Amazon is stepping up its efforts to remain top dog for consumers looking for media of all kinds with its latest project: Amazon Video on Demand. The beta is officially launching today, and for those in the beta program, a $5.00 credit added to their Amazon accounts to encourage use of the service.
The service relies on a model more streaming services and game console manufacturers are moving to: Cloud storage. Every item you've downloaded from Amazon lives in a media library in your account. You can stream the videos to your Mac or PC, or download to a PC (no Mac version available there) or your Tivo.
The service actually went live on Wednesday night, and the functionality is seamless. I was able to purchase a video (thank you for the $5.00 discount, Amazon!) and start streaming it immediately. Two previous purchases were also available for streaming in my library that I'd downloaded to my Tivo months ago.
The content streams in a frame on the Amazon page or via a pop-out you can maximze to full-screen. Flash is required for streaming, and the picture quality is impressive. Streaming, however, is just as choppy as you'd expect it to be with high-quality video, and watching the first several minutes of a movie made me long for an upgrade to a faster broadband connection.
Amazon obviously knows it needs to compete with streaming services being offered by services such as Netflix, but it also needs to work on negotiating some additional content offerings. It's startling how empty the kids and family category is -- no Disney, Pixar, or Dreamworks content in sight. An option for lower-quality video to facilitate bandwidth issues would be helpful as well -- anything to lose the stuttering.
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