Hulu or Netflix…that is the question. Whether it’s nobler in the mind to suffer…through commercials.

Sorry, couldn’t resist. I do love me some Shakespeare, oh boy that was awful!

Do you remember when Netflix first premiered? (1997, a lifetime ago!) You could get DVDs delivered to your door, two at a time! Sometimes it was more convenient than going to Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, any number of places. But, you had to wait for the movie to arrive, sometimes it took weeks and then you couldn’t get the new movie until they received the old one back, but their hook…no late fees, big plus! Things have changed, you can still get movies delivered and now, you can watch instantly, (streaming).

Netflix was a good deal when it first came out, you paid per movie, then you could pay a monthly fee for the streaming and having movies delivered. Then the stink, they were going to charge $7.99 for streaming AND $7.99 for shipping movies, just as before, huge blowup, who’s going to do both? They lost a lot of customers at that point. I was ok with the $7.99 for streaming, but not paying the additional for DVDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix

Then came Hulu, a way to watch TV and movies, hmmm…similar to Netflix? A little. The difference is that Hulu will have TV show episodes on sometimes the same night after the show has aired, maybe a few days or a week later, Netflix may not have the episode for a month or longer.

Now, the hook with Hulu is that you don’t have to have an account to watch the basics, Netflix you do, you can get a month free, but that’s it, Hulu, you can watch anytime. Now, their bigger hook is that if you want to watch past seasons and some specific shows, you need to have an account, $7.99 for a premium account is not so bad.

Let me tell you…when I didn’t have cable for all those years, Hulu and Netflix got me through! I could watch old movies and TV shows and I was happy, no channel surfing, but I got by. I do have to say that some of the movies on Hulu I don’t get some really old, some really odd, not saying Netflix doesn’t have the same thing, but Hulu’s selection is really odd, well to me anyway and if you know me, you know that’s saying something!

Here is my one BIG, HUGE issue with Hulu…WHY OH WHY ARE THERE COMMERCIALS?!? This is with a paid account, why do I have to watch commercials? I could watch regular TV if I wanted to watch commercials! Sometimes, if you’re watching on your PC, it gives you an option to watch one commercial in the beginning and the rest of the show, sometimes the entire time you’re watching, no commercials, but that is very rare! And I watch on my iPad, phone, even the wii, still have commercials! Argh!

Explain why I am paying premium and still have to watch commercials.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu

(Shh…I got a Hulu account to watch something specific, I would love it if I could remember and a friend of mine has a Netflix account, we swapped account info and we have the best of both worlds, shh don’t tell!)

I do have to say that one of the things i love about these services/apps is that I have found some shows that I may never have been exposed to otherwise and I love to find a show (I think I’ve told you this before) and watch every episode from the beginning so I don’t have to wait week to week, that’s a plus. (I don’t always like to wait, go figure!)

So, the question remains…Hulu or Netflix…luckily, I don’t have to choose!