What Will I Do with the New Netflix Pricing?

Recently, Netflix had changed its pricing model, splitting the by-mail DVD service from the streaming service. What that means is that Netflix charges for the streaming service and the DVD service separately. For example, my wife and I pay for both streaming and one DVD by mail at a time. Previously, we paid just under $11 per month for that service, but starting this September, we will have to pay $8 for the streaming service and an additional $8 to have one DVD at a time mailed to us, bringing our total to $16 per month. We are not too excited about the price increase, but we will continue to pay for the services.

The way I see it is like this: even though the price for our Netflix services has increased, it is still cheaper than cable. Currently, we do not subscribe to any cable service. I just can't justify the price for what few channels I'd half-way be interested in watching. Netflix allows me to pick the show/movie I want to watch when I want to watch it, and it does it at a very fair price. To be honest, the streaming service is almost, but not quite, enough to simply drop the by-mail DVD service. I wish that Netflix could get newer titles and keep titles for the streaming service (many streaming titles expire without explanation). I'd be willing to pay more for that kind of service.

NOTE: I've heard rumors that Netflix may be increasing their rates again either by or in 2012. Perhaps they're just rumors, but Netflix price increases have all but become a trend in the past year.