Amazon Adds Streaming for Both PCs and Macs
Amazon has extended its paid video service to streaming, Macs, and compatible Sony BRAVIA devices and televisions. It previously only made movies and TV shows available for download to PCs or on TiVos. The moves were all expected and forecast, but they are no less important for Amazon to have a viable online entertainment portal.
Amazon bridges current offerings from iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix, though it’s important to note that, like iTunes, none of its content is ad-supported. It beats iTunes on TV because it has NBC, and it beats Hulu on movies because it has far more of them. Netflix’s movie service, meanwhile, only provides streaming for PCs.
The service is now called Amazon Video on Demand, with the previous brand name, Unbox, now just referring to the download helper application. Amazon has a large, but not exhaustive, library of 40,000 movies and TV shows. It also works on Windows Media Center extender devices such as the Xbox 360. It’s worth making special note that downloads still only work on Windows.
Movies cost on the order of $9.99 to $14.99 to own, and $2.99 to $3.99 to rent. Most TV episodes are $1.99; some older TV episodes are free, and there are some Internet TV originals in there too, like A Comicbook Orange.
In my early tests, streaming on a Mac works great, even over the EVDO connection I’m using right now. The video picks up nicely wherever you scan through the status bar. Amazon is also offering free 2-minute previews of each movie and episode.
See also: Comcast Fancast download store news from earlier today.
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Does this mean indipendent Internet video producers can sell content there?
Tim Street on September 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm - Permalink
[...] via newteevee [...]
Amazon launches Video On Demand - NovaScene on September 3rd, 2008 at 5:56 pm - Permalink
I don’t know why it’s not mentioned (or maybe I do), but it also works great on Linux!
Still no captioning support that I can find, though
Wade Menard on September 3rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm - Permalink
[...] Amazon also has a back catalog of some 40,000 films for purchase and/or rent, as NewTeeVee points out. [...]
Amazon kills Unbox, brings Video on Demand to life » VentureBeat on September 4th, 2008 at 2:45 am - Permalink
[...] announced yesterday the extension of it’s paid video streaming service to Macs and televisions. [...]
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[...] occur with video, based on the combination of iPods, mobile video (cell phones), YouTube, Hulu, Amazon’s new service, and anything else that brings low-to-medium quality video to our eyes on a recurring basis. [...]
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[...] Amazon adds streaming for both PCs and Macs (New Tee Vee) Sphere: Related [...]
Amazon ofrece streaming para PCs y Macs | Tecnodatum on September 4th, 2008 at 8:03 am - Permalink
[...] a fairly short and semi-public public beta, Amazon Video on Demand is here. The “new” service offers web streaming (Windows and Mac OS X), in addition to [...]
Amazon Video Streams Out of Beta on September 4th, 2008 at 10:48 am - Permalink
[...] Amazon Adds Streaming for Both PCs and Macs [...]
links for 2008-09-04 « SOLiDrAiNbOw Notes on September 4th, 2008 at 3:11 pm - Permalink
[...] Video on Demand is the latest service that will attempt to have you turn off your TV and turn on your PC when you want to be entertained. [...]
Hands on with Amazon Video on Demand « NewTeeVee on September 5th, 2008 at 3:00 am - Permalink
Авто новости - читаем,
Авто свалка - комментируем,
Авто дром - думаем…
bambulabaklann2
gydokjava on September 5th, 2008 at 4:22 am - Permalink
[...] recently launched its own VOD video streaming service, but extending that paid model to the IMDB wouldn’t make as much sense. People visiting [...]
IMDB Gets Full TV Shows and Films « NewTeeVee on September 16th, 2008 at 8:14 am - Permalink