iPod Amazon.com starts video download service

[EagerDragon]

Well I have 910 Gb (3 250 Gig Externals and 1 160 Gig one) of space so I could fit 56 at 16 gigs a piece. Video is the reason for having large hard drives. It would be nice if you could just store them online somewhere though...I guess that is what rentals are for...

Wow sounds like you do like your movies. Cogratulations you are richer than me.

Tell me how long will it take to download a 16 Gig movie at 1.5 megabits? How long does it take to watch one? 1.5 to 3 hours?

I do not think it is practical, why not just buy the DVD and rip them to the hard disk? Walmart is likely 20 minutes away and those DVD's take very little space to store away until needed again.

Do you really need 56 or 100 movies on your hard disk all the time? What happens when you want 1 more? Go get a 750 gig disk to have a little wiggle room?

Not trying to make a joke out of it, it is just that I find it hard to believe that people really want a download service for movies and specially for HD movies. Do they realize the expense in hard disk and expense for a fast machine to watch a movie when you can buy an 80 bucks DVD player instead and make a library of DVDs all in nice flat paper sleves?

If we all had FIOS maybe, but it is a lot faster to stop by the store and either rent what I want or buy what I want. Mean time my computer hardware expense is low and it does not overhead while waiting for the download overnight. MYBE Im just don't get it.

 

[GreatOne08]

Tried it

My impression:

I rented 'Walk the Line' for $3.99 (1.99 rebate). Downloaded the required Unbox player to my HP media center PC. The movie download was smooth (watched the movie while the dl was in progress), the movie is in DVD quality, and the sound was decent.

However, the movie stalled at the 1h45m mark. The movie download status indicated 100%. Tried to skip the scene that stalled but yielded the same result.

Overall, I see some potential in Unbox, but I have a feeling that Apple will come out with something much easier to use and more functional.

 

[EagerDragon]

My impression:

I rented 'Walk the Line' for $3.99 (1.99 rebate). Downloaded the required Unbox player to my HP media center PC. The movie download was smooth (watched the movie while the dl was in progress), the movie is in DVD quality, and the sound was decent.

However, the movie stalled at the 1h45m mark. The movie download status indicated 100%. Tried to skip the scene that stalled but yielded the same result.

Overall, I see some potential in Unbox, but I have a feeling that Apple will come out with something much easier to use and more functional.

Im surpriced, how fast is your broadband?

 

[monke]

Overall, I see some potential in Unbox, but I have a feeling that Apple will come out with something much easier to use and more functional.

Don't they always seem too



About the 'unbox' thing, does that mean that the DVD's don't come with a case? I really enjoyed reading them

 

[GreatOne08]

Im surpriced, how fast is your broadband?

I have Cox cable. 5mbps downstream/768kbpss upstream. The download was suprisingly smooth and fast.

 

[technicolor]

Of course it is likely that Amazon tried to license FairPlay, etc. from Apple so they could support iPods but I bet Apple turned them down.

I don't blame Apple for playing that cards it finds itself with.

Good point, I didnt think about that aspect.

 

[sweathawg]

Unbox?

Correlation anyone? Unbox, amazon. Umm,

Amazon _______ (animal associated with amazon)

Who made that decision? They could have called it ANYTHING. Like, I understand Zune, easy one syllable word with no real meaning and a Z because kids think Z and the color green are cool. Its lose, but I get it. But Unpackage?

Are they getting at the fact that movies come without packaging?

Amazon Nopackage.

Do people think anymore. Before Apple, ipod could have meant anything, now it has its own identity. Zune can be considered the same way. Sansa as well. But when I hear Unbox, its a verb, that implies work to be done. Am I moving? Should I starting disassembling something? I want Amazon NoUnboxing.

Someone should start "Amazon Boxing" where their marketing team gets in a ring and goes out after 1 round for a terrible word association.

I couldn't figure the name out either. Maybe they got wind of Apple coming out with some cube like thing (or SJ's love of cube anything) and thought it'd be clever to be the anti-cube.

Yeah I know, a stretch.

 

[teme]

Anybody offering media content and not making it ipod playable are destined for retarded failure and its well deserved. How can you isolate the largest media player market?

I think Amazon Unbox content is meant to be watched on a computer screen - that's the priority, the support for some portable media devices is just a bonus. And that's fine with me, if I buy a movie I'd rather watch it on a large computer screen than on a small media device screen.

 

[chuckles:)]

that interface is really, really, REALLY ugh.

 

[karlfranz]

This is, unfortunately, ANOTHER reason why movie downloads won't work. If the price is the same, the convenience factor is absent (takes HOURS to download yet minutes to go to the rental store or moments to open the Netflix sleeve!), overly restrictive and limits where/how I choose to watch my movie, then it means I won't be participating in the digital movie revolution. The fact that system incompatibility is also an issue is just the nail in the coffin!

You forget to mention another option that I haven't seen anyone else discuss here so far: On Demand.

It may not have the extensive selection of a rental store, but when it comes to new movies or shows from premium channels nothing I have seen so far beats the convenience it offers me.

I simply scroll through the list of movies, show, specials, etc. and find what I'd like to watch, click the "buy" option on screen and in a matter of 1-2 seconds the show starts on my TV set (not on a PC), with full 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound. I can pause, fast forward, rewind, and watch as many times as I want in a 24 hr period and it's billed directly to my cable bill (and cheaper than BlockBuster). Often times, they include the DVD extras for free.

Oh, and when I'm done watching I don't have to send anything back to Netflix, or drive back to the video store.

BTW: we now even have On Demand HighDef movies & shows as well.

No Unbox for me,thank you. This reminds me of the ol' Circuit City DIVx fiasco!

 

[ddrueckhammer]

Wow sounds like you do like your movies. Cogratulations you are richer than me.

Tell me how long will it take to download a 16 Gig movie at 1.5 megabits? How long does it take to watch one? 1.5 to 3 hours?

I do not think it is practical, why not just buy the DVD and rip them to the hard disk? Walmart is likely 20 minutes away and those DVD's take very little space to store away until needed again.

Do you really need 56 or 100 movies on your hard disk all the time? What happens when you want 1 more? Go get a 750 gig disk to have a little wiggle room?

Not trying to make a joke out of it, it is just that I find it hard to believe that people really want a download service for movies and specially for HD movies. Do they realize the expense in hard disk and expense for a fast machine to watch a movie when you can buy an 80 bucks DVD player instead and make a library of DVDs all in nice flat paper sleves?

If we all had FIOS maybe, but it is a lot faster to stop by the store and either rent what I want or buy what I want. Mean time my computer hardware expense is low and it does not overhead while waiting for the download overnight. MYBE Im just don't get it.

1. Well I was using 16Gigs as an example of an HD movie which aren't being sold yet. DVD quality would be 2.4 gigs and should take between 1.5 to 3 hours for most people who have 1.5-3.0 Mbps connections. You have to realize that Verizon's Fios service is offering speeds up to 15Mbps which would lower the time to about 20 mintues for DVD quality.
2. For buying it isn't practical at all. For renting it might be. $2.99-$3.99 isn't that bad if you have a fast enough connection to download it in a few hours. It is the same price as the video store but the videos are always in stock and you don't have to use your gas or time to go to the store.
3. Do people really need to keep their 20,000 song collections on their hard drive? I mean that seems like a waste of space when they could store them on CDs or a few DVDs. My hard drives are mainly used as backup but I do have plenty of multimedia files on them as well.
4. I think that this is all ahead of its time but I think it is the future. When Napster first came out and people had 20Gb Hard Drives I thought the same things as you about music. It was only 1999 that my desktop had a 20Gb hard drive. Putting movies on your hard drive would have been unimaginable then. In the next 5-10 years, there will be a major shift in how multimedia is distributed.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Apple and Amazon have never been unfriendly with each other.

What if Apple's movie store is a Mac way to access Unbox content through iTunes?

I don't like the idea; but it's possible, as they partnered with Audible for audio books.

My next computer I'm getting comes with a 160 gb drive so I am not ready for downloadable movies. The iTunes TV shows take up enough. S'aright. It will come with time.

 

[ddrueckhammer]

My next computer I'm getting comes with a 160 gb drive so I am not ready for downloadable movies. The iTunes TV shows take up enough. S'aright. It will come with time.

Would you even consider renting one at $2.99-$3.99 for the convenience of not having to go to the movie store? I know Netflix is better but still it isn't bad and you don't keep rentals on your hard drive long anyway.

 

[kresh]

The iBox !!

I think the reason Amazon picked suck a wacky name that doesn't make any sense right now, is to make them stand out from Apple.

They may have heard a leak about Apple's naming scheme for their upcoming service.

Imagine if Apple named their service/hardware solution the "iBox", then "Unbox" makes a whole lot of sense!

just my 2 cents

 

[uburoibob]

Seems as if Amazon doesn't want Mac customers. I am gonna oblige 'em!

Done with Amazon.

Bob

 

[peterjhill]

because it is "protected" with windows media

WTF is Amazon's problem with Apple?

Simple.. the files are protected with windows media. This has recently been hacked, so you could install parallels, download the movies, un-DRM them, then convert them to something you could play on your ipod...

Or you could wait until apple does the same thing but with software that works on both a mac and a pc...

glad I don't own amazon stock....

 

[Analog Kid]

I wonder if these downloads have the super annoying unskippable FBI warnings and studio logos that DVDs have? Every time I pop in a DVD and can't skip those I start swearing about how I'm going to start pirating just so I can edit that shiz out. Seriously every time. Nothing makes me angrier.

Funny, I just said exactly that to my wife last weekend-- I want to copy the disc just to remove the warning that I shouldn't copy it...

 

[Analog Kid]

Would you even consider renting one at $2.99-$3.99 for the convenience of not having to go to the movie store? I know Netflix is better but still it isn't bad and you don't keep rentals on your hard drive long anyway.

What convenience? It's going to take me a whole lot longer to download the beast than it would take me to walk to the rental store, browse the racks, and pick up the physical disc...

 

[ddrueckhammer]

What convenience? It's going to take me a whole lot longer to download the beast than it would take me to walk to the rental store, browse the racks, and pick up the physical disc...

Well you don't walk anywhere where I live and the roads and stores are packed with people. Also, when I go to the video store they almost always are checked out of what I want. This way, I can set it to download, cook dinner and watch it in a few hours. When I get a Fios connection soon I will hopefully be able to download a movie in 20 minutes. The only thing is that I'm not sure that this will replace Netflix because of cost.

 

[digitalbiker]

Seems as if Amazon doesn't want Mac customers. I am gonna oblige 'em!

Done with Amazon.

Bob

I guess you haven't been reading! It's not that Amazon doesn't want to support Mac, it's that Apple won't let them. Obviously Apple has their own idea of what consitutes a movie store and interface software. Most likely we will see their version Tuesday.

 

[miketcool]

I think the reason Amazon picked suck a wacky name that doesn't make any sense right now, is to make them stand out from Apple.

They may have heard a leak about Apple's naming scheme for their upcoming service.

Imagine if Apple named their service/hardware solution the "iBox", then "Unbox" makes a whole lot of sense!

just my 2 cents

Better not be the iBox. iTheater sounds cool, box, no. It's possible Amazon got wind of all the same rumors and this is a gamble. On their website, however, they make this really lame comment:

"Ready to play? Here's how
If you can unwrap a DVD, you can do DVD-quality downloads. It's that easy, and less sticky. See for yourself."

Sounds more like a rushed connection to the fact you dont need the DVD packaging. Last I checked, unwrapping CDs and DVDs was sort of a joke because they make it rather difficult in order to deter theft.

"So if you have trouble opening the darn thing, then youll have trouble downloading!"

 

[mlochm]

rhis amazon stuff just doesn't add up...

I think Apple must have something truly revolutionary on their hands. They definitely would have known that there were competitors when bidding to studios... Apple wouldn't bury themselves with shovel loads of download bottlenecks the way Amazon is doing... Apple users expect a seemless experience- Music is one thing- Video is another. There must be a reason for Apple to be willing to wait out the various studios. They must have full confidence that their service whatever it may be will be VASTLY superior- and expect the studios to come crawling back when they realize this. To the studios, a dollar in the bank is better than the lack of a dollar in the bank- It is understandable that they would want to avoid being painted into a corner in the new era of Video On Demand though... How did Apple oust the cd? For one thing they introduced a hardware alternative. They also removed the gap between the Archive and the experience. Whatever they did, it was revolutionary. I think we should expect the same for the DVD.

I don't think this will be just a Video download service within iTunes. If it is- it's a wasted opportunity to plug in the last piece of the "livingroom" jigsaw puzzle.

edit> i think we will see some sort of .mac integration (as optional)

 

[Evangelion]

Especially since the new DVD's are going to HD!

Um, you need a new DVD-player for that HD-goodness. Either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Seen any of those for sale yet? Me neither.

 

[Snowy_River]

umm are those digital bits, new, previously viewed or refurbished? LOL

Hehehe... I like it!

 

[SiliconAddict]

unbox


What a STUPID name.

Yah like iPod is any better. As if it means anything. I couldn't give less of a crap about the name as long as it has the content. I'm going to be laid up from surgery in Nov. Literally 23 hours out of the day I need my foot above my head for 10 days. If there is a large selection I'm golden. Well that and rereading LotR.