Netflix is indeed a nice system, and you can even use it by barely touching a computer, which is not true for Peerflix and similar.

Peerflix (or other P2P systems) have the following advantages:

• Cost. Should be much cheaper for modest users. Very heavy users should use Peerflix or Blockbuster. Vastly cheaper for very light users as you only pay per DVD.
• Ownership. You own the DVDs you have. If you quit, you own the DVDs, not Netflix. Of course you started owning the DVDs you originally introduced.
• Speed. This one is more theoretical. Done right, when you get credit, somebody in your town mails it to you that day, you get it the next day. With Netflix, you mail in a DVD, they get it the next day at best, you get it the second day at best. I have only had this one-day thing happen once, so this is more theory than practice.

I don’t watch 13 DVDs/month, which is the break even point where Netflix is cheaper on their 3 DVD plan. However, I am not factoring in the depreciation question. If Peerflix suffers more serious depreciation problems it can lose its cost advantage except for people who watch only a very few DVDs/month, in which case the Netflix 1 disk plan may suffice.