You do realize that Amazon has the same strategy as Apple - to make a closed ecosystem and milk customers, right?
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Amazon Launches 'Fire TV' Media Streaming Box with Voice Search, Game Support, and More
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You do realize that Amazon has the same strategy as Apple - to make a closed ecosystem and milk customers, right?
Well it looks rather nice, but so does an Apple TV box. Still I prefer Netflix and with any luck come this summer, HD Blinkbox app for my PS4. But rental services are all much the like now, same pricing and all.
Exactly. This is horrible for the end users. Lord I hope netflix doesn't do that and I don't see them doing that. Better to support software than hardware. That is what I am telling myself! haha
Of course. But if their prices today are lower than those in iTunes why not not to use them? I generally avoid buying content (except for buying BluRay disks occasionally). Renting the content does not get me stuck with any ecosystem.
I can see how Roku would be better for you then.
But isn't iTunes rental > or equal to Amazon's rental library anyway? Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought pretty much every movie is available on both.
I just never thought of needing to use Vudu, Twit, R3, Ted talks (a lot of which are available on Netflix, no?) or the RSS podcast app. To each their own though.
Well yes and the fact that the Internet providers are capping data at 300 GB and charging extra after you pass that limit - like Comcast is doing.
Well, let's hope so. But given that Amazon doesn't mention it anywhere and other sites (such as Gizmodo) say the contrary, I have my doubts.
Oh no! I never said it was successful.....I figured any male here with a significant other would realize it doesn't work.
But its how I justify it in my head lol!
I talked her into letting me buy a third iPad (now that the 4th gens are selling at $399) for use around the house - I want things like thermostat control, lighting control, media control, guest use etc....but the way I sold it to her? She could use it in the kitchen for recipes and in the closet as a way to categorize her wardrobe....we were actually going to create an app until we saw one already exists....
All about how you present it my friend
100% true. It rarely works.
Even when you plan. My wife does a monthly "girls night out" Dec-Feb I gave her my card and told her GNO was on me. Early March I purchased a FalconNW Fragbox. She saw the credit card receipt. Suffice it to say, when I get off the couch I will wait awhile before I try another one of my "plans". On topic: Fire TV looks sweet. I would dearly like to get one. It looks like Amazon put some thought into making a desirable product. I am a tech fan, regardless of brand, and I want one but with Roku and 3 Chromecast the justification would be hard to come by. More importantly I am currently banned from tech purchases for the foreseeable future. but I want one, so I'm probably going to do something stupid.
I don't think they will, they're doing quite nicely as things stand. As long as there's a plethora of set-top boxes and smart-tvs out there, it's the easiest option for getting your content.
The only reason they'd have to build their own box would be if one of Apple/Amazon etc. became dominant and then tried to squeeze out Netflix with their own service; and I don't see that happening any time soon.
Just wanted to let you know that I did some more research and came across a Mac App called "TuneSpan". It allows you to basically span your single iTunes library across multiple hard drives. So, this will allow me to, as an example, 1) Keep my music on my computer's iTunes media folder. 2) Keep my movies on my NAS media folder. Or the use of external drives also. Or really any combination it seems.
As far as iTunes is concerned, it is located in one location.
The app is $15 (AppShopper shows it goes on sale from time to time for $9, and rarely to $2). It will probably be worth the cost (to me) in time and frustration saved.
100% true. It rarely works.
On topic: Fire TV looks sweet. I would dearly like to get one. It looks like Amazon put some thought into making a desirable product. I am a tech fan, regardless of brand, and I want one but with Roku and 3 Chromecast the justification would be hard to come by. More importantly I am currently banned from tech purchases for the foreseeable future. but I want one, so I'm probably going to do something stupid.
HA! Oh man....sorry, but I had to laugh. I'm actually very lucky - my wife isn't a big spender. Which on one hand is good, and on the other makes it difficult for me to talk her into ANY of my spending.
She also can't look at the bank account without going into cardiac arrest.....money stresses her out. So I take care of everything - and if that means I sneak the occasional golf shoe purchase in there, so be it
......and then I tell her anyways because if she found out I bought something without letting her know, she'd castrate me!
Every one of these corporations wants a closed ecosystem - that's where the money is!
Amazon, Google and Microsoft (Roku as well I suppose) are going all in on this because they see that Apple's vision was the right one after all.
HA! Oh man....sorry, but I had to laugh. I'm actually very lucky - my wife isn't a big spender. Which on one hand is good, and on the other makes it difficult for me to talk her into ANY of my spending.
She also can't look at the bank account without going into cardiac arrest.....money stresses her out. So I take care of everything - and if that means I sneak the occasional golf shoe purchase in there, so be it
......and then I tell her anyways because if she found out I bought something without letting her know, she'd castrate me!
Funny how when you get married, her money is her money and your money is "our" money.
Females, never cease to amaze.
Heh, I joke about not being able to buy all the tech I want. Truth is, she's extremely good to me when it comes to money. It's all "ours" and she's more frugal than I am.
I have to MAKE her buy stuff sometimes.....doesn't mean she doesn't WANT things - she just always talks herself out of actually making the purchase.
MOST of the time.....lol.
This makes perfect sense for Amazon! Glad to see this come, only downside is it doesn't have HBO Go, but creating a controller for games is awesome. A true extension of their tablets.
Probably the best competitor since I don't like the Roku to the AppleTV, I wonder how Apple will respond now.
Probably the best competitor since I don't like the Roku to the AppleTV, I wonder how Apple will respond now.
For rental, I prefer Vudu since they have the best quality 1080p streaming. We only use Amazon for the Prime streaming. For example, the wife watches Downton Abbey and Justified, both of which included with Prime, but aren't on Netflix.
TWIT, Revision3, and TED are basically online Networks biased towards technology news, science, and learning - none of which are on Netflix. Those channels (especially TED) are "health food" for the brain that helps to offset some of the junk I watch.
I have replaced cable / settop box for 99.5% of my TV and movie watching experience
Only reason I still have cable at all is because I watch NHL hockey.
This is all from the Roku 2. Lots of channels, with tons of free content. Lots of paid content too with lots of live sports, news, TV and the like.
This amazon box looks to give Amazon a settop box along the same lines as Roku.
Apple is very behind in their content offerings. The limit to iTunes for most content is why. if Apple wants people to take their AppleTV seriously (for those outside the iTunes ecosystem), they need to open up the platform and allow 3rd party Apps, giving access to that content, without requiring to go through Apple first.
The two biggest feature (for me) that are missing that would put any box at the top of my list:
Antenna In
DVR capabilities.
This was I don't have to have my digital antenna and laptop connected to use as a DVR. I'd love to simply plug my antenna into one of these streaming boxes and have an external storage plugged in or via wifi.
Antenna In
DVR capabilities.
This was I don't have to have my digital antenna and laptop connected to use as a DVR. I'd love to simply plug my antenna into one of these streaming boxes and have an external storage plugged in or via wifi.
thats my feel on the Amazon TV thing too.
its kind of a "so?".
If you're in the Amazon Ecosystem and use amazon for movies and content, this would be a good additional device.
But if you're not on Amazon Prime? What does this offer me that the aTV or Roku do?
I'm Canadian, Amazon Prime doesn't really exist here. We have no access to any amazon media content (except a limited kindle book selection).
I'll stick with my Roku. at least this way, I get no regional blackouts or limitations because of where I come from (you can add any international channels on Roku no matter what IP you come from)
Yeah, a NAS works great as centralized storage. There’s a few NAS boxes - those with apps/plugins like Synology - that have promised iTunes-less video serving, but I’m not sure where they stand.
I like having a dedicated server since on occasion I’ll have my machine out of the home office when my little-G wants to watch Despicable Me 2
“Lipstick Taserrrrrr!!"