Netflix:
In the last 3 or 4 weeks, Netflix's selection has drastically changed. Of course, we all know that they lost Starz. But did you know they lost Sony as well? Look for almost any movie and you won't find it. Sure, they have a lot of old movies and random foreign films, as well as their own selection of movies created by Netflix. I don't care about any of that. I want to watch a blockbuster film. Not only that, but I also dislike how long it takes them to add a season of a show. Hulu has the latest episodes of all the shows I want to watch, as does iTunes. There are problems with those as well, which I will address later. The fact is, I'm beginning to feel like Netflix just isn't worth it. Although, at $7.99/month who can really argue. As we'll see, there are no better options.
Hulu:
Hulu has the most updated shows of any streaming service. And it would be totally worth the price, except for commercials. Netflix doesn't have commercials, neither does Amazon Prime, or Crackle (except at the beginning). So why would I pay $8.00/month to watch a 30 minute show that is in 8 pieces due to commercials? I do want the latest of certain shows, but to be honest, I'm also tempted to "acquire" them commercial free.
Amazon Prime:
Amazon Prime has probably the largest selection available, now that Netflix is limited to mediocre bottom-shelf titles. The problem with Amazon is that most of them you have to either buy or rent. The actual "free" streaming part of Amazon Prime is limited. On the bright side, I've been able to find a lot of movies that I could stream, even if for a small rental fee. Small is a relative term, however. Most TV shows charge per episode, why would I want to pay almost $3 for a 20 minute episode of Ugly Americans?. Otherwise, the selection on Amazon Prime is quite similar to Netflix, particularly with TV shows. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't have the latest episodes either. My biggest complaint is the complete lack of a personal library of what you watched, ratings, recommendations, or a queue. I resorted to a wishlist I called "Streaming" in order to save all the titles I wanted to watch in the future.
iTunes:
iTunes doesn't offer a subscription, so you'll have to pay for everything. However, one thing I did notice was a fairly decent selection. Everything I found in Amazon, I found in iTunes, but it wasn't the reverse. iTunes was kind enough to include the more recent seasons of some shows. One really special offer was to purchase a "Season Pass" of currently airing seasons. If what you want is a good selection and to rent a movie without leaving the house, iTunes is great. Other than that, it would be way too expensive as a replacement to cable.
The Others:
There are a number of services out there, although none have the selection yet to compare to the above. Cable companies such as Comcast, Cox, and Dish have their own services now, some in conjunction with other popular names such as Walmart, Blockbuster, and Redbox. Each could stand to be a contender in the online Video on Demand (VoD) realm in the future.
What I want:
I'm sure there's tons of red tape, contracts to be made, security measures to be taken, all necessary to deliver the content the world desires while protecting the digital rights of the labels. Do I care about that? No. What I want is to find a company that offers everything, any movie I want, every episode of a TV show right up to the one aired last night, and I want it commercial free. I want it at a reasonable price, but I fully expect it to cost much more than 8 bucks a month. Granted, I can't afford $80 either just to watch shows on my computer. So, there should be various offers and plans, much like cell phones. You can purchase plans by the minute, even have rollover, you can elect to have TV shows only and no movies or vice versa. And if you don't mind ads or commercials, a reduced price option all around. Right now, I believe the industry has no intention of giving us this kind of deal. I feel as if the lack of such a plan is by design, an arbitrary demand created by a deliberately limited supply and that all these companies are a part of it. iTunes has the content, yet they don't offer a subscription. Those with subscriptions don't have the content. This is no different than the troubles faced by streaming music services. Spotify has a lot of good music, but consistently lacks in major names such as the Beatles, Metallica, etc. Yet, you can find them in iTunes.
Temporary Solutions:
If I remain optimistic, I can assume that some day we'll be over those hurdles and my dream will come true for both video and music. This vision is a long way off though, so what are the best alternatives?
To start, you could invest in several of the services. Amazon has the largest selection, and I'm sure anyone can handle the commercials in Hulu if they really must see the most recent episode. Netflix has the absolute best queue management, but iTunes isn't bad either. Netflix has more shows that don't require a per-episode rental fee and Hulu is really only good for the last season or two of a show.
I found an interesting website that just might make this all work out. SideReel offers the ability to manage a queue of TV and Web shows. As of this writing, there is a "Movies" tab and you can search movies, but nothing more. Here's the clincher, SideReel can show you anything if it's available online to watch, paid or free. Although, I did find a bit of a bug in that it doesn't show Netflix results despite the fact that the option is there to include Netflix results in searches. Even so, I can do a search on Ugly Americans and it will list the episodes. I can select the season or an individual episode and it will show me where I can watch it. Currently, it shows Hulu and iTunes because Amazon doesn't have anything after season 1, neither does Netflix. So, at the very least, it offers a way to FIND stuff. If what you're looking for can't be found on the major services, the "Search Links" button just might find it elsewhere. I can't say whether I trust the links it provides, I did visit a few and wasn't all too trusting of the site, especially one asking for information. But hey, it's an option if you REALLY must see that episode. Another nice feature is the tracker. You can track your shows and week by week it can show you when the next one airs. This can be especially nice if you are addicted to a bunch of shows and they are all using different services. It's a little bit of one stop shopping in a way. Although, more like one stop searching, you'll still have to link to your service of choice to see the video.
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