We’ve got a lot more options for getting our movies rather than driving to the local video rental store thanks to the phenomenal growth of the Internet and the advances of technology. On the Internet, we can make our movie selection and then wait for the video to arrive by mail. However, we can simply skip the mail delivery and watch the movie immediately online.

There are two basic approaches to doing this. We can get the movie without paying for it by whatever means or pay a fee and use a movie download site. This article will compare the online download memberships, offline video stores, and the ‘free’ online alternatives against each other.

The enormous selection in movies that are available is one clear benefit of a movie download site. From these extensive movie archives, you can download as often and as much as you please. Because of a limited amount of physical space, no offline video store will ever be able to match this.

Due to this limitation, they can only provide what is currently mainstream or popular. Online memberships don’t have shelving space problems and therefore can have an extremely varied and extensive movie selection. If your tastes go beyond what is deemed popular by everyone else, then you will get more satisfaction by going online.

Finding the exact movie of your choice is a lot easier online than sifting though the shelved products in a video store. Your search for a movie online is made easy with a search box that will search by director, title, actor, or any keyword. In addition lists are provided that categorize movies into different genres.

These lists also include movies categorized by latest additions, critic choices, popularity, and alphabetically. Members themselves are sometimes allowed to rate and write reviews for the movies. Nothing beats a user’s review when it comes to judging the pure entertainment value of a movie.

A large selection of movies in their archives is typical of online memberships. Any movies that are legal and free are almost always public domain which means that they are no longer copyrighted. These are the golden oldie film classics.

Recent episodes of popular TV series are available for viewing on the web sites of the major television networks. These will only be up for viewing for a brief time and will be limited to just a few series.

Movie download memberships are safe from worms, viruses, mal ware, and spy ware. By contrast, there is a real risk to the health of your PC when you get free movies from questionable sources. For instance, you will be sharing files with a multitude of strangers and will be trusting that none of them will infect your file with spy ware or viruses if you use peer to peer for your downloads.

In short, these are a few of the reasons why paid movie memberships are the best choice for getting your movie entertainment. The benefits of speed, economy, and convenience that the Internet provides over video rental stores are obvious. However, the potential risks that ‘free’ downloads pose to your computer greatly overshadow any of the inconveniences of the local video store.