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Amazon Prime Video Introduces Offline Viewing for iPhone and iPad

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Amazon's Prime Video streaming service today announced the ability for its users to download television shows and movies to an iPhone, iPad, or Android device (via Re/code). The service had previously supported such a feature, but it was exclusively available for Amazon's own Fire tablets, with today marking the first expansion onto Apple's smartphones.

The feature will let Prime users download video content for later viewing when not in direct proximity of a trustworthy Wi-Fi connection, but won't be available for every single show and film currently offered on Amazon Prime Video. The company still claims to have "thousands" of videos ready to support the new service.

amazon-prime-app.jpg
The feature isn't available for every video Amazon streams, since Amazon needs to work out deals with individual content owners (that is - pay them more money). Amazon says it has "thousands" of titles available for download.

And it looks like those titles include a pretty diverse lineup: There are Amazon's own home-grown shows, like "Transparent", of course. But also offerings from CBS ("The Good Wife"), Fox ("Sons of Anarchy"), MGM ("The Hunger Games") and Paramount ("Star Trek Into Darkness").
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Re/code reports that "in most cases," users will have 15 to 30 days to view the content once it has been downloaded. Today's announcement aims to bolster Amazon Prime Video -- which is bundled into Amazon's $99/year Prime service -- with a feature most other streaming services have yet to support.

Users can download the updated app -- now called "Amazon Video" -- from the App Store for free [Direct Link].

Article Link: Amazon Prime Video Introduces Offline Viewing for iPhone and iPad
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/01/amazon-prime-video-offline-iphone/
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This is great, the one downside about streaming services is that they don't work if you're on a plane flight, so if they have good content available this will come in handy for times when I'll be away from the internet.

I do have doubts that they'll actually have much in the way of good content to begin with though, I'm guessing the studios will experiment with a few less popular or older movies and see how it goes.
 
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This is great, it allows me to download shows at work etc rather than my data-capped home broadband. Netflix and Hulu have been killing me the past few months, wish they would get on board.

And yes the selection to download is definitely limited. I don't care if rentals or time-sensitive downloads are DRM'd to death (purchases I oppose), too bad the content companies drag their feet so much on this.
 
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Nice. Useful at the gym on an elliptical. Wish Netflix did this. This would make me continue Prime membership next year.
 
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Ok, now your move, Netflix.

Amazon Prime Video is not available in Canada (the only thing you get with Prime here is 2-day delivery, and that's about it), so this news doesn't change much for me. But if it can push competitors to adopt similar strategies, it could be great! I wish I could download TV shows for offline playback on my commute to work everyday (low data caps + no reception in the subway makes online streaming a non-option for me, even for music).
 
Blujelly said:
This might be a stupid thing to say only noticed its on certain titles
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It was actually mentionned in the article: [...] won't be available for every single show and film currently offered on Amazon Prime Video. The company still claims to have "thousands" of videos ready to support the new service.
 
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doboy said:
Just buy a $69 Apple TV :)
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Already did that. It's main purpose is collecting dust since i bought my Fire TV last year. It is neither really mobile, nor really useful my purpose, which is to connect my iPad to a hotel room TV. Due to the lack of a browser i can't login in most hotel wifi spots with it and peer to peer Airplay isn't available for this model (only for ATV3 produced after march 2013). So i am looking again at the adapter (despite its picture quality issues) for my next vacation.
 
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mxmgodin said:
It was actually mentionned in the article: [...] won't be available for every single show and film currently offered on Amazon Prime Video. The company still claims to have "thousands" of videos ready to support the new service.
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Amazon won online shopping by making the process easier than shopping in a real store. Does this feature make watching video easier? Can I download a whole TV series, or at least a season in one step, or do I have to request each episode?
 
mrkramer said:
I do have doubts that they'll actually have much in the way of good content to begin with though, I'm guessing the studios will experiment with a few less popular or older movies and see how it goes.
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mxmgodin said:
Amazon Prime Video is not available in Canada (the only thing you get with Prime here is 2-day delivery, and that's about it), so this news doesn't change much for me.
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Amazon has good paid content but, I found the selection to be very poor that you can view for free under Prime. I would only advise getting Amazon Prime for the free 2 day shipping and not for the video streaming.
 
Narcaz said:
Already did that. It's main purpose is collecting dust since i bought my Fire TV last year. It is neither really mobile, nor really useful my purpose, which is to connect my iPad to a hotel room TV. Due to the lack of a browser i can't login in most hotel wifi spots with it and peer to peer Airplay isn't available for this model (only for ATV3 produced after march 2013). So i am looking again at the adapter (despite its picture quality issues) for my next vacation.
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Is it an aTV 2? Last I looked they were selling for hundreds on eBay. Sell it and buy an aTV3, an iPad, and some of those new Oreo slims. I hear they are good.

Edit: just checked. You could get two aTV3.
 
THIS. This is the move I want to see in the streaming industry. A great deal of my viewing is away from home and my cellular data cap doesn't accommodate it.
 
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