As college students, we all have different ways of avoiding our homework. It may be because of spending time with friends or listening to music, but we can probably all agree on the fact that a lot of the time, schoolwork is avoided by binge watching a show.
Not to mention the only way to binge watch these days is with your favorite streaming service! When streaming services first came on scene it seemed like they wouldn’t last for long. But, in just a few short years they have become essential to entertainment. Valley took a look at which one is the best for an average college student.
Netflix
Pros: Netflix is quite the staple when it comes to one’s daily streaming needs. Its price starts at $7.99, putting it as one of the cheapest on the market! Its original content is pretty unmatchable since it offers solids like “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards” — and all with HD quality. It also has older programs that have already ended if you want to catch up! Netflix is available on a variety of devices and as of late the company has also implemented different accounts that viewers can click into so other viewers don’t interrupt your watching.
Cons: Netflix may not have a long list of cons, but they certainly should not be overlooked. Licensing agreements between networks don’t allow the company to obtain shows quickly, so they usually have to wait a season or more for the next season to come onto Netflix. Even scarier? Contracts change often with the streaming service, so shows can be up one day and disappear the next.
Hulu
Pros: Hulu also starts off with a base price from $7.99 a month. The company gets content almost immediately after it airs because of its big studio backing.
Cons: Hulu’s list of currently airing shows are usually restricted to the last 5 episodes. Even though the company is trying to break through, it’s original content is also lacking. Probably the biggest con of all though is that Hulu still has ads on its site.
Amazon Prime
Pros: For $10.99 per-month Amazon Prime comes with free shipping, which in Valley’s eyes is pretty unbeatable. It has a library rivaling Netflix. Viewers even have the ability to buy or rent movies and shows, along with past seasons on networks that Hulu doesn’t cover (like HBO) and some original programming. Prime Instant Video also supports two simultaneous streams, as long as you’re watching two different videos.
Cons: Even though we listed the price in the pro column— because who doesn’t love the free shipping package— the extra $3 a month compared to Hulu and Netflix does add up. If you’re going to stick with the full package for long term, the $99 annual rate is probably best, which unfortunately does not include the free shipping.
What do Penn State students think?
Natalie Capelli, a freshman at Penn State says, “Amazon Prime kind of traps you into thinking you can watch something that you actually have to pay for, so I like Netflix way better.”
In the end, Valley figured out that all of the streaming services have their pros and cons, but it really depends on the content that you want to stream and just how fast you want to stream it.
