For a real film buff being able to go rent F. W. Murnau's "Noseferatu", Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blowup" or Polanski's "Knife in the Water" was really important to me and something I took for granted. Almost every large city had a least one such film nerd rental place. And now that video stores are gone there's just a void for so much of this content.

One beacon of hope though which is supposed to launch soon is a streaming venture by TCM and The Criterion Collection:

http://www.filmstruck.com/

I am really forward to this that and I hope its huge success.