Amazon.com have finally released their online video download service by the name of Amazon Unbox.
Amazon Unbox will offer content from six major Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., as well as TV networks such as CBS and Fox and cable channels like Comedy Central and E! Entertainment.
It’s obvious Amazon.com rushed this service out quickly this week in an attempt to beat Apple to the market by a few days.
I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet, but it doesn’t look that promising from what I’ve read on Techdirt.
Apparently it brings nothing new to the market, simply another clone of the existing services with the same problems and downsides.
It only works on Windows; it has unflexible portability, unfair copy protection and limited usage; and the prices are relatively high.
So basically it looks like this service brings nothing new to the already dull video download market.
Something the video download business should have learned from the music download business is that it’s the little details in how you do it, how easy it is to use and how good the price is that counts.
Apple’s offer should be coming out in a few days now, and everyone’s expecting they’ll do it all in a slightly differently way and revolutionize the business just like they did with iTunes and the music download business.
I’m not as optimistic as everyone else because after all, Apple or not, a lot of it depends on how much the studios are willing to play ball, and it doesn’t look like they’re thinking straight yet. Anyway I’m sure Apple’s offering will come out better than what is available in the market now at least.
