In this day and age entertainment is everywhere. All around us you can play games on almost any hand held device. Download movies to your phone or iPod. You can even stop, fast forward and record live television anytime you want. Does this make us lazy? It definitely has its perks of convenience, and so much at your fingertips whenever we want. But what happened to good old fashioned face to face contact? It seems so much of that has gone away.
In the video rental market things have changed so much so fast it can make a persons head spin. I own a video rental shop and I have seen the tale end of the VHS, the change from dvd to Blu-Ray. Do you remember the brief life of the HD-dvd? I have seen On Demand grow through the roof and mail order rentals. The fall of movie giants, and the explosion of the “video rental machine:.
I can go on about your choices of movie rentals, but I want to talk about the Redbox machines and all those video rental machines. We see them everywhere. From your grocery stores to outside of convenience machines to the fast food establishments we frequent. It doesn’t take one long to find one if we want to. These machines carry the newest releases with the latest movie stars. The price is right and it narrows down our choices so it’s quick. That’s the beauty of it.
I am for advances of technology. It can make our life more simple sometimes, but I want to make a few points. How many movies can one machine hold? what if you don’t have a credit card to use to rent one? or if a machine is constantly out of that title you’ve been looking for? What if you do encounter a problem with the dvd? who do you talk to? Now it doesn’t seem quite so simple?
Movie stores have 5000 to over 100,000 titles and a lot of stores specialize in hard to find titles. What do you do when your standing in front of a machine trying to figure out what to watch? At movie stores there is all sorts of information about movies. Informational fliers of recent releases. Promo material and most importantly they have that person behind the counter that can recommend just the right movie to suit your mood. If you have a problem with a dvd they are there to help, if you have a question they are there to answer it. Can technology replace a person in that sense? No, so what value do we put on that person?
Major studios have started to realize this and are being pro active about it. Studios have now given the rights to traditional video stores and retail outlets 28 days before Netflix and red box can get them. That is a sure sign of the movie studios trying to keep diversity in the industry. Every aspect balances out another and if we don’t have that some part is sure to fail and have unforeseen consequences.
I believe there is room left for the traditional video store, but as we have seen the fall of the giant in this industry consumers need to remember that those stores are still here and to show some support. Go rent a movie once or twice a month just to mix it up. fin an old movie you haven’t seen yet or a classic you cant find in a video vending machine. When you go out to eat do you ALWAYS eat at the same restaurant every time? I hope not. any industry survives on variety. So keep your options open, or you wont have as many in the future. That is all I am saying.
-By: Sean Kurtis
My name is Sean and I own a video store and a movie resource website. I Love movies and believe in providing good quality information to people. That is why I started my website. For people who love movies, my site has movie reviews. You can search movie quotes, browse trivia and so much more. You can even write your won review and share it with others. Please check it out and share it with others.