Netflix & IMDB

Amazon.com should buy Netflix. Or Netflix should buy the IMDB.

I just recently re-subscribed to Netflix. Both to re-invigorate my music watching experience and also to fully explore their website which many people lately have told me I should model the new version of JamBase after. They're right, it's slick, and what I love most about it is that it very truly wants to be a movie recommendation service wrapped in a subscription service.

There's a slight flaw in it though. OK, maybe it's not a flaw, but an upgrade I'd like to see them implement.

Search for an actor - Robin Williams - and you get back a list of all of Robin's movies in Alphabetical order. But I want them in chronilogical order, so I can see the evolution of talent, understand the context of time and experience the artist from the beginning of their career. Unless I'm missing something, this isn't available on Netflix. But it is on IMDB.

The Internet Movie Database is a resource. Owned by Amazon.com. I can only presume that it makes money from advertising and linking to buy DVDs on Amazon. They call that 'contexual commerce'.

Combining Netflix into this would make for a truly amazing experience. Maybe they're planning it, or maybe they're going to converge with TiVo and then it would be Rhapsody for movies delivered through the TV.

Now that would be something...