Amazon (Re-)Does Online Video

Clever, right?

Aaaanyway, so here comes Amazon, again, with a new online video offering--this one entirely streaming. What this new service offers over "Unbox" isn't entirely clear--sure, streaming is better than downloading, in theory, but what happens if your broadband goes down in the middle of a movie? And what's so bad about waiting for a movie to download? Certainly, it's faster than waiting for the Post Office to deliver a Netflix DVD, right?

So, the move could probably be viewed as the big "A" trying to get the upper hand over rival Netflix. The DVD-mailing company, in turn, recently announced the expansion of their own streaming-video services to include set-top boxes from a company called Roku. Of course, Netflix has a strangly micro-sized library of movies it can actually stream while Amazon's new service will offer something like forty-thousand titles.

To compete with Netflix's (or Roku's) streaming set-top boxes, Amazon has done a deal with Sony. It's a deal that has Sony placing streaming technology in a set-top box of their own. The real problem with this scenario (as with many things Sony) is pricing. Roku's Netflix-capable box will run a positively economical $99 while the Sony/Amazon box will run users a whopping $300. Don't worry, future Bravia HDTVs will have the device built right in. Which is good if, you know, you can afford a Bravia HDTV.

Oh yeah AND Amazon seems to be charging for each movie streamed, as well. No handy "comes with subscription" angle like with Netflix.

It seems like Amazon's plan is adding up to quite a lot of scratch to spend just for streaming.

Amazon's service is in private beta-testing now.

Sources: here and here