Renting movies online

Gone are the days of scouring the shelves at the movie rental store hoping for a copy of the hot new flick. <br><br>News on 6 consumer reporter Rick Wells shows us how more fans are finding their favorites

Monday, February 16th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Gone are the days of scouring the shelves at the movie rental store hoping for a copy of the hot new flick.

News on 6 consumer reporter Rick Wells shows us how more fans are finding their favorites online. "Cause I can watch about, I watch about 15 or 16 movies a month." Heather Gleidt is a chyron operator early mornings and noon here at the News on 6. Her free time is movie time.

And she gets those DVD's online. "You get as many as you want for a certain monthly fee." She uses the online service Netflix.com. They charge her credit card $20 a month, and that's it, no late fees no, and due dates no shipping charges. "They have movies; TV shows they have alot of foreign films, all kinds of stuff. They have over 15,000 titles."

There are similar services, but Netflix.com is probably the largest. All work on the same principle, in this case three DVD's out at any one time. You maintain a wish list online and as you return DVD's they ship you the next title on your list. It's a great diversion during breaks at work, pull out the laptop, pop in an episode of a favorite TV show, rented on line, in this case the USA Network mystery " Monk."

She's used Netflix.com for about three months and loves it but says you really have to keep up with it to make it pay, otherwise only one drawback, particularly with new movies. "If it's very very popular you will have to wait a little bit, usually takes a couple of days."

Any recommendations from a 15 movie a month person? Heather liked Pirates of the Caribbean. Lost in Translation she thought was lost in translation.

Just click on www.Netflix.com if you'd like to take a look.