Over the past 5 years or so, I've signed up and cancelled my Netflix account 3 times. It's usually been for the same basic reason- I just don't watch DVDs very often. I want to, but it never really pans out that way. There is just too much other stuff in my life to do/read/watch/play. But this time I was sucked in by another emerging phenomenon- online streaming. The ability to fire up any movie or TV show on my laptop, Xbox360 or networked DVD player it's exactly what I've been wanting for years. So I was pretty psyched when I signed up a few months ago. Initially I was not disappointed; Netflix has done a great job with its online streaming. It works incredibly well. But after spending some time flipping through movies, i noticed a disturbing trend. There was nothing I wanted to watch.

I'd say 75% of the content I wanted to see was not available to stream online (DVD only). Netflix does a great job getting DVDs out within a day or two, but that's not my style. I want to click and watch. If I realize my judgement was clouded by nostalgia and Emergency! is really a dumb show, I want to be able to change my mind without a 3-day mail swap. That's what "Instant" means, and that's what I thought Netflix "Watch Instantly" should mean. 

In all fairness to Netflix, we've still got a ways to go before the dream of "watch anything instantly" comes true. The frustrating thing is the technology and demand are there, but something (copyright law? legal red tape? pure greed?) is keeping the content locked up. Services like Hulu and YouTube are trying, but even they suffer from the same problems. They typically offer only crappy movies and a limited number of TV shows that people actually want to see. Example- Season 1 of 21 Jump Street is on Hulu, but Mad Men is not. The selection improves on the non-subscription side as Amazon and iTunes have a much better selection, but the cost is prohibitively expensive. $60 for a season pass to The Office? That's 1 season (20-ish episodes) of 1 program? Are you out of your mind? This causes everyone but only the most hardcore fans to put their wallets away.

I still have hope for Netflix. Subscription services are the future as horrifically expensive pay-per-view dies a slow death. Networks + movie studios are beginning to understand this, so it's just a matter of time. Maybe next year.