Last week we told you that Amazon was gearing up to take on Netflix for a piece of the streaming video pie.
The on-line retailer has made its first move into the arena, offering a new streaming service with 5,000 movies and TV shows to subscribers of the Amazon Prime program. For $79 a year, subscribers get two-day shipping and now streaming content.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is pushing the new service. You can find out more on Amazon’s web site.
Skimming the list of movies and shows, users can watch episodes of “Doctor Who” and “Farscape” as well as a selection of first-run and catalog films.
Other than what seems like the whole BBC back catalog, I don’t see too much that isn’t already streaming on Netflix. Will it bring first run movies to streaming faster, if so that is the only reason I see to get it.
Sean, I agree. And I can access instant Netflix on my Tivo and watch it on my TV. Why would I pay a yearly service fee to Amazon? I’ll stick with Netflix. Their excellent customer service has made me a loyal customer. These guys bend over backwards to make their customers happy.
Yeah but Amazon Prime is – – almost – – worth the price. Now you get Amazon Prime <<>> streaming!
We weren’t sure if we were going to renew Prime but, now, we definitely will.
Amazon Prime is certainly worth the price. I’d say it easily paid for itself last year in shipping costs. The added benefit of being able to stream is nice but I don’t know how much I will use it unless it has something Netflix doesn’t.
In any case it’s not costing me anything so it’s a win for me.
If you’re a fan of Amazon and use it a lot, the Prime is worth it for the shipping savings alone. Add this in and it’s a nice package.
That said, I did notice their Doctor Who selection is pretty much what Netflix offers via streaming. And it’s not necessarily the DVD versions of the classic shows. The Colin Baker story “Vengeance on Varos” is the US syndicated version where two 45-minute episodes were cut down to 25-minute episodes. The DVDs are the original release…this is not.
But if you’re an American fan who never saw the syndicated version and are curious, that’s worth a look.
Content looks fairly weak. We are prime members so I tried a few out streaming to my iMac – quality was sub-par. I’ll try it on the Roku tomorrow, but really I think they have a bit of a way to go to challenge Netflix.