Technology review of Netflix

Late fees are no more thanks to Netflix, an internet service that provides streaming movies over the internet and sends DVDs through the mail to the 15 million people already hooked.

As the world's largest movie and television show subscription service, Netflix allows members to use its website for unlimited streaming of the vast online collection, as well as one physical copy of film, for only $8.99 a month. Instead of paying the price for a single movie ticket, college students on a budget can get unlimited videos streamed directly to their homes.

Video streaming can be used over any computer, all current video gaming consoles and TiVo, and was recently made available on the iPhone. The actual DVD copies are sent directly to the customer's home mailbox in about two to three business days without the agony of driving all the way to the rental store only to find all 100 copies of a new release are taken. This service is fantastic, considering a single DVD could cost students four bucks and upwards to rent.

However, the best thing about Netflix is the lack of late charges. I can hold on to a movie for as long as I want without fear of fees. This is wonderful for college students who need to spend more time on exams and less on rushing to the video store before it closes. Instead, you can just send the movie back in a pre-paid envelope and Netflix will send the next movie in "Your Queue."

The queue line is an easy to use tool with its one-click choices of getting the movie on DVD or leaving it in your queue line to stream later.

Netflix offers hard-to-find items like the wide assortment of television shows, comprised of complete seasons varying from 30 Rock to Doctor Who. It has also made my list of Halloween B-movies a much easier task than past years.

So why not ditch the movie rental store all together? Even though the service is extremely convenient, it has its flaws.

Due to an agreement with many major motion picture studios, Netflix is unable to release videos the same day they become available on DVD to help increase disc sales. Considering the majority of movies I want to rent are new releases, this makes the service completely useless for finding what actually came out this week. This has become even more prevalent now that Blu-rays are offered through the mail.

For example, one of the new releases for this week in the DVD by mail section was "Clash of the Titans," released in stores back in July of this year. However, the newest release in instant streaming is "Gamer," put on DVD way back in January.

Instant movies mostly consist of older films, television shows and hard to find indie movies, which are hard to come by in traditional rental stores. With the modern technologies one would think Netflix has access to, there is no reason that their newest movies on demand are not as instant as the name implies.

However, Netflix offers documentaries that could be valuable for in-class assignments since they can be accessed from anywhere. Now I am able to access videos from National Geographic, Discovery, History Channel and PBS specials, which makes finding visual information a breeze and hours of study time obsolete.

Netflix is the way of the future in relation to how we watch movies at home. This fantastic service provides high definition movies straight to computers and gaming consoles while adding new ways to watch movies over handheld devices like the iPhone or by offering the option of Blu-ray. Netflix could be the next best option for home entertainment if they also offered brand-new releases.

Now, if they would only offer laserdiscs.