Yep.
From the netflix blog
The DVD rental service will be called Qwikster, and will not integrated with Netflix, which is henceforth a streaming only service. Qwikster will be offering video games along with DVDs.
I think that it was an inevitable move and probably a sensible one for the company, but a bad one for me. I love Netflix's instant selection, but I'm a guy who often wants to watch specific things, and they are usually hard to find. I'm still keeping Netflix; instant is a great deal for me, and I can use it daily without ever thinking "Well, I guess I'll watch this thing since there's nothing good in here", but losing that extra option hurts. There's just no stopping progress.
Meanwhile I'm probably going to give
Facets a try, to see how their selection stacks up against Qwikster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Tn8n5CIPk
Posts
I hope my queue doesn't erase, I now need an external list of movies to see
but they're listening to every word I say
It doesn't seem like having two websites is going to work very well if you want both things. In the comments he says the ratings and stuff will eventually diverge. You'll have to manage two accounts.
However, the idea that Netflix is finally going to have games is really interesting to me. Their logistics are much better than Gamefly's and I've always wanted Netflix to have games for rental. We'll just have to see how much that costs...
but they're listening to every word I say
but they're listening to every word I say
But I almost feel like they're intentionally trying to make DVDs an inconvenience at this point.
If Netflix's CEO is to be believed:
It sound like a store from the Simpsons.
Even down to the shitty, forgettable, almost intentionally difficult to properly misspell title "qwikster."
I think they want the customers to move away from dvd as fast as they are.
But I am feeling pretty certain that they will not be able to get the edge on Gamefly. They give me coupons and discounts. Netflix will probably not offer that.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/19/editorial-reed-hastings-netflix-spinoff-isnt-about-dvd-succes/
Best case scenario: Netflix manages the decline of DVD/Blu-Ray over the next 2-5 years (probably the remaining viable lifespan of DVD/Blu-Ray,) kills GameFly entirely, and sells the business off to some moron who is perfectly happy to ride the physical media wave into the side of a cliff. Using that extra time and the extra money, they secure streaming rights to a BUNCH of stuff that they know consumers are wanting, plus securing financing for original programming on top of that.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
ooooh. Cause if they keep both streaming and hard-media under one label, and hard-media dies, then part of the label is tarnished given its relation to DVDs?
But if streaming is its own thing, then it doesn't go down with that particular ship.
A more open throttle should make 1080p streams more feasible.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
What the hell? Are you serious?
Physical media ain't going nowhere anytime soon. Not till internet infrastructure has ubiquitous capless highspeed coverage.
I won't hold my breath.
Has the availability of streaming media decreased the rate at which you consume hard or physical media?
Yeah. DVD/Blu-Ray has about 5 years left. It'll limp along past that point, I'm sure, but the bubble will have definitely burst by then.
5 years ago, DVD was considered invincible. It's widely considered to be in serious decline now. Blu-Ray won't be able to replace it - it's closer to the relationship Laserdisc had with VHS. Not as niche, of course, the pricing has seen to that - but either way, Blu-Ray simply doesn't have the numbers to replace DVD as DVD dies, so it'll likely decay along with it.
pretty much this exactly.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
If Qwikster can maintain 2-3 day delivery with video games, I'll sign up. fuck yes.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
which also makes the assumption that telecoms are somewhat agile when it comes to do that sort of work (you'd better fucking believe they aren't)
and that users will be willing to give up physical media of content which the content owners already insist they do not own to instead have digital copies (or viewing licenses or whatever) of content which the content owners insist they do not own
Damn this sucks for me. I am one of the random people that has zero movies in my instant que because i burned through all of the movies i wanted to see on streaming, leaving 100+ regular dvd rentals to see. I guess ill keep both for now and hope that the streaming collection increases and that somehow both websites can reference each other, otherwise they both become a waste for me (but thats just me).
Then again, the name and the quality of the video makes it look like an April Fools joke.
edit: oh man... the facebook friends comments on that blog
In 5 years, DVD will have been commercially viable for about 15 years. That's a pretty good run. About as good as VHS had it, commercially. VHS, for all intents and purposes, became a marginalized shell of its former self right around 1999. Sure, they continued production in dwindling numbers up until the mid 2000's, but it was basically a zombie media.
I just don't think Blu-Ray has, or will gain, the foothold necessary to survive the death of DVD, since it's having a hard time simply keeping pace, even with DVD declining and Blu-Ray slowly ascending. So when DVD goes the way of VHS, Blu-Ray will probably quietly go along with it. I'm not saying they won't still be produced in 10 years. I'm saying the market for them will be pretty small.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
No, because streaming media isn't convenient or cheap everywhere. The only place I can really get it is through my cable provider for more then it costs to walk to the video store and rent the movie.
Of course, depending where you live, said video store doesn't even exist anymore either, leaving you with nowhere to get many things in some areas.
This is an incredibly limited perspective. The infrastructure backbone and services simply don't exist for this to happen.
More simply: not everyone can even get Netflix streaming or the equivalent, let alone has it
The idea that 5 years from now, physical media will be mostly gone seems based on assumptions that don't hold for alot of people. The question isn't wether DVD is being replaced by streaming or the like, it's whether that replacement can continue to anywhere near 100%. And I'd say, no, it can't. The people jumping ship right now are the ones that can. There's still tons that can't.
Fuck, you want a good example of this? Blockbuster Canada was making money. They only went into receivership because the US company sacrificed them to their creditors.
I'm not seeing the difference. The technical limitations of the internet are caused by those business interests and such. And there's no indication this is going to change any time soon, let alone in time to kill physical media in the next 5 years.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
Sorry, I'm sure in 5-10 years, cable and carrier companies will magically decide to start infrastructure improvements and bandwith caps will go the way of the Dodo and so everyone will get highspeed no-cap internet and have access to online services with all the latest content.
And then everyone will win the lottery, but in a way that doesn't cause massive inflation so we all get to be rich together.
Or we can live in reality where the only thing the future seems to hold is content creators doing their best to bend Netflix and it's ilk over a table and rape them to death.
But yeah, magic and the lottery. They're nice. Deathrape? Not so much.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX