I recently signed up for Netflix and have been very pleased with the service so far. I figure as long as I force myself to sit down and watch the movies as I get them, this will work out quite nicely.

Before I signed up, I had several questions I didn't find answered on the Netflix website:

Note: These are not official answers from Netflix, just the answers I've received or observed while doing business with NetFlix.

1. How is billing handled?

   Billing is done via credit or debit card, once a month, on the same day each month. I wasn't able to determine if you can pick or schedule the billing date.

2. Is there a limit to the length of your movie queue?

   Yes, The limit is 500 total for each of your queues combined. I found out by hitting the limit, not by asking. This seems like a lot of movies, but toss in several multi-disc sets and you'll have it filled quite quickly. This is the only very annoying thing I've found about Netflix so far. I put every movie I ever wanted to see, but now I have to cut movies off the list to add more. Very inconvenient, Netflix. Why arbitrarily limit the list length? The longer my list, the longer I'm a subscriber...

3. Can I change my rental plan? Any limits?

   You can change your rental plan from the standard choices (1 out, unlimited; 2 out, unlimited; 2 out, limit 4 per month; 3 out, unlimited) anytime you like. It may not update or bill until the next billing period.
   Update 4/29/2006: NetFlix has now updated their offerings to include 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-at-a-time rentals, although they've priced these offerings at a premium. The best value (assuming NetFlix isn't throttling you DVD flow because you are an efficient consumer) is still the 3 per month, unlimited plan.

4. Can I change my address easily if I move or take an extended vacation?

   There appears to be no limit on changing your address. Netflix users have indicated that as long as the address change is made before the movie is shipped, it always goes to the correct address as specified in the Netflix "Your Account" settings.

5. Do the queues interact at all?

   Yes, if you add a movie that is on another queue, it will notify you and give you the option of adding it to your queue anyway or canceling your choice.

6. Can i choose the priorities of the various queues?

   If you have more than one queue, you control how many movies ship out of each queue. For instance, I have the 3-at-a-time plan, so I could have 3 queues (each shipping the top movie in each queue) or I could have 2 queues with one of them shipping two choices from the top of the list and the other shipping one choice from the top of the other list.

Early on, Netflix had serious problems with long waits on popular movies. Looking down my queue right now, there are only two movies that aren't available "Now" in my top 250 choices:

• [95] Rush: Music in Review 1974-1981: Disc 2 (Very Long Wait)
• [250] Essential Music Videos: Bang Your Head (Short Wait)

I've got a mix of new releases, old releases, popular movies, and obscure movies on my list, so based on my personal observations and experiences, Netflix has cleared these hurdles.

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