New Choices in Renting Movies

Renting movies is one of America's favorite pastimes, but many people simply don't have the time to run to the nearest movie rental store every week. No need to anymore, though. Now movies are available as downloads onto your phone or computer, through mail order, and there are even more options.

Netflix is one of the most popular movie rental sites online. You'll spend between five dollars and forty-eight dollars per month, depending upon the plan you choose. You select movies, put them in the queue, then wait for them to arrive in your mailbox. There's a postage-free envelope that accompanies the movies so sending them back is no hassle. After returning the movies, more will arrive. Netflix also offers a new option: Instant Watching, where you can view up to 48 additional hours of film, depending upon which plan you have. The selection isn't so large, as of yet, but there will be more to see in the near future. There's no need to download; just click to play the movie.

Blockbuster Total Access is very similar to Netflix, but you can also rent and return movies at your local Blockbuster store. Plan prices range from six bucks to twenty-four bucks per month. If you return the movies to the store you can receive a coupon for a free movie rental.

Cinemanow.com allows you to download movies on your computer, or other machine, for up to 30 days. If you start the movie, and are unable to finish watching it, you have 24 hours to finish viewing it. You can also watch it again and again for 24 hours, but once you've started the movie, you have only 24 hours before the movie is eliminated. You'll pay three to four bucks a piece for each download but it can take some time for the download to finish. The site doesn't offer package deals, so you'll pay full price for each and every title you download.

If you're a subscriber at Vongo.com you can download movies and each will be stored on your computer for as long as you wish, but for non-subscribers, you'll pay for each and every title. Subscriptions are ten bucks a month with non-subscribers paying three to five bucks per movie download. If you watch lots of movies Vongo is a great deal.