News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

July 17, 2008

video

Amazon to demand that you kneel before VoD

Posted Jul. 17, ’08, 12:49 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Video

Amazon VideoHaving thrown their hat into the downloadable music market, Amazon is now poised to enter the video streaming arena as well. Again. You may remember that the online retailer extraordinaire launched an initiative called Amazon Unbox almost two years ago, but it never seemed to do quite as well as they’d hoped.

Now, according to the New York Times (whom we of course trust implicitly) they’re reinventing it as Amazon Video on Demand (though it’s currently in beta as “Amazon Unbox Beta” and won’t debut to the public until later this summer).

How does VoD differ from Unbox? Like iTunes, Unbox required you to download video files to your computer in order to watch them, but Amazon’s new plan lets you start streaming video online immediately. That means instant access to a library of 40,000 titles, both movies and TV shows, from almost all major content providers (namely Disney and its ABC subsidiaries and HBO). And it seems that also unlike Unbox, Amazon VoD will also work on Macs. Hurrah, hurrah. You can also pick up watching a video on a different device from where you start, presuming you login to your Amazon account.

Where, then, is the weak link? Well, if you’re one of the many people who don’t seem to enjoy watching video on your computer screen, but rather prefer the comfort of your couch and television, your options are limited. Amazon’s reputedly struck a deal with Sony to make their VoD programming available via Sony’s awkwardly named ony Bravia Internet Video link, a $300 device that you hook up to your television. Future Bravia TVs may have such capabilities built directly into them, however.

Personally, I think this is the reason that digital video hasn’t taken of the way digital audio has. Most people don’t want to watch TV sitting at their computers, but the lack of any dominant device in the field (i.e., an iPod for video) means that there’s no way to get all of the content you want onto your TV. Especially given the flexibility and breadth of content available via illicit means. My prediction: Amazon VoD will do okay, but it won’t revolutionize digital video any more than Hulu did.


1 Comments

Dave Robeson said:

Unbox doesn't require that you watch on a computer. It also works with TiVo. In fact, you can order a movie on line at Amazon from work, and it'll send the movie to your TiVo so it's there, ready to watch, that night.

July 17, 2008 5:28 PM

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