Amazon launches Prime instant videos, unlimited streaming for Prime subscribers
engadget.com
engadget.com
For someone who shops at Amazon a lot, only uses streaming a little and doesn't have a DVD add-on, this could be huge.
Although, when MP3s arrived at Amazon most people stuck with iTunes. Netflix might have enough brand recognition to prevent more than a handful from switching unless Amazon launches a serious campaign.
Edit: The other nifty part is Amazon offers video on demand for free with some DVD/Blu-ray purchases. Sending those along speedily plus instant watch also helps people choose Amazon over the local Target, Best Buy etc.
EDIT: And holy shit. A video player that works beautifully and I don't have to install anything. I get a nice big message about installing Silverlight when I browse Netflix with Chrome. Although after further experimentation there are a bunch of things that annoy me off the bat. First, pressing escape while in full screen stops the movie, instead of just exiting fullscreen. Also, exiting fullscreen appears to close GChat windows that I have popped out of my browser. Obviously still some kinks to work out :P
Of course your milage may vary, but you can test it out with a free clip first.
In slightly related news, I wonder if this is what came out of the TechCrunch rumors last year about free Kindles for Prime customers: http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/12/amazon-wants-to-give-a-free...
Maybe we'll see Amazon add book rentals too as a prime perk, even if it's a higher tier.
We have detected that you are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Instant Video customers must be located in the United States when viewing videos online
If they can get this to follow me around the world, I'm there. Until then there are a lot of us still without a viable way to watch movies from the internet. (no legal way, that is.)
It's worth proxying your connection securely via SSH/OpenVPN when you are on open wifi anyway.
A cheap $5/month VPS is something every hacker should have in their toolkit.
A lot of these 'companies' are literally run by 15 year olds - which is fine (I used to run a web host way back in the day when I was 16), but don't expect A1 business practices.
Frankly, you can't beat a $19/month Linode out of their London datacenter.
Thanks to lowendbox, I found quickvps.co.uk, which, with a 60% discount offer, offers a 256MB Xen VPS for £3/mo. They appear to be competent so far, even though they did e-mail me my root and web UI passwords :\ Anyway, if it goes poorly, I'm out less than a lunch.
Thanks again for the link!
Also just be careful what you put on the drive as the provider has full access to the drive and I don't trust these cheap providers as much as I would Linode.
http://www.meetup.com/cloudcomputing/events/16395288/ (link to paper about their experience).
I have both Netflix and Amazon Prime and would probably drop Netflix if Amazon had a better selection. If most users are like me, this means that Netflix has to increase their catalog, which has both technical and licensing implications. On the technical side it's caching and long-tail inefficiencies which will increase their infrastructure costs. If they are still using AWS (the Mercedes Benz of cloud hosting), I'm sure it's because their margins are high. Given their size they could get a much better deal with another provider.
Second, at <$10/mo, the cost is not high enough to make bother with switching. I would rather pay $10/mo have the best streaming experience than pay $6/mo have a second-rate streaming experience.
I expect Netflix to come out on top in this battle. Obviously, I'm rooting for them (I dislike companies which squeeze competitors through loss leaders).
The point is that innocent statistics about Netflix's machines gathered for routine "security" and other housekeeping efforts can lawfully give Amazon a lot of information about Netflix.
IMHO, Netflix has needlessly put themselves in a vulnerable position by moving to Amazon.
Google has every bit of information about Groupon and LivingSocial AdWords spending (millions of dollars per month). When Google launches their competitor, Google Offers, they'll know exactly which ads get people to buy deals. Incidentally, Google Offers will work by running offers across Google ad networks.
I think Amazon is too big to try something funny - because they are big, a dent in their reputation would probably also hit them big. Who would still want to host on AWS if they would let down Netflix?
My only other concern is how they're delivering the videos. Is it just flash? Or is it some crazy Silverlight+DRM thing like netflix? If it's the former they could attract some Linux users who can't use netflix.
DRM isn't a big concern since you're not buying the movies. It is different from buying and downloading songs. You weren't expecting them to let you keep the movies, right?
edit: You guys are right. Netflix doesn't work under linux. I just tried it under Ubuntu. No go. It's too bad since Silverlight does use less power and Netflix has impressed me so far.
Moonlight absolutely doesn't work in Ubuntu. And Silverlight runs like a dog in a VM, even with 2d/3d accel (and turned off since they're not 100% stable) and that's giving my VM 3 cores and 3 GB of my memory, AND it's on a separate hard drive than my host OS.
Netflix is completely worthless to Linux users. I welcome competition from Amazon.
So you mean to say that the average Windows XP box is "hardware secured"?
I think you mean, "Microsoft doesn't license their PlayReady DRM components to anyone that isn't big enough to hurt its adoption".
Because I had to have Netflix (my wife uses it all the time) I took the Mag to the office and bought a used Mac Mini on Craiglist just for this.
I get that the whole system of rights to movies (an music) is a mess.
Could we not reset the system at least for NEW movies, and give them somehow unified world wide distribution rights?
Unfortunately iTunes in Denmark only has music, so thats a no go (and I don't care to be 2 seasons behind on my favorite shows anyway).
I am happy to put money where my mouth is, but nobody is willing to sell to me on these terms.
In fact, some video streaming services now seem to be available in Germany. But guess what: they require some dedicated software to be able to play the movies. I am not yet sure I really want that. Also, I am not sure my TV can deal with that (whereas it can probably play torrent movies out of the box).
(I think iTunes might have some movies in Germany, too, but last time I checked the selection was not great and highly overpriced).
Amazon clearly has the user and advertising base for this sort of option. However, would I really put customers that want quick shipping and want streaming video in the same bucket? I guess the only similarity is wanting a premium service at a subscription.
I see similarities between this and the way they incrementally roll out new AWS features - they don't always feel the need to make a massive splash and they leave space to incorporate user feedback before betting the farm on a new service.
"Start your one month free trial of Amazon Prime now and begin enjoying the benefits of free two-day shipping and unlimited instant streaming of movies and TV shows today." - amazon.com
Netflix allows 7(?) devices that can be linked to an account. Some people also share accounts and it seems to work for them.
Same with the "New Release" DVD page, which is now hidden but still accessible. Again, customers were using it too much. That one I could somewhat understand as it caused contention for physical DVDs, but the solution seems to be buy more DVDs, don't hide a useful feature.
If Amazon's selection improves, I will be the first to cancel the Netflix subscription and I truly believe Netflix will be in trouble. They just aren't anywhere near as customer focused as Amazon.