Amazon Prime Vs Netflix: Part 2

Very early yesterday morning, I reblogged a post from Ty’s Take titled “Amazon Prime vs Netflix.”  Well, seeing as I came across that at around 7:00 AM and I hadn’t been to bed yet, I didn’t feel like writing a post about it, so I reblogged his post and put my comments in under his post on his blog.  Now, I had some to say there, and if you’d like, you can jump to his post and see what I had to say, but after thinking about this today, I decided I have a few more words on the subject.

Amazon Prime vs Netflix: Round 2!

First, if you are trying to decide on a streaming platform, Netflix is really the only way to go.  While I’m a huge fan of Amazon Prime, it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the streaming service.  Netflix, on the other hand, is changing the way TV works, the way shows are made (something I’ll touch on more tomorrow), but for now, lets just say that Netflix streaming service is good enough to scare the TV networks; Amazon is not even on their radar.

So here is the deal, Netflix streaming, while far from perfect, is a pretty sweet deal.  For one low price each month, you can stream movies and TV shows to a range of devices, either at home or on the go.  Their TV selection will give more to watch than you’ll probably have time for (assuming you’re willing to venture out and try new things, of course).  My wife and I have discovered a veritable treasure trove of TV shows we either missed when were on TV, or they are now past their first season and Netflix has given us a chance to catch up so we can then watch it on TV.

Their movie selection on the other hand is pretty painful.  Unless you’re into C Horror (you know, B Horror without any of the charm), classic films that your parents or even grandparents probably saw in the theater, or most of the movies that were put out in the last 15 years that were straight to DVD, you probably won’t find much on Netflix in the way of movies.  {Let me put a disclaimer here: I don’t have kids, and from what I’ve heard from my friends/family that do, the kids movie selection is better, but I can’t personally comment on it, so I just wanted to put that here.}  On top of an already painful movie catalog, Netflix recently just lost a huge list of films, most of which were the best of their movie selection (you can see the list HERE).

Let me just contradict myself here and say this, though, I do like their Indy movie selection…but you know, no real blockbusters there, just thought provoking content which is fun when you want something to think about…

OK, so if you’re into discovering new old TV shows, Netflix can provide you with hundreds of hours watching pleasure, and even though their movie selection is lacking, it is still more than worth the small monthly fee.

So, with that said, let’s jump over and look at Prime.  Their selection may be near what Netflix offers (I’ll be honest, I don’t really know), but I have a huge problem with the Prime streaming service: they don’t separate out what is free vs what you have to pay for on top of your Prime membership.

Free 2 day delivery, (some) free streaming, and (apparently) if you have a Kindle (which I don’t), you can borrow books…

I know I may get some backlash about this and I’m shortchanging Amazon here, but I’ve had a Prime membership for a few months now, but I’ve only tried the streaming service a couple of times.  All of those times have been on my PS3 (so it may just be that their interface on the PS3 is bad compared to other devices interfaces), but there, it is very difficult to tell what is actually free and what I have to pay for to either rent or buy.  On top of that, it seemed that everything I wanted to watch wasn’t on covered by my Prime membership, but was available for me to pay for.

If Amazon would just put the Prime eligible content separate from the paid content, I’d probably be more apt to use it, but this has just aggravated me, so I’ve pretty much avoided it since just after I purchased the membership.  Maybe they’ve made it better now, I really couldn’t say (yeah, I know, go do your research before writing an article…so sue me…or better yet, lower my grade!), but I’ve found more content on Netflix than I can watch anytime soon, so until I run out there, I’ll leave the Prime streaming service alone.

Now, despite this, I wouldn’t say I threw my money away on a Prime membership.  I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon, and the free two day shipping has more than paid for the cost!  When you figure out what 2 days shipping normally costs, it is an amazing deal, so long as you are the type to buy online.

So who wins?  Well, that all depends…if you are looking for the best streaming service for the money, Netflix is the easy choice.  Sure Prime is a bit cheaper, but honestly, Netflix, at least in my mind, is the better deal.  Now, if you’re looking to save money when shopping online, and want your items to get to you quicker, well Netflix isn’t going to help you there at all, so Amazon Prime is sold choice.  My point, if you’re like me and love streaming content, but also love shopping online and getting your purchases quickly, go get both services.  For less than $200 a year, you can have access to tons of video streaming content and get your Amazon purchases delivered in a rush for free.  To me, that is all kinds of worth it!

What do you think?  Netflix, Prime or both?  Which way would you go?

Until next time…I’ve got nothing…