I've just started using Netflix. I may never return to going to video stores (there are none near me, anyway, and when I do rent DVDs, I never get them back in time).
I go to the site online. I pick out a bunch of movies, prioritizing them in a queue, they send me two. I have as much time as I want watching them, then when I'm ready I send them back and they send me two more. For me, not having to deal with the hassle of going to the video store and returning films to the video store (and not having cable movies), it's worth $15 a month.
Just another step--along with putting most of my music on an iPod--of being able to access film, TV, and musical content when I want it, at the push of a button (OK, I also have to put the disk back in the sleeve and send it back in the sealed envelope). The next level for me, I suppose, is movies on demand, downloaded at my computer for a minimal fee. What is the service (or services) for that, I wonder? I'm sure I'll find out before too long.
I'm just fascinated with databases. I love being able to access a document, a movie, a music file, from my computer. Being able to query the database, being able to find that movie or song the moment, or moment after, it appears in my mind. That is the data-rich existence we've all come to expect in our 21st century. I still remain astonished at how computers can represent, and facilitate, cultural experience, of both "high" and "low" culture. I hope to remain astonished.
Posted by jeb at December 10, 2005 2:22 PM | TrackBack