Amazon or iTunes

Bk800 said:

I think what i am looking for is a little feedback, i have the Ruko 2sx and the apple 3 tv. I have been comparing prices on movies and tv episodes, between amazon and iTunes; i am having a very hard time justifying buying from apple, amazon prices seen to always be cheaper, what do others think?

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They are? I just compared a bunch of new movie releases, and with the exception of Hitchcock (which is actually cheaper on iTunes), the rest all have the same price.

It's hard comparing TV shows that are currently mid-season, as Amazon only lists the discounted price per episode, whereas iTunes only lists the price for the entire season. But looking at complete seasons, the prices seem the same.

Make sure you're comparing the correct versions, though. While doing my comparisons, I searched for Argo and clicked on it, and Amazon told me it was only $14.99 (compared to iTunes' $19.99 price tag), but then I noticed a link that said it was also available in HD. Once I clicked that, I was taken to Argo's HD page, and it had the same price as iTunes. Ditto for Game of Thrones season 2. In fact, it seems most of the links from Amazon's main page showing a lower price than iTunes are actually the SD versions and not HD.

There will be times when one service probably has something at a cheaper price than another (like Hitchcock being cheaper on iTunes), but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

I buy from Apple because I know that my devices - iPad, iPod, iPhone, Mac and Apple TV - which I love will all support the files - I also trust Apple more and would rather give them money than Amazon. It is an ease of use question for me - I hate dealing with Amazon's hacks to get stuff playing on Apple devices.

I also don't want to buy special non Apple devices just to watch Amazon stuff. That is my choice others may opt for Amazon and thats great for them.

I also look for the sales so I buy movies every week that are at the 10 dollar HD price point - I now have a collection of around 300 movies - also to note you get iTunes Extras with many purchases - some are great - some not so great - but it is an added benefit to iTunes.

I always found iTunes and Amazon pricing to be very similar. They both run weekly or daily specials on different titles, so there is often a difference there and I think that Amazon may have more variety in their on-sale items. Regular prices seemed comparable if not identical.

I tried a Roku for a while specifically because I already have Amazon Prime and wanted to try out their Instant Videos. I ended up not liking the interface as much as I do the ATV. I found that there was very little available on Amazon Prime that wasn't already available on Netflix streaming and I really hated the way that amazon mixes the stuff available for free with the stuff you have to pay for.

I did a little spot checking as well, I think @DP812 may have hit on the issue - iTunes shows the HD version by default, Amazon shows the SD version by default. If you choose SD in iTunes, or HD in Amazon, prices seem to line up pretty well (e.g. "Flight" is $12.99/$4.99 in SD on iTunes vs. $12.99/$4.98 in SD on Amazon; in HD it's $14.99/$5.99 on both).

At that point it boils down to what you're going to do with the video. I have iPad, iPhone, Apple TV - shuttling video among devices is very easy within iTunes. If I had, say, Roku and Samsung Galaxy S3 and Kindle Fire then it would be a different story.