Amazon Prime is a membership program that provides households with unlimited two-day shipping and other
fast shipping options
for $79 per year. The new
Prime Instant Video
service is a free addition to this program.
As with regular Amazon Instant Video, Prime Instant Video is available on Mac, PC,
Roku
,
TiVo
, Logitech Revue and a variety of
Internet-connected TV and Blu-ray players
. Amazon touts a selection of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows as being available to Amazon Prime members -- however in our brief overview, it appears as if approximately only 2,100 titles are available. This is just a fraction of the 90,000+ titles available in the larger Amazon Instant Video catalog, but for $79 per year, we're not going to complain.
Like Netflix,
Amazon says
that its "selection of Prime instant videos is always changing, and movies and TV shows currently available may become unavailable in the future."
First Take Review
We tested Prime Instant Video on a Roku box, a Sony BDP-S570 and in the web browser. Setting up the service is a snap -- especially if Amazon Video On Demand has already been configured on a set-top box or Blu-ray player.
The Roku and Sony systems simply have a new "Amazon Prime" menu selection that provides access to the titles that members can access for free. Some titles are still available for rent or purchase but both Sony and Roku do a good job of making it impossible to accidentally pay for a purchase or rental from the Amazon Prime section.
The real test of any streaming media service is in the selection. This is where Prime Instant Video both wins and loses points. Even with a purported 5,000 titles, the size of the Prime Instant library is dwarfed by both Hulu Plus and Netflix. The offerings, at least right now, are also much more niche.
This means that there is very little emphasis on new or recently released films; the majority of the television content is documentary or sourced from the BBC, PBS or assorted British networks. The American television content is largely limited to classic sitcoms, children's programming and assorted cartoons (both of the Saturday morning and Adult Swim variety).
For me personally, the fact that I can enjoy episodes of Degrassi Junior High, Home Movies and Dick Van Dyke is a treat. Others may find themselves disappointed.
The feature film selection is still niche, but has a broader selection. Right now, feature films primarily consist of documentaries, PBS or National Geographic specials and classic or well-respected films. As a fan of
Stanley Kubrick
, I was overjoyed having access to much of his filmography -- and in HD via the Roku or Blu-ray player.
This Will Be Competition
Because there is some overlap with what content is available via Prime Instant Video and Netflix and Hulu Plus, it's hard to imagine that a huge number of users will sign up for Amazon Prime just for the instant video selection.
Having said that, the offering is a tremendous bonus for existing Amazon Prime members and could tip the scales for users who are considering purchasing a membership. In other words -- this makes an Amazon Prime membership that much more attractive to frequent Amazon customers. It's also a great way to introduce users to Amazon's video on demand offerings.
Still, we think this model will prove to be competition for Netflix and Hulu Plus in the future. The selection might not ever match what those two services provide -- but it almost doesn't need to. This is a great advertiser for Amazon's a la carte offerings -- and those offerings often do contain the new release content offered by competitors.
We do wish Amazon would get on the mobile device bandwagon. It would be great to enjoy Prime Instant content from an iPad.