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Netflix, why

By Jacob Cohen | November 17, 2008

Netflix, why do you make things harder than they need to be?

Here are the steps I took to try to watch instant content on my computer through Netflix:

  1. Switch from Firefox to IE, as they only support IE 6+
  2. Install an ActiveX control
  3. Get a new DRM file with a unique ID
  4. Upgrade Windows Media Player to version 11
  5. Upgrade a component of Windows Media Player
  6. Get a DRM license to watch the show or movie

By contrast, here are the steps required to view something on a site like Amazon Video on Demand:

  1. Open it in your browser

Or Hulu:

  1. Open it in your browser

I’ve been a long-time customer of Netflix, but recently they seem intent on snubbing customers any way they can, whether it is this video playback runaround, or their announcement not too long ago that they would be removing the ability to have multiple queues per account (a decision that, thankfully, they decided not to follow through with after the backlash from their customers).

If Netflix is truly a believer in video on demand as the next big thing, shouldn’t they get it right? Netflix is not exactly putting their best foot forward here.

Topics: General |

6 Responses to “Netflix, why”

  1. Dr. Azrael Tod Says:
    November 17th, 2008 at 11:07 pm

    oh great! that will just keep me from using netflix ever.. since i dont run ie on any of my Linux-Computers.

  2. James Says:
    November 24th, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    OTOH, Netflix on Xbox 360 is sweet.

  3. zz Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Netflix works on non-IE with Microsoft Silverlight.

  4. Jacob Cohen Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    A friend of mine with a Mac showed me that it does work with Silverlight on his Mac, but apparently this feature was just released very recently.

    I installed Silverlight on a whim to see if it would work in Firefox, but I still get the “Your browser is not compatible” message.

  5. Alexander Benner Says:
    December 12th, 2008 at 8:09 am

    I’ve tried amazon, but it’s only avaiable withing the US. :-(

  6. gagarigs.com Says:
    December 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    indeed, on the mac tho its just a simple silverlight install
    or thats what they want you to think lol, i have 4 macs, it has worked only on 1 of them
    what is even more crazy is that they are all the same OS and updated the same as well, so i can;t figure out how has it failed on the other 3
    after installing silverlight and heading other to netflix to watch the ever declining list of movies i get a 1001 error, i have been told its my fonts, no wait its my browser, no its my OS it needs an update, and most recently Microsoft told me sir we can recombined you a windows ready machine, WTF are they nuts :)

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