Soooooo......

[Ghoulish Delight]

Why is it that (completely anecdotally within my own group of friends) the people I've seen complaining the most about the Netflix price change have by and large been the people who consider themselves conservatives and free-market proponents? I find that interesting.

We're likely to take the price hit and keep both our 1 disc and streaming. There's nothing else out there that offer the combination of convenience and selection that Netflix does for us. If we were to drop one, it would likely be streaming, but I doubt we'd do that. Gotten to used to having it. And we definitely can't drop the discs. Our tastes run too eclectic for RedBox, or Amazon, or Vudu, or Blockbuster, or any other service we've compared with. Too many titles currently on our Netflix queue that just would not be available to us anywhere else. And with our ability to go out and see movies nearly nil, it's important to us to have that convenience and selection.

Apparently Netflix is banking on lots of people like us who see no viable alternative on the market that offers what they offer. For us, it's certainly true.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Why is it that (completely anecdotally within my own group of friends) the people I've seen complaining the most about the Netflix price change have by and large been the people who consider themselves conservatives and free-market proponents? I find that interesting.

Assuming they aren't calling for government regulation to prevent a price change, what is interesting about it? "That's too much! I won't pay" isn't in conflict with free market principals.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Alex

Assuming they aren't calling for government regulation to prevent a price change, what is interesting about it? "That's too much! I won't pay" isn't in conflict with free market principals.

Except when they seem to imply that Netflix is doing something horrible and unfair by doing so.

ETA: eh, honestly I withdraw the observation. I shouldn't read social media in the morning before coffee. Looking back at the posts, they aren't as angry sounding as I thought on first read. Still mildly interesting that those are the people in my circle that have brought the subject up.

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by Alex

Assuming they aren't calling for government regulation to prevent a price change, what is interesting about it? "That's too much! I won't pay" isn't in conflict with free market principals.

Exactly. I didn't say they didn't have the RIGHT to change their pricing structure, they certainly do. Just like I have the RIGHT to not like it and refuse to pay.

I'm just upset because a service I liked has raised its price beyond a point I believe matches up with the value it brings. I am not willing to spend $24/month for that service, therefore, according to the laws of the free market, I have ended the business relationship.

I do so loudly because, of course, a truly free market relies on the free flow of information - in order for Netflix to determine the true market value of their product, they need to understand what factors affect their customers' buying decisions, and be able to track the effect of those changes.

If enough people quit Netflix, perhaps Netflix will determine that their pricing has exceeded their product's value. Or, perhaps they've already projected those numbers and determined that the increased profit from the lemmings who stay more than makes up for the lost customers, in which case, they have made a wise choice. And that choice doesn't include me buying their service.

Then again, if the expected profit increase dramatically improves their streaming catalog, I may in future reconsider, and pick up a "streaming only" account. But, for the time being and my family's budget, we're not paying for that transition.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

the increased profit from the lemmings who stay

With you right until you called people who make a different free market decision than you names.

[Alex]

I was paying $17/month for a 4-disc plus unlimited streaming plan. I've been on that plan since I first subscribed to Netflix shortly after they went into business. It's a plan that is grandfathered and the price has never changed that I recall.

I looked at my rental history. Six discs have been watched in the last 14 months. So for me, staying on the same plan would have meant paying $25/month (and has been stupid for a long time).

So for me this is is a massive price cut since it finally got me to move into a plan that actually matches how I use the service (all streaming, all the time, and a lot of it). I never used Netflix for new releases and the great thing about it was how it finally broke me of that, since when I was in video stores I rarely made it past the new releases shelves.

So I'm fine with it all.

Plus, Netflix doesn't want to be in the DVD mailing business anymore, so to the extent it drives away DVD users I'm sure they're actually happy.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The one thing I haven't seen is whether this is signaling coming improvements in streaming selection? While there is lots of great stuff on there, I still find that more often than not when I check to see if something I want to watch is available streaming, it's not.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I know I really should be over the whole "OMG I can't believe how cheap storage is!" thing, but I just bought 8GB worth of high speed SD cards (2x4GB) for $6. I can't help but be in awe.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I know I really should be over the whole "OMG I can't believe how cheap storage is!" thing, but I just bought 8GB worth of high speed SD cards (2x4GB) for $6. I can't help but be in awe.

It just means you haven't forgotten where you've come from. I paid $119 for a portable 1.5TB hard drive. First of all, 1.5TERABYTE! and I can get a 1.5TERABYTE!!!!!! drive for only $119? And it's portable?

Wow.

[Alex]

In related news, I bought a new wallet. And it has NINE slots for cards and ID!!

And it only cost me $45.