It seems like everyday now we read a new story of how the MPAA and RIAA are going after someone for online file sharing of copy-written music and movies. In the case of the RIAA it is clear that thousands of songs are being swapped every minute of the day via the various file sharing networks and bit-torrent. What about movies?

Unlike songs, which weigh in under 5MB each in the MP3 format, DVD (and Hi-Def DVD) encoded movies are in the single to double digit gigabyte range. Even with a high bandwidth broadband connection it can take hours to share a movie. A movie that you will likely only watch once.

I'm not going to suggest that online trading of movies does not take place, because it clearly does, instead I am going to put forth the argument that online piracy of movies is not what is hurting the movie industry. The real killer of the secondary market for movies (DVD sales) is NetFlix.

You are probably wondering why I would suggest that the legal arm of the MPAA should focus on NetFlix, everyone's favorite movie rental service. It's not that I have any animosity towards Netflix (I have the three at a time plan) it's just that I feel the movie industry needs to take an honest look at the business model they have been using and realize that no one wants to buy DVDs anymore.

Think about it this way. My Netflix account costs me less than $20 a month while a single DVD costs me $20 to purchase. Unlike a CD full of music I will likely only ever watch that movie one time. There are exceptions for truly great movies (and Star Wars, is it me or did those movies have the worst dialogue ever?) and kid movies but, on the whole, most movies will only be watched one time.

I know the industry has tried to package all sorts of bonus content on a second DVD but even those of us who buy those sets never sit down and watch the bonus content.

Storyboards for an anime DVD? Yeah, I'll watch a few minutes of that and then remember I have other things to do.

Director's commentary? That is good for one pass if the director is worth listening too and the commentary is good.

I used to be a big buyer of movies on DVD, my collection easily contains over 100 DVDs. I do still buy some but my buying habits only include great DVDs like the Lord of the Rings Special Edition and the Avatar: The Last Airbender show on Nick. Both of those are things I know I will watch again. Otherwise, I have moved on to Netflix.

Yes, for under $20 a month I can watch those new release videos from the comfort of my home after adding them to my online que. In fact, I am watching more DVDs now than back when I was buying them. This is good news for my pocket but not so good news for the MPAA and the rest of Hollywood.

What can I say? Netflix is getting about $20 a month out of me and Hollywood and the MPAA are no longer getting the $100+ out of me every month that I used to spend on DVDs. Piracy? Those guys never bought DVDs in the first place so don't go looking at them as a lost source of revenue.