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Honestly, Amazon may have the best streaming solution right now. I have a Roku box that gets both, though I usually stick to Netflix. I got an episode that gli

Honestly, Amazon may have the best streaming solution right now. I have a Roku box that gets both, though I usually stick to Netflix. I got an episode that glitched the other day, so I flipped over to Amazon Prime, which turned out to have it, so I watched it there. I then flipped around a little bit to see what was new. The great thing about Amazon is that their streaming library is way, way more comprehensive. Want something that isn't a part of a Prime subscription? Just pay a rental or purchase fee and watch it right away, without waiting for a disk, running down to Redbox, or whatever. Don't have a Prime subscription at all? Try it for cash for a few times and see whether the subscription fee is worth paying. And since it's Amazon, they probably already have your credit card on file, so there's not much to fiddle with. If they can get the Kindle Fire in a lot of people's hands (and apparently they can, if the rumors are true), this could be a huge opportunity for them to leapfrog Netflix and Apple.

erickhill 15y ago
Another good thing about Amazon is that, via Prime, you also get awesome shipping. So for the cost, it is hard to beat. But, UX-wise, Amazon has a lot of issues. With their streaming movies, if you leave a program half-way and come back later, you have to search for it all over again to find it and resume the program. There isn't a "recently viewed" section or any of that. The site is also very static (pretty lame content discovery). Not nearly as compelling as the actual Amazon stores, oddly. It's as if it isn't hooked into your search history or viewing preferences. At. All. The experience is painfully mimicking the store experience, but without the typical Amazon recommendations. It's disappointing, to say the least.
- thematt 15y ago
  I couldn't agree more. The current experience of watching movies on Amazon is horrible. They basically bolted a substandard YouTube like player onto the existing Amazon storefront UI. It's a horrible combination for watching movies and I tend to avoid it when possible. I'll check Netflix and see if they have what I want before I ever go to Amazon.
  - w33ble 15y ago
    I just became a paying Prime member, so I got the streaming included now. I agree, it doesn't feel like a "premium" service. Your description of bolting a crappy player to the storefront is dead on. If it wasn't included with my Prime membership, I don't know if I'd pay for access at any level. Hopefully that experience gets better, having more players in this field sure wouldn't hurt.
  - Klinky 15y ago
    I agree that Amazon's site is pretty terrible at finding what you want or discovering new content, the player isn't too bad itself though. I especially like the pop-out feature which lets me resize the video window exactly how I want it.
AJ007 15y ago
What I really like most about Netflix is that it works on nearly all devices. It seemed really strange Hulu was going out of their way to block devices while Netflix was going out of their way to do the opposite. I've been using Amazon since they had Amazon Unbox (which was a horrendous abomination of a program.) Back then I had to futz with the software, wait for it to download and then only watch it on that computer. For me now, I watch Netflix on my iPad, multiple laptops, desktop, Apple TV, and Roku. I pause a show on one device and resume it on another. That is the way video should be. If Amazon can do this, great, then I don't need Netflix anymore. The Amazon Prime library is getting closer and closer to Netflix by the day. Perhaps the larger open question s will Apple attempt to lock Amazon out of their platform. I have no problem subscribing to multiple services (right now I've got Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, CrunchyRoll.) I pay for video content on Amazon & Apple too. The reason I use Netflix for 90% of my video is because it works on 100% of my devices.

erickhill 15y ago

Another good thing about Amazon is that, via Prime, you also get awesome shipping. So for the cost, it is hard to beat. But, UX-wise, Amazon has a lot of issues. With their streaming movies, if you leave a program half-way and come back later, you have to search for it all over again to find it and resume the program. There isn't a "recently viewed" section or any of that. The site is also very static (pretty lame content discovery). Not nearly as compelling as the actual Amazon stores, oddly. It's as if it isn't hooked into your search history or viewing preferences. At. All. The experience is painfully mimicking the store experience, but without the typical Amazon recommendations. It's disappointing, to say the least.

thematt 15y ago
I couldn't agree more. The current experience of watching movies on Amazon is horrible. They basically bolted a substandard YouTube like player onto the existing Amazon storefront UI. It's a horrible combination for watching movies and I tend to avoid it when possible. I'll check Netflix and see if they have what I want before I ever go to Amazon.
- w33ble 15y ago
  I just became a paying Prime member, so I got the streaming included now. I agree, it doesn't feel like a "premium" service. Your description of bolting a crappy player to the storefront is dead on. If it wasn't included with my Prime membership, I don't know if I'd pay for access at any level. Hopefully that experience gets better, having more players in this field sure wouldn't hurt.
- Klinky 15y ago
  I agree that Amazon's site is pretty terrible at finding what you want or discovering new content, the player isn't too bad itself though. I especially like the pop-out feature which lets me resize the video window exactly how I want it.

AJ007 15y ago

What I really like most about Netflix is that it works on nearly all devices. It seemed really strange Hulu was going out of their way to block devices while Netflix was going out of their way to do the opposite. I've been using Amazon since they had Amazon Unbox (which was a horrendous abomination of a program.) Back then I had to futz with the software, wait for it to download and then only watch it on that computer. For me now, I watch Netflix on my iPad, multiple laptops, desktop, Apple TV, and Roku. I pause a show on one device and resume it on another. That is the way video should be. If Amazon can do this, great, then I don't need Netflix anymore. The Amazon Prime library is getting closer and closer to Netflix by the day. Perhaps the larger open question s will Apple attempt to lock Amazon out of their platform. I have no problem subscribing to multiple services (right now I've got Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, CrunchyRoll.) I pay for video content on Amazon & Apple too. The reason I use Netflix for 90% of my video is because it works on 100% of my devices.