AmazonUnbox
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Amazon Unbox
The long rumored Amazon video download service has made its debut. Amazon Unbox is its name, and it has some very cool features. Progressive downloading means you can watch your movie, or tv show, as it is downloading which is helpful since Unbox only allows one download at a time and with 1 hour of footage measuring in at a gig, you'll thank Amazon for this feature. You can also buy videos on one machine and download them to another, though only 2 machines can actually pay the videos. Amazon claims that the resolution of their videos (which you can purchase or rent for 24 hours) is twice that of their competitors. Couple that with surround sound and an impressive lineup of content and we may have a winner here. Price varies from $7.99 and $14.99 for movies, but TV shows will set you back a familiar $1.99.There is one problem though, none of this will work on a Mac. The Unbox video player is required to play any of these videos and it is Windows only.
Amazon's Unbox video download service goes live
No surprises here, but Amazon has taken their fancy new Unbox video downloads store live, and it's looking... download-ey. Bad news first: prices are kind of xtreem, with our personal fav Rumor Has It going for $19.62, and the 1999 cult hit Office Space topping the download charts at $13.45. Luckily, the price fluctuations have an up-side, since you can catch boy wonder Elijah Wood in Everything Is Illuminated for a mere $8.99. TV prices, however, sit solidly at the $2 price predicted. As for download format, the full-length and preview videos are standard .wmv fare, but can only be played by the Unbox player. A third file is downloaded in a ".amzn" format for playback on mobile devices, but Amazon claims it's just a straight PlaysForSure DRM-scheme. They've tested the files out on the Zen Vision, Zen Vision: M, Gigabeat S, Archos AV 500/700 and the iRiver PMC, but we're guessing most devices shouldn't have much of a problem. As for the full quality flicks, we can't get an exact number, but we're just going to assume "DVD quality" means 720 x 480, and we did note that sound is 5.1 surround. With rights management, rentals allow you a 30 day window to start watching the movie, but once you've begun you have 24 hours to enjoy before the file gets deleted. Purchased movies can reside on up to two computers, with each computer being allowed to sync with one portable device, and it does seem that re-downloading will be allowed in case your HDD crashes. DVD burning is allowed for backup, but you can't burn playable DVDs, and the only way to get video to your TV is through a video out plug from your PC or media player. Now if you'll excuse us, we've just dropped a Jackson to see what crazy antics Jennifer Aniston has gotten herself into this time.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Amazon "Unbox" download service due to launch today?
The word is out on Amazon's movie download service. After plenty of rumorings, it doesn't look like Amazon will be able to keep mum on the subject for long, since they're expected to launch "Unbox" today. The word on prices isn't exactly wonderful: rentals should go for about 4 bucks, while permanent downloads are hovering at $15. TV shows are matching the $2 iTunes pricepoint, and should be available the day after they air. As for studios, Amazon is purported to have Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, MGM, Lionsgate, Sony and Universal all signed up, but Disney is said to be holding out for iTunes at this point. Picture quality is supposed to be DVD-ish, and videos will be playable in Amazon's Windows-only Unbox player (pictured), or on your TV or portable device. So far the amazon.com/unbox URL is redirecting to a plain-vanilla DVD page, but if all this word on the street proves true we should be seeing it up in the next few hours.Read - Unbox rumor roundupRead - Unbox screenshotsRead - Amazon.com/unbox (not yet live)
