Netflix added a new lower-priced ad-supported option, leaving existing subscribers as they were.
Amazon however is pushing ads onto existing subscribers and adding a new ad-free option to which one has to upgrade.
This burns a lot of goodwill. It just ain't nice. I will be cancelling the subscription once this hits my country as a matter of principle.
Like you, I think this is a step too far and I will gladly suffer the inconvenience of buying stuff from other retailers in the future.
Tried it and failed. Higher prices, costly 5 day "express" shipping and questionable / non-existent return policies - the time and effort required to wade through is not worth it.
I want to not use Amazon too - but other retailers make it really really hard.
Honestly, though, I'll happily pay a few quid extra to Argos just to avoid Amazon. (Is Sainsbury's perfect? No. Are they less detrimental to society than Amazon? Yes.) I recognise not everyone has this privilege, though.
Or for non well known branded items, just drop shipped stuff that you could get on aliexpress cheaper…
Only if I could convince my spouse to cancel…
In countries where the Amazon Prime membership (originally this was for fast free shipping only) is available, Prime Video is included with that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Prime#Availability
Outside of those countries you can typically get Prime Video as a cheaper, separate subscription: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Prime_Video#Availabilit...
In Germany, for instance, I don't think you can get Prime Video without the full Amazon Prime subscription. In countries where the shipping benefit is more costly (like the US) they may offer different membership tiers.
Typically I subscribe to these services for just a few months at a time, depending on what's interesting. Harder to do with accounts that are shared by a larger household, I guess.
Looks like I'll be cancelling prime video as no ads is really important to me.
That's not what the announcement (https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/prime-video-u...) says:
> We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month* for U.S. Prime members and will share pricing for other countries at a later date.