Review: Zip (Rent Your Blu-Ray/DVD Movies Online)

A while back, I went to 2 local video store to see what titles they were renting on Blu-Ray. Both of them are big rental players in the province and the other one is more local but has many stores in the city and around.

After talking to the clecks, I realized that both had owners that are thinking too short term. So, I decided too look at online renting for my Blu-Ray movies and even some DVDs. Of course, Blu-Ray was my main concern. Back when DVD was starting, I used such a service with some success.

Review: Zip it to me

Zip is the one I'm reviewing. I used the free 2 weeks trial to see how the system would perform. I subscribed to lowest priced plan of $10.95/month so I only have 1 Blu-Ray in my possession at a time. I filled my "zip" list with the 20 titles(Blu-Ray only) with many coming soon. Considering that my local video store was $5.88/movie, my expectation is to get 3-4 movie a month. Plus, I have access to 500+ titles versus the 20 or so at the local video store.

During my trial, we got many snow storms back to back thus delaying the shipment. Add to that my list of popular Blu-Ray and coming soon titles, it did not help. I'm sure that with DVDs, it's way better because they must have more disk per titles than Blu-Ray titles.

Zip is committed to Blu-Ray because you can buy some Blu-Ray for $10. They do that once a week in limited quantities but that's very cheap if you can get one

The user interface is easy for the most part. When I registered, I went back a page to check the information but did not noticed that I was enrolled in the default 3 DVDs out at a time for $24.95/month. It's the default for those want to rent DVDs(mostly) and some Blu-Rays. So, I had to search for a way to get the other plan. That seemed to have delayed my shipment too. Okay, I was not lucky during my trial but it was not Zip fault. Mother nature and me were to blame for the most part.

How online renting works

You make a list of movies and the system send you the next available in your list. If it's not available, it takes the other one and so on and on. This way, if you have a long list, you don't wait to get a title from it. I had 15 available titles(5 coming soon) and should had make it longer.

You will received by regular mail(Canada post for me) an envelop with the movie it in. You won't have a box or the extra disk with it. Zip include a return envelop with it. You just use it and send it back. No stamps or late fees to deal with. In my case, it's better to return it right away. For that, I can go into the site and mark the disk as mailed back. If you have 3 DVDs, you can just email the one you want and keep the others for later.

Conclusion

Depending of where you live, renting online can be a solution for you. Me, I will use it mostly for Blu-Ray. But if you want to rent a not very popular DVD, online renting sites have often 50 000 or more titles. Zip has 72 000 titles.

Rent your Blu-Ray/DVD movies online:

Zip(Canada) - Try a FREE 2 weeks trial
Blockbuster(USA) - 50% off first month
Blockbuster(UK) - Try a FREE 2 weeks trial