Netflix does under certain circumstances does provide a better experience than piracy. * You don't have to wait 5 minutes to watch the show, it starts playing

Netflix does under certain circumstances does provide a better experience than piracy. * You don't have to wait 5 minutes to watch the show, it starts playing instantly. * You don't have to worry about storage or codecs. * If you don't know what to watch, netflix can help with that. * If you are on a train or bus, generally you can get netflix and watch movies on your phone. I do this quite regularly. This isn't to say there aren't serious advantages to piracy or legal downloading (it doesn't work on linux), there are. Steaming can be a disaster if the internet is having a bad hair day. It depends on circumstance and goals. I invested in netflix the day I saw someone unwilling to wait for a show to download and use netflix instead. Steam combines the best of both worlds. I just wish they would add a DRM free at 365 days from launch feature + price drops to 5 dollars.