How the internet is revolutionizing movie rental

The internet is slowly revolutionizing the consumers' habits. I say slowly, because there are still people out there that haven't figured out the advantages of doing business online for various reasons. There's not much you can't buy from Amazon (in the US anyway) and when it comes to movie entertainment, NetFlix has a winning offer with their 3 DVD movies for $16.99 per month. That gets you 3 DVDs out at a time, for as long as you need to watch them. You get your next 3 when you return the last 3.

NetFlix doesn't operate in Canada, but there are Canadian alternatives. It amazes me how few people know of this option, but again - you know - the transition is slow. One of the higher rated services in Canada based in Calgary, Canflix, offers 3 DVDs out at a time for $21.95 per month.

With online rental agencies, you trade 'almost instant' availability (going to the store - but maybe to find that the video you want isn't available) for availability in a few days (assuming that the video you want is available). But the upside is you get to keep the DVDs until you have time to watch them.

There is only one better way to access movies and that's via streaming over the internet. Netflix is already doing this using existing Netflix-ready devices like the Xbox 360. Access to streaming movies from Netflix is included in the price of an existing subscription. Who will be the first company to offer this in Canada? An even more important question - will our internet service providers be able to keep up with the needed bandwidth?