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Amazon planning ad-free video download service

Advertising Age is reporting that Amazon is close to launching an ad-free video download service, side-stepping Apple and Microsoft on the music front in hopes of snagging a chunk of the video market while the going's still good. It seems they weren't always so focused on video though, initially planning on a music service before deciding it wasn't worth the effort to take on Apple's mighty iTunes empire -- Microsoft apparently disagrees. Exact details on Amazon's proposed video service -- currently dubbed Amazon Digital Video (or Amazon DV) -- are understandably a bit sketchy, but it appears that it'll let users either download individual movies / TV shows for a yet-to-be-determined price or subscribe to a Netflix-type rental model. More details should be emerging soon enough -- if Ad Age is right, the service is gonna launch in mid-August.

[Thanks, Chris]