Laura’s Muses

It is not uncommon for us to stop at the RedBox located outside of the Grandview Giant Eagle following the weekly grocery shopping trip. After all, it’s conveniently located right outside the exit, and a one-night DVD rental costs a mere $1.07. Not bad for a good selection of new releases and not having to wait in line at Blockbuster, if you ask me. If you haven’t yet seen or experienced the RedBox awesomeness, here’s the gist. It’s a freestanding “box” that is completely computerized. You choose from a basic screen of “Rent a DVD” or “Return a DVD”. From there, it is a simple and clearly directed process to complete the chosen task. If renting a DVD, you choose your desired movie and from there it takes about one minute or less to complete the transaction. Swipe your credit card, enter e-mail address for receipt if so desired (a simple ‘No, thanks’ button is provided if you do not need a receipt), and then your DVD pops out. The return process is even accommodating, maybe a 15 or 20 second process. On a whole, I can’t think of one way to make RedBox any more timely and user-friendly than it already is.

You may have noticed that Blockbuster also has one of these computerized rental boxes, located on the corner of Olentangy and 5th. It’s nicer than RedBox in the fact that it’s located in the lobby of a building, providing shelter from the outdoor elements. During this time of year, that’s a pretty nice feature. Look further into the comparisons between the two, however, and you will find that the Blockbuster box falls far short of it’s competitor. First, of the three times that I have been there, it has never worked properly. The computer system continually freezes up, forcing you to wait…and wait…and wait… until it finally starts over at the intro screen. There is a TV located above the computer screen that is blaring jarringly loud movie trailers at you while you are trying to figure out how to navigate the system. Not helpful, let me tell you. If you are lucky to get far enough to select the rental option, there is an unending list of movies that would take days to wade through. Your best bet at this point is just to pick the first thing you see that you may be interested in. Keep in mind, you are also praying that you can make it to the end before it freezes up again. When checking out, you must create an account if it is your first time renting from the Blockbuster box. This will lead you to a laundry list of required information that they have you enter, all using a touch screen keyboard that is just as flaky as the system itself. The credit card you use with this ‘account’ will be the card you identify yourself with if you choose to rent again on another visit, at least sparing you a good five minutes the next time. That is assuming, of course, you ever come back. Returning the DVD is just as, if not more so, disturbing. A lot of internal grinding, whirring, clicking and various other noises preface the request of inserting the DVD into the machine. Where and how to do this are a matter of your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine. On one occasion, Chris and I stood there for at least ten minutes trying to figure it out, and after we finally located the slot, the computer froze, navigating back to the original screen. Three tries later, we stood like quarterbacks ready to toss the DVD back into the machine at the first glimmer of the return slot finally opening. We then flicked off the ATM-like camera of the machine before exiting the building in fury.

Blockbuster online is a really great program, the stores themselves have flourished and they seem to have the whole movie and game rental thing down to a science. It’s unfortunate that they have not been able to carry that out properly in the rental box scenario. It’s possible RedBox may hold the advantage with this style of DVD rental because they have no stores to worry about. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain: I much prefer Red experience over the Blue.

Photo Credit: DVD-S3isDVD, by Daniel Y. Go. Some rights reserved.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Personal, Rants & Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.