Hello to Netflix

Photo credit: Wikimedia

Netflix service became available to 130 countries on 6th of January, 2016, added 4 new languages to 17 it already supported and kicked off the new year in a very elegant fashion. According to report on October of last year, it had ~70 million subscribers in total, more than 43 million being from USA. Number of titles available is different for each region and exact numbers are not disclosed by Netflix anyway.

Photo credit: statista.com

I am living in one of those 130 (Azerbaijan) and didn’t have any experience with Netflix prior to the “global launch”. Not being a very big fan of any series and of TV in general, here are a few comments I would love to make after using it for a bunch of days.

Starting with positive notes:

1. Service quality is top notch. It automatically identifies optimal resolution for you (connection speed, device, etc.) and re-adjusts for best watching experience.
2. There is plenty of titles that I have been recommended to watch. According to some stats, at some point Netflix had content for 6+ years of non-stop watching. Most probably now it has even more, so you won’t get bored, that’s for sure.
3. You can resume watching from the point you left on another device. It may sound simple, but it works seamlessly and really improves the experience.

And some stuff I didn’t quite like:

1. Netflix doesn’t have much content for cinemaphiles — It’s selection of movies is very, very, very limited. There are some quality movies, but search functionality is pretty much useless because of the low number, so you’re better off browsing instead.
2. You can’t access any content offline. So if you were hoping to stock up some stuff to watch on your way somewhere (like me)… Well, you better have Wi-fi connection while you’re travelling.
3. While US users pay in dollars, you pay same amount, but in euros (or in pounds, depending on your location). Can’t get used to this weird rule.

All in all, it’s still early to say anything for sure, but I’m planning to go beyond trial period and see if the service fits into and/or adds value to my life.