Our choices over how we get our movies have increased tremendously with the expansion of services provided by the Internet. We can choose our favorite movie online and then have it delivered by mail. However, we can simply skip the mail delivery and watch the movie immediately online.

There are two ways to go about this. We can pay a fee and use a movie download site or get the movie without paying for it by whatever means. This article will compare offline video rental stores as well as the various ‘free’ online alternatives against the benefits of a movie download membership.

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 group movies by the latest additions, critic picks, popularity, and alphabetically. For some memberships, you can even write your own review and rate a movie. When it comes to judging the pure entertainment value of a movie, nothing beats a user’s review.

Huge archives of movies available for download are typical of online memberships. Free online movies that are actually legal are generally in the public domain with expired or un renewed copyrights. These are early 20′th century classics.

The web sites of the major TV networks have free television shows that are recent and popular. However, only a select few of these series are available and only for a limited time.

Download membership sites offer safety from viruses, worms, spy ware and mal ware. However, you’re playing a game of Russian roulette when downloading movies from ‘free’ sites. You never know what sort of virus or spy ware might have been introduced into your file by someone else if you’re using a file sharing network 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.