Japanese “NetFlix” Launches
It took a while but it seems that Japan has finally got its own version of NetFlix. Though, since Tsutaya is the Japanese version of Blockbuster, I guess I should call it the Japanese version of Blockbuster Online.
For those who don’t know NetFlix is a DVD rental by Internet/Postal Service. You can queue up movies and you don’t have to pay late fees. Postage to and from the NetFlix is pre-paid so you just drop the DVD packages into the post box and you’re done. You don’t pay per movie but rather a monthly subscription. If you rent more than about 3 movies a month it works out to be great value.
It seems that Tsutaya’s version – Discas.net has taken most of the ideas from NetFlix (which is a good thing), but I’m not sure of the fine details as the whole site is in Japanese.
That is very interesting and while I do not subscribe to NetFlix, it’s good to see that Japan is right up and current with American home-viewing trends. (Is that really a good thing though?
)