Amazon Prime Video's Ads Tier Loses Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos

[Peepo]

Wondering, if I ordered a $3.27 box of kleenex on amazon prime with free shipping, so I can have a good cry over this and maybe feel better, would it actually hurt amazon since the shipping alone costs more than the prodcuct, or do they just pass the cost on to the shipping company under some sort of bulk contract?

 

[sleeptodream]

You know what, screw streaming services. I have decided to go back to purchasing tv shows and movies on iTunes. It’s cheaper at this point.

The annoying thing is some shows / movies are exclusive to these services, but I can always just subscribe for that month if I really wanted to but usually I can’t be bothered.

Same, I’ve even gone back to buying physical media. It’s a pain tracking down what streaming service (if any) has something now that there’s so many of them, and the licenses are constantly changing hands.

I dont watch much, so for how long it takes me to get through a series it makes more sense just to buy it. In 5-10 years I’ll feel nostalgic and want to watch it again anyway lol

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Stop blaming Amazon, NetFlix, Disney for price hikes/removing of features. They know exactly what they're doing since they got all the relevant data. And the data shows that people either dont care about stuff like this, dont even know about, or don't need it. These providers are just adapting to their users needs.

Or they realized the feature actually matters to people so they removed it from the basic tier because people wouldn't be upsold to the higher tier unless there was this differentiation in features. Your argument goes both ways.

 

[nocsi]

My advice is to spend the time during ads to slowly build a server to pirate and run your own streaming service. Imagine just 20 minutes of ads a day, you’d have your own media server in matter of a month.

Otherwise, who actually puts up with ads? People that can’t afford not to

 

[binaryfuneral]

Now entering a new golden era of piracy

 

[jigzaw]

I mean, you can cancel… I honestly don’t see any legal grounds for a class action.

If they decide to “take a mile”, you can stop being their customer.

If someone paid already for the whole year when the service was 4K/no ads and then they pull this? You don't see grounds in that?

 

[randian]

None of this is about inflation, not really. The elephant in the room is the enormous cost of Amazon's NFL contract and their decision to include it gratis with Prime Video rather than make it a separate paid subscription like they should have. I'd bet Apple TV+ doubling in price over the last year is happening for the same reason, the enormous cost of sports contracts and choosing to make all subscribers pay for it, not just those actually interested in the professional sport in question.

 

[VulchR]

Amazon isn't taking away "innovation" as they still offers an ad-free, higher audio quality option. You just have to pay a bit more for it. Lots of other streaming services have ad-supported plans including Disney+. Hulu, Max, Netflix, etc. Subscribers have a choice.

Today's ad-free plans are also much cheaper (adjusting for inflation) than what premium channels could cost back in the 1980s. For example, ad-free Max is $15.99/month while HBO with less content, no on-demand functionality, etc. 40 years ago was around twice that after adjusting for inflation.

I suppose that is fair enough, but you cannot escape the conclusion that Amazon is charging money for an 1980's style terrestrial TV experience plus adding consumer surveillance to the mix. The plan might be relatively inexpensive, but consumers on it are still paying for the privilege of watching ads.

 

[webkit]

Perhaps time for a new Netflix to enter the arena and shake things up....

There's already a lot of competition in the premium streaming service market. I don't think a new entry would be able to "shake things up" much nor do I think they'd operate much differently than existing services. They'd likely also offer the option of ad-free or ad-supported plans. Subscribers to premium channels decades ago didn't have that choice.

 

[webkit]

I suppose that is fair enough, but you cannot escape the conclusion that Amazon is charging money for an 1980's style terrestrial TV experience plus adding consumer surveillance to the mix. The plan might be relatively inexpensive, but consumers on it are still paying for the privilege of watching ads.

Just because something has its roots in "older technology" doesn't mean it's undesirable or should be free. For example, print media such as books, newspapers, magazines, journals, etc. is and has long been using old technology (at least as far as the end user is concerned) and they still charge for their content and/or use ads.

 

[mzubb]

I’ve just cancelled my Prime. This is becoming silly now.

+1 I'm sure there'll be dozens of us canceling.

 

[chas_m]

It’s worth emphasizing (as seen in the lead of the story) that if you’re paying for Amazon Prime, you only have to pay the extra $3/month, or $36, to get the ad-free, high-quality tier of Prime Video back. I fully expect that **IF** Prime Video subscribers complain enough, they’ll back off and include the ad-free/high quality tier back into your prime membership …
…. And then raise the price of Amazon Prime by $36 per year.

 

[kenetic2002]

Amazon can keep going further with their nickel and dime games. Let them and they will see their user base start shriveling away. I am still paying for Prime but I find that I am using Amazon less and less. I have a rekindled love for eBay. I also have been spending more on brick and mortar retailers e-commerce platforms. More of my purchases are being done through Sam’s Club, Costco, Target, CVS, Best Buy etc websites. The prices often rival Amazon, rewards and other perks can make them a better deal than Amazon.

Amazons digital services have always just been meh…. There are always other better streaming and cloud storage services. Amazon at one point was the holy grail of e-commerce now I am getting closer than ever to happily living in a world without them.

The same for me. I have been going to Walmart, Best Buy, and other brick and mortar websites for the past year. They have some good deals. Also had a rekindled love for eBay as well. I'm actually using Amazon less than I have done in the past 10 years. In fact. I went almost a month without making one single Amazon.com purchase. It's kind of crazy, never thought that would happen.