I didn't know this bit of trivia:

Trivia: JK Rowling wrote much of the early Potter books in the Elephant Café in Edinburgh, near Greyfriars churchyard, where there is a tombstone with the name Tom Riddle. Rowling has acknowledged that this may have inspired Voldemort's name.

I went there! And I saw Thomas Riddell's tomb. There's also a McGonagall, as well as a whole family of Potters.

Hulu Plus gives you access to certain shows current seasons. But not necessarily the entire season - it depends on what the agreement is. So some shows you can have a whole season, but some shows will only have the last 5 shows.

Also some shows are only available on the Hulu website and not on a streaming device, because they don't have the rights to stream to a device. But this is usually newer shows. For example So You Think You can Dance is on Hulu.com but not available on a streaming device.

Right now Netflix generally doesn't show anything until it's available on DVD and there's a lag time with certain new release movies. Hulu has the rights to show current tv shows.

So Raising Hope (for example)is on Hulu but not Netflix. However, Hulu doesn't have many of the tv shows that are off the air - Stargate Atlantis for example and Netflix just added all the Star Trek series except DS9.

As for movies - Hulu got a deal with Criterion so they have a huge collection of Criterion releases. BUT they don't have a lot of newer releases. Netflix doesn't show the newest stuff on streaming, but they have Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3, and Hulu doesn't.

Also on Netflix (at least for some older titles) even if the series is streaming, some episodes are dvd only.

If someone is looking to give up cable but still keep up with current shows then Hulu is probably a better option.

Netflix and Hulu have a lot of the same titles. Hulu does give you the option of seeing the titles of all the tv series you get with Hulu Plus without signing up. With Netflix you'd have to go for a free trial offer to get a good look at it. Or check out someone else's account.

I'm going to do a little research but I think that even with the increase I'm still doing better having my current Netflix plan and Hulu Plus. Just looking at the packages Comcast is a bit cheaper, but once you add in equipment rental charges and other fees it's about the same. I think I have to check it out.

But if I went with Cable I'd get rid of Hulu plus and I'd need to cut back on Netflix.

Hulu Plus gives you access to certain shows current seasons. But not necessarily the entire season - it depends on what the agreement is. So some shows you can have a whole season, but some shows will only have the last 5 shows.

I thought that was just Hulu non-plus (the free version).

Some episodes are available free and some are available for Plus only.

For example Bob's Burgers-Episodes 1-5 are free (although it looks like a few are set to expire soon) and episodes 9-13 are Plus only.

And with Plus you can stream to devices (well what shows are available for streaming to devices) where as the free version you can only get on the computer.

Here's a page that compares the free vs plus versions - [link]

That Atlantic article confuses me:

Remember, many people don't use streaming at all.

I'm sure that's true, but I'm not convinced that "many" equals "most." Or even half. Netflix is already expanding into other countries with streaming, which they cannot do with physical media.

In particular, if you don't have an Internet-ready device connected to your television with a Netflix widget, then streaming is far less attractive

Yeah, how many people use magical widgets like iPhones and Xboxes and Wiis? And nobody would ever watch a movie or TV show on a laptop, or iPad, or even their phone; that's just crazy sci-fi talk!

I get that the streaming content is not for everyone, but I think that guy is skipping a few steps connecting "my wife and I don't like it that much" to " nobody will pay for that!"

Yeah, how many people use magical widgets like iPhones and Xboxes and Wiis? And nobody would ever watch a movie or TV show on a laptop, or iPad, or even their phone; that's just crazy sci-fi talk!

I know, right? Um, I have a decent-size monitor and watch stuff on my computer all the time? Streaming is cool? Shut up?

I only watch on the computer.

I only watch streaming on the computer, but then I'm single. It's much less of an option for couples or families.

I suspect the comments on that article are pointing out a lot of these issues.