FUD Alert

If only stupidity came with obvious warning signs like rabies.

From the Department of Whoring for Blockbuster

Well, this astounded even me. The single most biased, least informative article I've ever seen on a technology issue. Ever.

And I've read RIAA shills rave about mp3s for a long, long time.

Still, this one takes the cake. Basically, an analyst at some investment firm notes that the Post Office is miffed about hand-sorted envelopes. That led the guy to rate Netflix's stock down, since their current envelope design often gets jammed in the machines and has to be hand sorted.

This in turn led a 'journalist' named Joanne L. Kaufman to write an anti-Netflix screed claiming that they're doomed, dooomed to lose to Blockbuster in the dvd rental wars because the Post Office might charge them more for shipping. Someone out there must not have been asleep at the switch because a Netflix spokesman did get to speak in the article, and notes that a: they've already changed their envelopes about five times since the company started and b: they'd be happy to do it again if it was necessary.

Despite this, err, making the whole thing a non-story, she then appends a paragraph right out of the Blockbuster media kit about how much more convenient Blockbuster is than Netflix:

Mr. Wible said in an interview that Blockbuster was edging in on Netflix: “They’ve got their store content, delivery by mail and downloaded delivery.”

Blockbuster, which has 3.1 million online subscribers and 60 million customers over all, is “offering more convenient access to media than Netflix,” Mr. Wible said. “Netflix either has to spend more on marketing or lower pricing to increase growth,” he added. “So they have these rising costs — including postage increases.”

You know what's missing from this discussion about convenience and trends vis a vis Blockbuster and Netflix?

A discussion perhaps of how well the two companies are actually DOING?

Or what about Netflix's Instant Viewer service, which requires no postage and is so convenient you never leave your couch? Take that, driving to the store.

Let's see what that sort of actual, informative journalism would look like:

According to web analytics firm Compete, by the end of October, Netflix was attracting four times as many unique visitors a month as Blockbuster. Since January of 2005 Netflix web traffic has steadily climbed, while Blockbuster's has dropped off.

Netflix's instant watch feature alone has attracted 450,000 users in the month of November, while Blockbuster struggles to get its direct-download service from Movielink off the ground. Adding to Blockbuster's troubles, Apple is expected to launch a movie rental service via iTunes any day now.

So, err, yeah. Blockbuster sure is winning that war you've got going in your head, Ms. Kaufman. Riiight.

Sources: The Washington Post
Switched.com

(I suppose for absolute full disclosure I should note that I am a Netflix customer, and have in the past been a Blockbuster customer as well. Though I stopped going to Blockbuster when they stopped catering to my needs in any way, instead choosing to fill their stores with ten thousand copies of the latest action movies and romance 'comedies', it wasn't a particularly bitter divorce. My sister on the other hand got forty dollars worth of false late fees stolen from her, twice, so hey, I guess that's a bias too.

My personal impression of the Netflix Instant Viewer feature is that it's whizzy but not really for me. Still, it's there and it works, once you get past the setup aches and pains, so that's something. Perfectly watchable if not nearly DVD quality. I saw the entirety of Jinki: Extend that way and it didn't make my eyes bleed.)