Binkies and Briefcases

This post is sponsored by BzzAgent on behalf of Redbox Instant. All opinions are my own.

This month I was invited to review the new Redbox Instant by Verizon streaming program. I was really excited to get the invitation on a cold, rainy day when my kids were home for Thanksgiving break and we were already planning to stay inside snuggled up and watching movies.

Redbox Instant is a subscription service, similar to Netflix. For $8/month you receive access to movies and games that you can stream on your tv, computer, tablets, etc. Plus you get four codes each month to redeem at the regular Redbox kiosks.

We use the Redbox at our local grocery store pretty frequently, I’d say at least twice a month on average, so I was excited to give this a try.

My favorite part was that they are offering the first month for free. I love free. Who doesn’t?

I was a little disappointed right off the bat that there was no way to do the trial without entering my credit card information. It turns me off when companies offer something for free, but make you give them your credit card before they will give it to you. I understand why they need to do it, I just don’t like it.

Now that I have had a chance to check it out, here are my thoughts:

Pros:

• Affordable. $8/month is a good price to have access to all of these games and movies, I think.
• Includes the Kiosk. If there is a new release we want to see, I can use one of my four free codes to rent it from the kiosk instead of paying to rent it “on demand.”
• Parental controls. I appreciate that I can set the controls to limit which movies and games my children can see.
• Fast. The first movie I downloaded from the list of subscription options was Curly Sue. It took less than 30 seconds to load and start playing on my laptop. I timed it. (I have an older MacBook Pro with an Xfinity high speed internet connection.)
• The first month is free.
• It seems to be very easy to cancel whenever you want.
• You can still rent movies from home, even without signing up for the subscription
• You don’t have to be a Verizon customer to use it (I’m not), but you do need to have high speed internet

Cons:

• Not very innovative. To be honest, I didn’t feel like I really got anything “extra” out of subscribing to this service. That is because we already have basic cable and most of the movies that were available from Redbox Instant we can get on demand or from the kiosk we are already frequenting anyway. (That said, it costs us about $6 to rent one new release On Demand movie from our current cable provider, so I think that having the four codes to “rent” new releases that are included with the $8 subscription fee is pretty cool. We often rent a movie as our “date night” after the kids are asleep. For us, that averages out to four at-home date nights a month for just $2 each.)
• Limited selection. If you do not have cable and are looking for an affordable streaming package, this might be a good selection for you because of the price. However, you get what you pay for. The children’s options are very limited and there are no tv shows available.
• Even after you subscribe, you still have to pay extra to rent some of the more popular movies, unless you use one of your four kiosk codes.
• Outdated children’s movies. If you are only looking at the movies included in the subscription, not the ones you need to pay extra to rent, then there are only 4 options rated G and the most recent one, Stewart Little 3, is from 2006.

I am not a gamer or a frequent streamer, other than the occasional YouTube video.  As a mom, I’d give this service a B- bordering on a C+ because I do think that it does what is says it does and that it comes at a fair price, but I think families can get a lot more for their money from other similar services. To get a higher grade from me they would need to add to their children and family options. Because it is only in the Beta version right now, I suspect they will be adding more, but for now I found it very lacking. For example, there were only 4 options included in the subscription package that were rated G and we already own one of them (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) on DVD.

What I really, really, REALLY wish is that there could be an “in theaters now” option, which would obviously have higher prices for those movies. Personally, I’d be willing to shell out $20 to be able to sit on my couch and watch the new Hunger Games movie after my kids are in bed. Sadly, that’s not an option.

If you want to try it for yourself, you can check out the free one-month trial here.

I am a BzzAgent and was invited to participate in this campaign in return for a free subscription. All opinions are my own.