As per usual, I stayed pretty far away from New Year's resolutions this year but I made a rash decision a few hours ago that I'm (surprisingly) not regretting. After sitting on 3 DVDs for the last 2 months, I've decided to finally cancel my Zip.ca membership.
The Canadian equivalent of Netflix, I've loved the service (which I've subscribed to for almost 3 years) but have found that over the last few months, I've simply not been making the best use of it and so, rather than keep shelling out $25 per month to rent 3 DVDs for 6 weeks, I've decided to pack it in. Honestly, I wouldn't mind paying for the service if it included a streaming option but until then, I've decided to call it a day. Here's hoping they add this feature or that Netflix finally moves up North. In the meantime, there's always the video store...
Last week I mentioned a workaround for Netflix subscribers to be able to watch streaming movies on their big screen TVs via their XBox 360's rather than spend $99 on additional hardware.
Hot on the heels of that, I just discovered that Microsoft has made an official announcement of a partnership with Netflix that will allow Netflix subscribers to see the streaming movies without a workaround. The only wrench: you must have an XBox live membership - not a big deal considering most gamers play online and already have this.
Looks like the streaming will require a web browser which means XBox will likely be releasing a new patch which will include Internet Explorer. Sweet.
I'm *very* curious and excited to jump on this bandwagon. The key now is to find out if Netflix will let me sign up for a streaming account only considering they currently don't ship to Canada. I'll keep you posted on how I fare with this one.
I love Zip, I do. I've been a member of Canada's Netflix for 2 years now (I can hardly believe that but that's what my account details say). One of the first movies I added to the list was the much talked about Bollywood gem Don which stars the only Bollywood actor I can immediately recognize: Shahrukh Khan.
As I added more titles to my list, mostly obscure oldies, that golden gem kept getting further down the list and considering I have it set up on random, it looked like it would be years before I got to see it. Finally, I made a few changes to my account and put the bloody film on the number one spot where it's been sitting for over a month. Until today:
YES!!!
You'll also note that I currently have 500+ titles in my list. At this rate, it'll be a lifetime before I can get through them all. The goal for the end of the year is to knock 100 off and bring that number down to 400. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
In the meantime, if you're wondering why I'm so excited about seeing this, just check out this fantabulous trailer:
