How to improve Netflix instantly

Netflix has more than 27 million subscribers to its online streaming service, lincluding the 2 million it picked up the past few months.

But that doesn't mean the subscription-based company doesn't have room for improvement.

Here are 6 ideas for making Netflix better instantly.

1. Better movies

The biggest complaint of Netflix is its limited collection of new or relevant movies. There are no shortage of movies made before I was born or ones I wouldn't watch if there was absolutely nothing else on, but there are very few movies to select from that I would actually want to stay in and watch when I want to stay in and watch a movie.

Netflix has some really good TV shows, including "Friday Night Lights," "Bones,"" How I met your Mother" and ESPN's "30-for-30 series," but its TV shows are the company's strongest assets. Netflix is good for catching reruns of your favorite show or watching a new-to-you show from the start, but it's not good for watching the latest movies.

2. All the good titles are on its DVD plan

It's like Netflix doesn't even understand how movies are rented. Or at least how my selection process works. I'm busy, I don't have a lot of time to watch movies or TV. Every minute I spend watching Netflix is a minute I should be doing something else. Most of the time that something else is sleeping. I don't have time to plan my movie-watching experience out days in advance.

I don't log into Netflix on Tuesday and think, "What movie do I think I might want to watch this weekend?" I don't have time to wait three or four days for my selection to arrive in the mail. I log into Netflix on Friday or Saturday night and think, "What movie/TV show am I going to watch now?" And then I watch it.

If I want to decide to watch a new movie the same night I want to watch it, I'll go to Redbox and spend $1.

For Netflix's 8 million DVD users, the wait is only going to get worse when the US Postal Service cancels its Saturday delivery service, causing viewers to have to wait until Monday to get what would have otherwise been a Saturday delivery.

3. "House of Cards" was awesome. Make more of them. Then produce more series.

"House of Cards" was awesome and my anticipation for the release of season two is currently my biggest justification for not cancelling my subscription. Netflix needs to release season two before I forget how great the first season was.

And when it's done with that, it needs to continue to release high-quality programming simultaneously. Despite Kevin Spacey leading a solid cast in a well-written, excellently produced show, simultaneous release was easily the best thing about "House of Cards."

I watch Netflix because I don't have cable. I don't have cable because I'm busy and don't have the time to be in the same place at the same time every week. This makes it impossible to follow a TV series during its run on TV. I'll start off watching the first or second episodes of a series, but by the fifth week I've missed more than half of the series or season and there's no point in watching the rest, so I don't.

With Netflix, I can watch what I want when I want. This summer I discovered "Bones" and watch the entire series in just a couple of months at my own pace. I prefer to watch TV series at my own pace, Netflix should continue to allow me to do this, especially if I can watch new content as good as "House of Cards" was all at once.

4. Send me more emails

But not too many emails. Netflix has the capability to use emails to enhance my viewing experience and is not coming close to doing so. I've received a handful of email from Netflix notifying me that some shows have added new seasons. But it's only happened about three times in the past year and none of them are shows I want to keep up with. If Netflix isn't sure which shows I want to be notified of new releases, they should add a box I can check similar to the way I can add titles to my instant queue. Or use my instant queue as a guide.

More importantly than letting me know when it's added more content, it'd be nice if Netflix would keep me posted on when it's planning to remove movies or TV shows I've planned on watching. It's easy to know what I plan on watching: I've added it to my instant queue already. Would it hurt to give me a 72-hour notice via email before pulling things I've added to my queue? (I recently discovered this website that does this for you: http://instantwatcher.com/)

5. Make multiple user profiles for a single account

I'm sure Netflix would prefer every user to have their own account, but there are a lot of legitimate reasons for people to want their own profile for an account they share with someone else, such as everyone who lives with someone they share an account with. Married people, roommates, and families all watch something different on a system that tries to tailor its suggested watch lists based on viewing practices. This is how an account shared by a husband and a wife ends up with "Alias," "Monk," "The Lincoln Lawyer," "Say Yes to the Dress," "A Little Bit of Heaven," "CSI SVU," "First Wives Club," "You Don't know Bo," "Sister Wives," and "Family Guy" all end up as one "person's" top 10 recommendation list.

It'd be a much better viewing experience for all if everyone in the house, or at least two or three of them, could create their own profile and actually have a custom-made custom-made recommendation list. A pleasant viewing experience is what Netflix hopes I keep paying $8 a month for. That and subsequent seasons of "House of Cards."

6. Charge me more

I know customers hate being charged more for anything. But the movies on Netflix aren't that good and I'm running out of TV shows I want to watch. I'd pay $1 or $2 more a month if it meant having access to a better library of movies or shows. I pay $8 a month for access to a substandard movie collection and a semi-decent-at-best collection of television programs for the convenience of being able to watch what I want when I want. I'd gladly pay $9 or $10 a month to have access to a semi-decent movie collection and an improved collection television series I can watch when I want.