Amazon Prime Review - better than Netflix?
79As I have explained elsewhere, I'd love to be able to drop our Verizon TV service and watch only streaming video over our Internet connection. I'm hardly the only person wanting to do that and some people do it now. This report from 2010 says that a whopping 22% of Americans canceled or cut back on cable TV services that year.
Apparently Verizon is getting sick of hearing people drop their TV service: they have bought RedBox and plainly are planning to compete with Netflix digital streaming. Direct TV might have similar ideas in the works and Comcast is offering "TV Anywhere".
The handwriting is on the wall: we hate the way they do it now and they all know it.
Amazon Prime
When I signed into Amazon this morning, I was greeted by an offer of a one month free trial of Amazon Prime. That's a $79.00 a year option that I have steadfastly ignored - it offers free Amazon shipping on many products with no minimum purchase, but we hardly buy enough small items from Amazon to make that worthwhile. It also lets Kindle owners read some books that are otherwise otherwise only available through purchase, but we aren't Kindle owners.
I just never saw the point. It was way too much money for far too little. This ad caught my eye, though, promising 15,000 movies and TV shows. Heck, that's Netflix territory and $79 a year is cheaper than $7.99 a month. Hmm, that might even make me want to buy a Kindle!
It could match Netflix, but..
I signed up and fired up my Roku to add the Amazon Channel. Unlike Hulu Plus (which I canceled almost immediately) , the interface wasn't particularly clumsy. I found TV shows and movies we'd like to watch and the selection is very similar to what we have on Netflix - a few things missing, a few things added, overall a wash.
They have a few places where you can filter by type, which is actually better than Netflix which seems to randomly offer genres based on what you have watched recently. You can search by titles also and that's no more clumsy than it ever is on Roku.
What's noticeably missing, however, is something to match the Netflix Instant Queue or even Recently Watched. With Netflix, you add shows you might want to watch to the Instant Queue and therefore can always find them again quickly. Recently Watched is another section that works just as you would think.
To my complete astonishment, Amazon doesn't have either of those features. They have a "Video Library" stack, but that's only for things you have bought or rented - not for things you want to watch in Prime.
I could hardly believe it. I Googled to see if somehow I was mistaken - perhaps this feature was just hidden? Apparently not, for here I found other surprised Prime customers with the same complaint. The more cynical of them suggest that Amazon wants you to have an unpleasant experience within Prime to encourage you to buy or rent instead!
That's a deal breaker for me. I'm not going to go searching for a TV series that I might be part way through just to see the next episode. It is beyond idiotic that Amazon, which is certainly a company that seems to work hard for a smooth customer experience on their website, would leave this so poorly implemented.
I would like to think that this is just a temporary lapse, but that discussion page goes back to May of last year - certainly Amazon is aware of how unhappy customers are by now, but they have made no official response and seem to be ignoring it entirely.
Oh, well: we won't be dropping Verizon TV just yet and we certainly will not be keeping Amazon Prime.
They don't care
When I canceled the membership, I expected that they might ask why as most such offers do. Knowing why people decided not to continue would seem to be something useful.
Amazon apparently does not care. They just warned me that I'd no longer be eligible for free shipping. No questions, no feedback.
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No, it is deep enough now. The interface is just awful, though.
Another great review, Pcunix. I had thought about Amazon, too, but like you, found I don't go to Amazon enough to justify the $79 a year. There really isn't anything on there that I can't watch online or on Netflix, so, I'll stick to what I have. BTW, I am one of those 22% that cancelled my cable. Hooray for me! It's such a liberating experience. Especially when the Time Warner gal asked if there was anything she could do to get me to stay. HAHA! No thanks!
I hopped over to Amazon a few minutes ago and saw that they've added a bunch of content.
@emmaspeaks - I wish we could do that, but there are still a few things we want it for.
@glocatore - yes, it teally is comparable to Netfilx now, but they would have to fix that awful interface!
Hi Tony ~ You are usually the first to learn about these types of new technology and offerings. I don't watch TV, movies or NetFlix, but am on the computer studying, writing and watching some YouTube videos.
I'm sure with enough complaints they will HAVE to make the experience more fruitful for everyone. So, don't give up just yet. Looks like the price will be worth the visit, once they clear up that aspect and feature of their programming.
Wondering if you can create your own little URL index to refer to when you want to return to a channel or show?
Have a super weekend, Debby
You could do that on your computer, but not on Roku..
Interesting, thanks for sharing. We have Netflix and have been toying with the idea of trying Amazon but besides the wholesale price, I am glad that I now know how Amazon works and it does not sound very attractive yet. Thank you.
I wish it were better.
I've tried both and prefer Netflix for ease of use and the number of films. But Amazon will continue to improve, I'm sure. Voting this Up and Useful.
I hope they do. Netflix could use the competition.
giocatore Level 4 Commenter 3 months ago
Consensus as far as I can tell is that the Amazon library isn't too deep just yet. I expect that a lot of this is yet to sort itself out between Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and who knows who else. I'm still on the sidelines for Prime.