Amazon confirms the terms of its declaration of war on Netflix Amazon has finally confirmed what was Hollywood‘s worst kept secret: that its Amazon Prime customers will be able to get some online video for free, just like the DVD rental customers of Netflix can get online video for free. To us this looks like an early experiment, and Amazon is thought to have about two million Prime …
"Amazon has finally confirmed what was Hollywood‘s worst kept secret: that its Amazon Prime customers will be able to get some online video for free, just like the DVD rental customers of Netflix can get online video for free."
Call me old fashion, but paying an annual subscription fee to get 'free' material, isn't really free, now is it?
I have nothing against Amazon offering its members free access to material, but they should say *free for members only.
"Customer
–noun
1.
a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron."
"Amazon has finally confirmed what was Hollywood‘s worst kept secret: that its Amazon Prime customers will be able to get some online video for free, just like the DVD rental customers of Netflix can get online video for free."
If you are not an Amazon Prime customer you get it for free.
If I know a specific title I can find it at Amazon.
When just browsing I also had problems finding things of interest. Had problems limiting the search to free titles only, perhaps a deliberate design flaw. I do have Amazon Prime. The same interface which works for products isn't working as well for video.
Am not aware of whether my Samsung 46C8000 has Amazon. Perhaps one day I'll check, have never been motivated to notice before so perhaps this move by Amazon is working.
> ...Netflix ... lets consumers watch a certain number of minutes a month, depending...
The only Netflix level with limited minutes is, or was, the $5.99/month plan – I'm not sure they even offer that plan any longer. It had a limit of 200+ minutes; i.e. if you'd used 199 you could still start a new movie and watch it to completion. And you were only able to stream to a computer. To stream to a TV, PS3, or Wii you have to have an unlimited plan.
$7.99 gets you unlimited on-line (and zero DVDs) per month.
$9.99 adds unlimited, one-at-a-time, DVDs per month.
I dunno about the NetFlix situation in the US, but here in Canada you can watch as little or as much for $7.99 per month, no restrictions at all. It's a very good deal.
Although the titles are still rather limited, there's far more that I want to watch than there is time for.
My partner and I have netflix here in the states. Along with a DSL subscription, it provides tens of hours of content for us per month for very little cash - important for two young students. I don't know how Amazon could compete with it, there is more content than we could ever watch, and the service is vastly superior to cable in all ways imaginable (we got a $15 antenna to pick up local digital broadcasts like news). Every week we stumble across one or three new series we want to watch. My biggest complaint is that not enough content is available instant view, so we are limited to about 3 Doctor Who episodes per week, waiting on the Series 5 disks.
The difference in Canada is finding 200 minutes worth watching with their limited selection - how many times can you watch 'Broken Arrow'?
ps Free - Amazon prime customers pay $79/year to get free shipping, the movies are free on top of this. Alternatively of course it's $79/year for unlimited movies and you get the book shipping for free
I am rather tired of ENDLESS content being shoved down my throat...
I'd much rather enjoy and create my own content, and live a life of colour and climactic creativity; than to be just another couch potato watching "other people do it" in the never ending Hollyweird region encoded drivel.
1) it's unlimited at $8 unless you still have access to the $5 plan which did have limited a streaming.
2) Amazon's storefront for streaming sucks, their recommendation engine sucks, they have no queue system, etc. This needs a MAJOR interface overhaul to be worth it.
3) Amazon uses lower bit per second aka lower quality (enough to be easily noticeable per other review sites).
4) Selection selection selection
5) I happily pay $2 extra to be able to get those DVDs in the mail, for a large number of reasons.
6) no consoles, no phones, etc. Netflix is entrenched here, Amazon is barely plugging along with some simply support forthcoming for some TVs and set tops.
For people already paying for prime, this was a nice bonus. Personally, i could care less about the 2 day free shipping for $80 a year vs just waiting 2 more days for free...
nice to see competition enter the game, but its going to be a few years before Amazon can compete, and netflix has the market and the capitol to put of a hell of a fight.
Is NetFlix not pulling movies once they are streaming online. Its bloody annoying to get half way through something (say all the Eddie Izzard standup shows) to go back to something you are watching and find that between today and yesterday they've pulled the damn thing.
Also no mention of services like CinemaNow in the article? Its up there with NetFlix (mostly).
I have a Tivo and WD TV Live Plus and I am a Amazon Prime and Netflix member. I have Netflix on both devices (the UI on the WD is better). Amazon Prime supports neither device. The Unbox player mentioned in the article is also NOT supported for Amazon Prime free videos either.
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