Free DVD Rentals

A few weeks ago I signed up for a free trial subscription to Blockbuster Online. The trial only lasted two weeks, but in that time I managed to watch seven DVDs. Unfortunately, Blockbuster won’t notify you prior to the subscription’s end, so if you’re not careful you will be charged for the following month’s fees. In order to ensure that didn’t happen I simply added an event to my Google Calendar and set up an email reminder. On the day the subscription ended my Google notification arrived. I immediately logged on to Blockbuster and canceled my subscription to ensure I wouldn’t be charged.

Blockbuster shipped three movies at a time and I received nine in the two week trial period. I don’t typically watch a lot of movies, but I really enjoyed watching the movies I received. In the first two weeks I watched the following:

• 21
• Dan in Real Life
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull
• Iron Man
• The Bucket List

I received three more DVDs on the day my trial ended. Even though I canceled my subscription I still have one full month to return the last three movies I received. So in the next week or two I plan to watch:

• Baby Mama
• PS I Love You
• What Happens in Vegas

Compared to Netflix the DVDs from Blockbuster arrived in record time. Of course, I’m not certain that Blockbuster DVDs would always arrive so quickly. When I signed up for the Netflix trial the DVDs seemed to fly through the mail. Once I became a paying subscriber the speed certainly slowed. Unfortunately I still think Blockbuster’s prices are too high to consider on a monthly basis. Rather than paying $19.99 a month I’ll probably pick up DVDs from the Redbox at Giant.