My experience new releases were $4-$5, and often older releases were $1-$3, while Netflix was $20 for the month.

Well, the 3-at-a-time DVD plan for Netflix was $18/mo in 2005, and I distinctly remember a one or two at a time DVD plan (my plan for under $10). This article confirms the $18/mo plan and alludes to the cheaper options…

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/technology/circuits/in-the-competition-for-dvd-rentals-by-mail-two-empires.html

Also, what made video stores truly SUCK was the late fees. Sure, a new title rental would be $5, but real people with real lives struggle to get a video back on time. The story of the start of Netflix was the co-founder owing $40 in late fees for Apollo 13–in 1995 dollars.

Sure, the American consumer was/is “I want it, and I want it now” and Netflix unlimited plans was always about “I want to see one of these 200 movies, surprise me.” Like I said, great for arthouse and fringe picks saving you $20-$25 per disc to buy–if you could find it.

I am sure even if that time… 2000’s until the early 2010’s… I would use a Blockbuster for new releases and patiently wait my next foreign or arthouse pick from Netflix.

Regardless, what is sad to me, is what promised to be the future of being able to see any movie, ever, on demand, is now clearly a reality of seeing what the services will pay money to make available to you, when they feel like it, and you’re stuck accepting it. There was a time I thought we’d see an end to piracy because the lame barriers of access were gone, now they’re worse than ever.

Sad!

Are we like choosing to ignore the reasons with this comment?

Video rental stores were expensive, as much as one rental a month would equal a Netflix subscription. You were at the mercy of their inventory which you couldn’t check ahead of time before wasting a drive and was often only one copy each of older favorites plus new releases and didn’t have a lot of fringe options or foreign releases. Getting a movie in a mail and keeping it until you watched it, with no late fees, no “by 9pm” bullshit, etc, was awesome. Netflix was the perfect improvement over the video store!

I watched so many odd movies, old classics, and foreign films thanks to Netflix DVD by mail. In many cases, some of those haven’t made it to digital distribution and now aren’t available except through the purchase of an out of print DVD or pirating.

Netflix’s DVD by mail service exists but it isn’t maintained, and some of these important old DVDs are getting broken and not replaced.