Netflix, the streaming movie and DVD subscription service, has continued on its march to a streaming-only future by removing the option to quickly and easily queue DVDs from yet another device.
The company announced in January that it would begin removing the option from "streaming devices," but we wonder if users - who were outraged at the idea - realized that the move would extend to devices like the iPad.
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When the company first announced that it would begin removing the option, Netflix VP of communication Steve Swasey explained that the decision was a simple one. Swasey said that it was a basic issue of where Netflix wanted to focus and that removing DVD queue functionality from streaming devices was just "taking away one process that not many people used."
According to Netflix, most members use the website to manage their DVD queue, so the additional functionality should be missed. Except, perhaps, by a vocal minority. The blog post announcing the change in January quickly reached a 5,000 comment max in just over a week's time. (By comparison, the most epic comment thread ever on ReadWriteWeb has garnered just over 3,000 comments in a year's time.)
The point, however, is not that users will disagree with the change. Netflix, like it or not, intends to get out of the DVD shipping business as fast as it possibly can. With DVDs costing 20 times more than streaming, who could blame them?
Now, the only thing we can hope for is that Netflix passes those savings on to its users and gets more streaming content. Then we can all stop complaining about ordering DVDs.
Actually, now that I think about it, I've been streaming only since the day it came out. What's wrong with you folks, cat got your Internet connection?
One more thing - the DVD queue feature is still completely available on the Netflix website, which is available using Safari. On the iPad.
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