Goodbye LOVEFiLM

Yesterday I cancelled my LOVEFiLM subscription or should I say, “I cancelled my Amazon Prime Instant Video subscription”. There were two big reasons for this subtraction. The first and biggest is frustration. I am so fed up of returning discs that I don’t watch because they are the lesser films on the priority list. I do want to see the films, I have after all put them on my list, just not this weekend. Most of the time I have to watch them on my own because I just can’t convince the people I watch films with that this or that movie is worth viewing. When the other people in your life want to watch the latest big release the pull of streaming is just too strong. The second reason for cancelling my subscription is entirely down to Amazon. The interface for choosing films you want posted is impenetrable, even for a seasoned surfer like myself. I can only think Amazon want to phase out the disc service in favour of the much more profitable pay-per-view option. The volume of films I watch in a year has already suffered, it’s simply too expensive to stream all the time. I really miss Blockbuster’s four films for £10 deal. You could go in and choose the perfect balance of films for the weekend, a comedy, a horror, a big release and an indie film. Not like LOVEFiLM postal service who insist on putting two world cinema titles or two romantic comedies in the same envelope. When I was in Blockbuster and had a comedy, a big release and an horror in my hand I would take a chance on an indie title and end up finding a gem. Now we go through what feels like a much reduced list on iTunes and check out the trailers. If the film was on a disc, I’d give it a chance. Now, if the trailer is shit, I’d rather save my money. £4.49 to rent a high definition movie is just too high. My only hope is that in this brave new world, where everyone streams their content, the price of movies will come down?