One of the best ways to watch streaming movies is by using a service called Netflix. For those of you not familiar with Netflix.com, it is a website where you can sign up and for a monthly fee you are able to rent DVDs that they mail to you. You can also watch thousands of streaming movies that they have in their extensive library. You can watch these streaming movies on your computer or through your television set using an external device such as Xbox or Playstation 3. You can choose a movie from the Netflix.com website and instantly watch it right on your High-Def plasma or LCD big screen.
Netflix was started as an alternative to having to go the video store. Video rental stores like Blockbuster had the entire market cornered for many years and they knew it. If you wanted to rent some movies you had to get dressed (at least pajamas), leave the comfort of your home and drive your car to the nearest store.
Once there you would wander around for a while, pick a few movies and pay at least $2 each or more. New releases generally cost more and you could only keep them for three days, at which time you had to return them or else face a hefty fine. If you have a normal busy lifestyle then you were probably late a few time each month and sometimes for long periods. Many times people would lend the movie out to a friend or family member who inevitably promised to return if for you, a most attractive offer on the face of it. But when that person disappeared and never returned the movie for several months, the late fees would accumulate until your bill resembled the GDP of a small foreign island nation.
Along came Netflix and their innovative business model. You go to their website at www.netflix.com and you sign up for a monthly plan. You pay $20 per month and you get to have 3 movies at any one time. You go on their website and you choose movies from their extensive library which includes different genres of movies, documentaries and special interest films. You place these films into your own personal queue and they then mail you the first three available films from the top of your queue. You receive the DVDs in the mail in a special red envelope, which is also a prepaid return envelope which you just drop in any mailbox. You watch the movies at your leisure. There are no late fees. When Netflix receives the returned movies at one of their numerous distribution centers around the country, they will send you the next movie or movies from the top of your queue. It is that easy. If a movie happens to be lost in the mail when you return it, or you never receive it (these things happen) you will not be charged for it and a new movie will be sent out to you.
Streaming movies were added to the site a few years after the service started. It works the same as your rentals. You choose from a giant inventory of movies and you can watch them instantly on your computer or television as streaming movies. This is just about the most convenient way you can watch movies in my opinion.