Amazon Unboxed - First Take<< New iMacs and Minis, why this week? | Main | Note to NY Times Mobile folks, Call Dave Winer right away. Please >> Michael Gartenberg | September 07, 2006, 04:39 PM Well, the first big news comes from Amazon Unbox with the availability of TV shows and movies. Prices for TV Shows reflect Apple pricing of $1.99 per show, movies go from $7.99 to $14.99 and some movies can also be rented for $3.99. It's an interesting move but the real issue is where will you watch these things? There's no way to burn content to DVD for playback and unless you have a media center PC or some inclination to hook up your TV to your PC, it's a pretty much PC only experience. While Amazon does support some devices for WMV playback, the site had the following warning notice. Supported Devices The devices in the list below have been tested with the Unbox Video Player. If your device is Plays for Sure compliant it may work, but we cannot guarantee performance on untested devices. Creative Zen Vision: M Not exactly a ringing endorsement, Plays for (Almost) Sure strikes again. We've said it before and we'll say it again. The iTunes music store succeeded because of the iPod, not the other way around. iPods drove people to the store. Without a compelling device story (and it's not clear YET whether Zune will play protected music or video from Plays for Sure services) it's hard to see this as a real threat to Apple.. for now. Pricing isn't likely to drive folks to use this so for now it's mostly a mobility story without a super interesting mobile device to use it with. |
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