4 ms·

I have a PS3. I had Amazon Prime Video for a year. Didn't renew it. The interface is utterly dreadful in comparison to Netflix's. Not only is it constantly spam

by moomin 9y ago

I have a PS3. I had Amazon Prime Video for a year. Didn't renew it. The interface is utterly dreadful in comparison to Netflix's. Not only is it constantly spamming you with stuff that costs extra, not only is it impossible to find what you're looking for, the player itself is pretty ropey. Provide me with a service that lets me add HBO or Showtime to a Netflix-level interface, then we'll talk.

r00fus 9y ago
This. Prime video along with Amazon's free music and books offerings are just loss leaders for selling you the non free products in the relevant categories. Amazon is still at its heart a store.
- godzillabrennus 9y ago
  The user interface issues are inexcusable at Amazons size. My family loves watching Mozart in the Jungle so every time a season comes out I get a fresh reminder of how bad their apps are on different platforms.
  - Rapzid 9y ago
    I must say I really like it in the browser though. Chrome OSX; it plays 1080p while Netflix will not.
- ballenf 9y ago
  http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-jeff-bezos-roy-price-zelda-1202552532/ http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-jeff-bezos-ro... I think Amazon is trying to shift away from that approach with the push to get a "Game of Thrones" type show on Prime Video. Here's Stratechery's take on it: > ... focusing Amazon Prime Video on massive hits that break through into the popular consciousness rationalizes the service considerably. If the ultimate goal is signups, then by definition producing shows that everyone is talking about is more important than building out a fleshed-out content library. Netflix has to worry about having plenty of content to keep people coming back; Amazon has the rest of Prime to accomplish that. From: https://stratechery.com/2017/amazon-studios-shifts-strategy-spotify-and-hulu-facebook-to-spend-1-billion-on-video/ https://stratechery.com/2017/amazon-studios-shifts-strategy-... (that site is subscription-only, but I think there are quite a few subscribers here. If I'd seen non-paywalled analysis on this I'd link to it. Sorry if it's not kosher to post paywalled sites! Some of his other writing on Amazon is free to read.)
  - hkmurakami 9y ago
    Hm. Prime video / music's self rationalization being sign ups or churn reduction i would think is a point of contention.
  - r00fus 9y ago
    This is what I absolutely don't understand about Amazon Prime Video positioning against Netflix. Even a lower middle class person can afford and justify both. What these services compete against are the cable industry HBO and broadcast TV for your entertainment time (and budget but many folks I know have all/most of the services concurrently). They should worry about YouTube more than each other.
    - tehwebguy 9y ago
      No one needs to worry about YouTube, they will destroy themselves on their own!
X86BSD 9y ago
I pay for HBO Go on Apple TV. I really like HBOs interface. It's very simple. Clean.
michaelbuckbee 9y ago
Amazon's not quite so bad on the Roku players and provides a good way to handle someone saying: "Lets watch movie X" that's not on Netflix. It should also be noted that Roku offers a top level search function that will locate a movie in whatever service it's available.
martin1975 9y ago
funny you said this, slightly tangential...I originally bought the kindle fire tv streamer... the interface was slow, apps crashed/were slow... Got the Roku, rock solid, have yet to see anything crash on it. Amazon is probably biting a bit more than it can chew.. I suppose they can afford to blow it Microsoft style the way MS does with their OS releases... every -other- Windows release is something people adopt, think NT4...XP...then 7...now 10... anything in between these sucked. Must be nice to have money to throw away.
azakai 9y ago
Comparing the Web versions, I prefer Amazon Prime video to Netflix or Hulu. Its interface is faster and simpler.
nolok 9y ago
I still have no idea if my amazon.fr prime account is supposed to give me access to prime video. It does right now, but it leaves the french domains all together and feels like it shouldn't. But then it recognize my account as french and offers me content dubbed in french (which funnily enough I don't want, since I prefer watching VO). I also do not know if my girlfriend's account, who I "share" prime with, is also supposed to get access to it like it does now. The whole prime = free 24h delivery is fine and that's what I pay it for and it's a great deal in my book, but all those asides prime thingy... Amazon needs to clear up what it contains and what it does not. Or maybe I just don't get it.

by moomin 9y ago

r00fus 9y ago

This. Prime video along with Amazon's free music and books offerings are just loss leaders for selling you the non free products in the relevant categories. Amazon is still at its heart a store.

godzillabrennus 9y ago
The user interface issues are inexcusable at Amazons size. My family loves watching Mozart in the Jungle so every time a season comes out I get a fresh reminder of how bad their apps are on different platforms.
- Rapzid 9y ago
  I must say I really like it in the browser though. Chrome OSX; it plays 1080p while Netflix will not.
ballenf 9y ago
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-jeff-bezos-roy-price-zelda-1202552532/ http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-jeff-bezos-ro... I think Amazon is trying to shift away from that approach with the push to get a "Game of Thrones" type show on Prime Video. Here's Stratechery's take on it: > ... focusing Amazon Prime Video on massive hits that break through into the popular consciousness rationalizes the service considerably. If the ultimate goal is signups, then by definition producing shows that everyone is talking about is more important than building out a fleshed-out content library. Netflix has to worry about having plenty of content to keep people coming back; Amazon has the rest of Prime to accomplish that. From: https://stratechery.com/2017/amazon-studios-shifts-strategy-spotify-and-hulu-facebook-to-spend-1-billion-on-video/ https://stratechery.com/2017/amazon-studios-shifts-strategy-... (that site is subscription-only, but I think there are quite a few subscribers here. If I'd seen non-paywalled analysis on this I'd link to it. Sorry if it's not kosher to post paywalled sites! Some of his other writing on Amazon is free to read.)
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  Hm. Prime video / music's self rationalization being sign ups or churn reduction i would think is a point of contention.
- r00fus 9y ago
  This is what I absolutely don't understand about Amazon Prime Video positioning against Netflix. Even a lower middle class person can afford and justify both. What these services compete against are the cable industry HBO and broadcast TV for your entertainment time (and budget but many folks I know have all/most of the services concurrently). They should worry about YouTube more than each other.
  - tehwebguy 9y ago
    No one needs to worry about YouTube, they will destroy themselves on their own!

X86BSD 9y ago

I pay for HBO Go on Apple TV. I really like HBOs interface. It's very simple. Clean.

michaelbuckbee 9y ago

Amazon's not quite so bad on the Roku players and provides a good way to handle someone saying: "Lets watch movie X" that's not on Netflix. It should also be noted that Roku offers a top level search function that will locate a movie in whatever service it's available.

martin1975 9y ago

funny you said this, slightly tangential...I originally bought the kindle fire tv streamer... the interface was slow, apps crashed/were slow... Got the Roku, rock solid, have yet to see anything crash on it. Amazon is probably biting a bit more than it can chew.. I suppose they can afford to blow it Microsoft style the way MS does with their OS releases... every -other- Windows release is something people adopt, think NT4...XP...then 7...now 10... anything in between these sucked. Must be nice to have money to throw away.

azakai 9y ago

Comparing the Web versions, I prefer Amazon Prime video to Netflix or Hulu. Its interface is faster and simpler.

nolok 9y ago

I still have no idea if my amazon.fr prime account is supposed to give me access to prime video. It does right now, but it leaves the french domains all together and feels like it shouldn't. But then it recognize my account as french and offers me content dubbed in french (which funnily enough I don't want, since I prefer watching VO). I also do not know if my girlfriend's account, who I "share" prime with, is also supposed to get access to it like it does now. The whole prime = free 24h delivery is fine and that's what I pay it for and it's a great deal in my book, but all those asides prime thingy... Amazon needs to clear up what it contains and what it does not. Or maybe I just don't get it.