DVD Rentals

The way in which you rent DVD's in Australia is changing dramatically.

Since the release of Telstra's Fetch my Movies and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and more players in the DVD rental market consumers have had the choice and the option of never visiting a DVD store again. You just select from a list of movies you want to see online and receive the DVD's in the mail. Then when finished you post them back and receive the next lot. All for a monthly fee of around $30.

No longer do you just rent 1-2 movies on the weekend or when you chuck a sickie.

But Blockbuster, Video Ezy and Civic Video have all followed suit and are offering similar concepts. The only difference is you have to walk to the store instead of the PO box. These traditional video stores also offer game rentals as well, which the other websites don't.

I'd much prefer to go to my Blockbuster and select a DVD from the shelve, than tick a few check boxes on a web form. A video store encourages you to browse and find new things. Where as online you really just find what your looking for. Also if you live near the video store you have a greater chance of getting more vids for your money and posting and receiving videos takes 1-3 days between DVD's, where as a video store is instant. Also if you are like me with a tiny letterbox to receive any video in the mail means a trip to the post office and waiting in line for 20 minutes. I don't see the time saving in that.

It will be interesting to see who remains and what happens to the rental market. All this just makes it harder for the independent video stores of Australia to survive. I haven't seen one in quite a while but i bet they still exist.