Netflix

Tired of dealing with Blockbuster’s high prices and low selection? Netflix, a Web-based rental service with a catalog of over 50,000 titles, allows you to rent virtually anything ever released on DVD without having to get off the couch. When you enroll, you select from a variety of tiered price plans, the top level of which allows you to have three movies checked out at any given time for $17.99 a month, with no other limitations. A motivated person could easily rent more than a dozen a month at that price. As you browse the site, you add your movies to a “queue,” and the DVDs are mailed from their nearest distribution center, usually arriving the next day. When you’re done with the movies, you simply mail them back with the provided pre-paid envelope, and upon their receipt Netflix sends you the next movies in your list. To help you keep your queue full, Netflix also boasts a helpful recommendation engine that can recommend movies based on your likes and dislikes, critics’ recommendations, and what’s currently popular. Convenient, easy, and cheap—what’s not to love?