Friday, January 18, 2013

Redbox Instant Streaming movie selection disappointing

I signed up a few weeks ago to be notified when Redbox's instant streaming service went live.  I signed up for the trial, which includes four rental credits (guess I'll be hitting the kiosk).  My husband and I sat side by side to see just what they had to offer.  He was just as unimpressed as I was.

The selection is a far cry away from what Netflix's stream has to offer.  Granted, for $8 a month, Netflix offers stream only and there's no tie in to rentals unless you want to upgrade to the DVD-out plans.  If you were hoping for more recent flicks to show up in their streaming, you'll be disappointed.  What I found were "B" movies --- no box office hits, and certainly not any from the past year or so.  Top in Drama?  Thor (from 2011).

Old and uninteresting movies in Drama.


I can now watch B movies I've never heard of during daylight hours instead of having to stay up til 3 AM.

Maybe the selection will get a little better.  If the regular subscription to Redbox instant streaming does include 4 rental credits every month, then maybe it won't be so bad.  You'll feel obligated to rent those 4, which may be the whole purpose behind the streaming option --- not to compete with Netflix, but to get you to subscribe and feel obligated to visit the kiosk at least four times a month.

Redbox has a lot of work to do if they want to truly compete with Netflix.


No comments: