather not watch one on my computer even though I have. In either case I would whether go some place and look at the videos (CDs DVDs Etc).
And I feel the same about Cell phones as Crystal
Posted by Utahute72 (Member # 9057) on :
What I miss is book stores, like borders, where you can go in and browse, find a book and sit down with a copy and read.
Posted by MartinV (Member # 5512) on :
No offense to anyone on the other side of the Atlantic, but Americans can hardly complain about the price of gasoline.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I've got no complaints about the price of gasoline as long as there's still plenty of it to go around...
Barnes & Noble bookstores don't seem to be dying on the vine yet. But I never got used to the idea of getting a cup of coffee and then sitting down with a book---I don't drink coffee, keeps me awake.
I suppose I'm not sharing confidential info when I can tell you the Netflix disk mailings are among the most hated things going through the mail stream at the post office. They jam, they rip, they shred, they fold up and can't be read by the barcode sorters. I kinda look forward to the day when Netflix is exclusively downloading and I will see those mailings no more...
Cell phones...well, I got my first and only when I needed one for an upcoming vacation and couldn't borrow one that belonged to my sister-in-law. Practically the only time I use it is when I'm on vacation. And that's the only thing I do with it. Still, it's probably due for an update and a new device...