Mad at Netflix? Try these seven alternatives

By Rita R. Robison

Two months after announcing it would split its mail-order DVD and video streaming into two services and charge for each separately, Netflix announced another change on its blog on Sunday. The DVD-by-mail service will now be named Qwikster. Thousands have already commented, calling it a mistake.

Looking for an alternative to Netflix? Kiplinger’s Personal Finance names 7 options to choose from, including:

• Vudu: This streaming service has a wide variety of HD movies available the day they’re released on Blu-ray. The cost? Only $2 to “rent” a movie for two nights.

• Amazon Instant Video: This library includes 50,000 movies and TV shows to choose from and the cost to rent is $3.99 for a 48-hour rental.

• Apple TV: Although you’ll need to investment $99 for a device, Apple TV streams thousands of movies and TV shows directly to your television. The cost to “rent” is a low as 99 cents.

• Red Box: Even though it’s not as convenient as streaming online, Red Box more than 27,000 kiosks nationwide, including one inside the Empire State Building. You can choose from 200 titles for a $1, one-day rental.

Of the seven alternatives, I’ve tried Red Box. It comes handy when I want to see a lot of Academy Awards nominated movies so I write about them before the awards are presented. It works well, although I had to pay a late charge once -- $2 for being late a day with two movies. Not bad.

For more information, see "Seven Alternatives to Netflix."

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Comments

[free movies online]

I agree with you. for some reason everyone works with netflix, but the others are just as good if not better, and they are cheaper a lot of the times.

[Monica]

These are all pretty cool but limiting in my opinion. If you can get the Blockbuster Movie Pass through DISH like I do, I recommend that route. The Blockbuster Movie Pass combines disc by mail service with in-store exchanges, streaming, and extra movie channels. I got it through my employee subscription to DISH since it was only $10 but wow, is it a deal!