Amazon DVD Rental?

I'v heard rumblngs that Amazon is starting up its own DVD rental service to compete with Blockbuster, Netflix, and Wal-Mart in this growing online market. Amazon certainly has the distribution reach necessary, but the key question will be pricing levels.

Will they be able to compete with Blockbuster on price? Or Netflix on the whole 'FREE trial' thing?

More details should come out in the coming months. One thing is for certain; as soon as it hits, the Amazon brand name and reach will catapult it into the top five DVD rental services.

DVD Rental 101

Unless you've been living under a rock (a rock devoid of Internet access, that is) you probably already know about the rising popularity of online DVD rental programs. For a monthly fee, such programs allow you to choose your rentals online, and then they mail them to you with postage prepaid both ways. There's never a due date or late fee -- which is great news for me and my fellow procrastinators.

But here's the question: Which DVD rental service should you choose? Blockbuster is the most well-known, but is it the best deal? What about Netflix? Wal-Mart? And the 50,000 some-odd other DVD rental sites out there?

The best way I've found thus far is thru "comparison" sites that show the pricing, selection, trial offers, and other terms from the leading services. Like this one, for instance:

DVD Rental - Consumer Review of the Top 5 Deals

From there, it's really just a matter of finding which is the right plan to fit your needs. Some people, for instance, might be cheap like me and insist upon trying only those with free trial offers. Others might want the largest selection possible. And others still might want DVD's with all the "good stuff" (or bad stuff, depending on your perspective) edited out. Whatever, the case may be, Step 1 of online DVD rental is comparing the top offers. Stay tuned for the next installment ....