Ever since Clyde and I have been together, he’s owned a video store. And while we don’t often settle down to watch a DVD, when we needed to rent a movie, we’ve always been able to pull a copy from the shelves at Video Library.
Yesterday, though, a visiting nephew developed a hankerin’ to see The Prestige. Video Library is closed, now, so we can’t just waltz in and yank a copy off the shelf. The Prestige is a very recent release — so it’s not even in the old Video LIbrary inventory.
I’m not the sort of person who can be happy adding a movie to a Netflix-style list and waiting months for it to appear in my mailbox. So the question arises: for the duration of my stay in Jackson, MS, where will I go for movies?
Blockbuster? Given their ugly attitudes and unfair business practices, I’d rather burn five bucks than hand it over the counter to a Blockbuster employee. Blockbuster, then, is right out.
Hollywood? Hollywood is by no means as slimy as Blockbuster … but after years and years of fiercely supporting a local, independent video store, I just can’t make myself hand money over to a chain.
Amazon Unbox? We’re beta testers for Amazon.com’s Unbox service, which allows us to rent or purchase videos and download them directly to our Tivo for immediate viewing. The video quality is quite good. Problem is, Amazon Unbox doesn’t have a heck of a lot of content available yet. (They don’t, for example, offer The Prestige.)
iTunes Store? With the click of a mouse, I could download The Prestige and watch it on my 62-inch Samsung t.v. Unfortunately, iTunes won’t let me rent the movie … and the iTunes purchase price is more than I’d pay for the DVD. Worse, the iTunes copy features lower-quality video and is gummed up with digital rights management crippleware. Why should I pay a premium for that?
Target. I could buy the DVD here for less than I can buy it from iTunes. But do I really want to own the movie?
In short: with the closure of Video Library … there isn’t a guilt-free, local-business-friendly way to rent any movie I want to see and have it in my hands in minutes.
For someone who likes being guilt-free and local-business-friendly … that’s a sobering realization indeed.
Buy it at Target, sell it on Amazon.