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Amazon To Launch New Streaming Video Service
The New York Times reports that Amazon has begun a limited testing of its new Video on Demand service, which will replace its Unbox store. The significant difference between the two is that the new service will stream movies through your browser rather than requiring you to download them and use Amazon's video player. Users will also retain access to movies and shows they're previously purchased. The service is not expected to be particularly profitable; Amazon is most likely looking to the future.
I've used it and it is so much better than the old version. There is no buggy client to install and it works on Windows or Mac. When you view a detail page, the video starts playing automatically, which is a little annoying, but it is nice to get a preview of the show you are considering watching. If you decided to buy it, just click purchase in the viewer and the video extends seamlessly, it doesn't pause at all.
The new video library is way better than the old client. All the videos show up in a tiled view. You click the show you want and it flips around to reveal the options. Click play and the show starts in the current window, and is very fast to start.
The video quality seems to be lower than the download versions of the same shows. While the downloaded movies were approximately DVD quality, I can really see the artifacts in the streaming version.
Is this service going to open to the world market? Or just the US? There's a huge disconnect with the purported ideology of business, that is, globalisation and the free-market, not to mention the WORLD wide web, but pretty much every service (like iTunes and Steam) charge one price for Americans and another price for everyone else. This is noticeable here in Australia. Our dollar is almost at parity with the US dollar, so it's obviously to our benefit to purchase things from the US or from companies based in the US. But tracks on iTunes cost literally twice as much and we're forced to buy games from the "Australian Steam brochure" which are again, up to twice as much.
So while I see this as a good move, I hope Amazon will buck the current trend, and as a company that's based purely in the online realm, will understand that arbitrarily forcing different prices because they come from different countries is stupid when we're talking about the WORLD wide web.
One of these days, those big evil media companies will figure out that embracing the Internet and technology will actually improve their business. This is one tiny step in that direction. Kudos to Amazon.
McCain/Palin '08. Now THAT's hope and change!
with one of the unlimited plans $8.99 and up) and Xbox Live Gold, you will have access to 10,000 Netflix movies. However, I'm not sure if you can use the same account with the 360 and with Roku. If so, count me in! I have a 360 with Xbox Live Gold, and I think this new partnership with Netflix is what I was looking for.
Aside from all the above (me, me, me, me...), I don't see where Amazon will so much as put a dent in Roku, Netflix, or Hulu. Although they corner the market in some areas, I think they are getting into this game a little late to make much difference.
When I bought my first Linux-preinstalled laptop last year, I felt like I was really discovering how great computing can be again, especially for people who are interested in computers. So it saddened me to find that the Netflix in-browser service requires a Windows machine. I still use it on occasion with an older computer, but I hope that this technology will soon be truly cross-platform like many other modern web services have become.
We bought the Netflix Roku player and have been very happy with it; we've got 135 films in our instant queue and we're glad we don't have to watch normal college-freshman-level TV (i.e. crass humor, actually aimed at 12-year olds) or hang out at our local seedy video store with the nasty carpet smell for the same old catalog.
Also, occasionally I'll blurt out something terribly nerdy about how the Roku player runs Linux and my wife will totally ignore it. This always helps bring me back down to earth for a moment.
How about a service that creates mashups between Xbox games and streaming movies? Like Seven / Manhunt (track down and kill those committing the seven deadly sins), or GTA IV / Bullit (chase down Steve McQueen and carjack his Mustang), or even Madden 2008 / The Longest Yard (Madden: "BOOM! I think he broke his freaking neck!").
Now THERE is a service I'd be willing to pay for.
Oh, so you're the one who's still on dialup! ;-)
Given that they could well be writing a brand new, proprietary plugin (rather than simply relying on Flash), we don't know it will be cracked quickly.
It will be cracked, of course. But it's not really a step in the right direction, other than that if I can make it work well with Linux and mplayer/VLC, I'll be able to pay for more. But that's a big if.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
" Users will also retain access to movies and shows they're previously purchased. " This is incorrect. It should be 'access to movies and shows they've/they have purchased'.
There is this big trend lately, it seems, of networks and content providers letting you view content online-- as if it were some great answer to reaching us the people.
I am starting to seriously wonder if I am the in the minority of people who want to watch TV.. ON MY TELEVISION.
It's a shocking thought.
I want to watch a TV show ON MY TV.
I am a TiVO subscriber because I want to watch those shows according to my schedule, my time, my situation.
I have an Apple TV box so I can watch shows that appear on Apple TV that either are in conflict with other shows I watch-- or are long since released.
Its frankly alarming to me that Amazon would consider switching from Unbox to a "browser streaming download" service; I have no interest in it. I have no interest in seeing these shows on my computer.
I have this big TV over there. I spent a small fortune on it. My friends and I watch shows together on it.
My computer I do things for myself on. Television is for something else entirely.
This trend is bothersome. :|