It’s been a year-and-a-half since Amazon launched Unbox, its movie download service that competes with Netflix and iTunes. Amazon has a partnership with TiVo to allow people to download movies straight to their TV set-top boxes. But Unbox doesn’t appear to have really made a dent in Amazon’s business yet. The service did not even warrant a mention in last quarter’s earnings announcement. Maybe that is why Amazon is noodling over what it can add to Unbox to make it a hit.
Amazon is asking Unbox customers to fill out an online survey about how satisfied they are with the service. One of the questions asks which of ten potential improvements is “most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?” The options range from free streaming with ads and an HBO-like movie subscription service to HD-quality videos and bundling digital copies with the purchase of a regular DVD.
HD videos is a no-brainer. Paid subscription services have been tried before and failed. Free streaming with ads is the most radical concept. The question is whether the economics would work out, especially for new releases. Bundling seems to me a bit redundant from a viewer’s perspective. (If I already watched a stream of the movie on my PC or TiVo, then what do I need the DVD for?). Instant video streams sound great, but the quality will vary from consumer to consumer. You should be able to choose between downloads, streaming, and getting a physical DVD based on your Internet and home-entertainment set-up. Over time, consumers will shift over to purely digital means of distribution as that becomes less painful for them than the Postal Service.
The problem with many of these options is that they do not offer anything that you cannot already get from other movie download and streaming sites. The obstacles to broader adoption of any digital movie service are 1) getting the movie to a TV; 2) reducing download times/improving video quality; and 3) making it easier than just ordering from Netflix (which offers its own unlimited video streaming as part of its subscription service) or going to Blockbuster.
Here is the full list of options under consideration, which you can vote on in our own survey (with full explanation of each one below). Tell us which one Amazon should adopt:
Which Feature Would Do the Most to Help Spur Adoption of Amazon Unbox?
- Free Video Streaming with ads
-
High-Definition Videos
- Burn to DVD
-
Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo
- Hit Movie Subscription Service
-
DVD & Digital Copy
- Paid Video Streaming without ads
- DVD & Instant Stream
- Independent Film Subscription Service
- Video Extras
Total Votes: 1078
Started: March 3, 2008
Free Video Streaming with ads – The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.
Burn to DVD – The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.
DVD & Instant Stream – The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and receive a streamed video of the same title you could instantly playback while you wait for your DVD to arrive. This would be included in the DVD price.
High-Definition Videos – The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.
DVD & Digital Copy – The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and, for a small additional fee, get a permanent digital copy in Your Media Library.
Hit Movie Subscription Service – The ability to watch a defined number of videos per month for a flat monthly fee, including top Hollywood titles. Not all movies would be available for viewing; however, the selection would be comparable to most pay movie channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).
Video Extras – The ability to select and watch video “extras” (i.e. DVD extras) when purchasing or renting a movie.
Paid Video Streaming without ads – The ability to immediately watch your purchased Unbox movies and TV shows on your PC within an Internet browser without commercials, instead of having to download them to your PC or TiVo.
Independent Film Subscription Service – The ability to watch a defined number of independent films per month for a flat monthly fee.
Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo – The ability to access all of your purchased Unbox videos on the TiVo user interface.
Video/audio extras, definitely.
Downloads should contain all the contents of a DVD;
commentary tracks, deleted scenes, etc.
What is Unbox? I think they need better marketing to improve the financial results. It sounds cool, but I haven’t seen one
I’ve been using Unbox since the day it came out and it’s great. I’m surprised they didn’t list the *only* thing about it that bugs me: lack of selection! If they had the selection of Netflix or Blockbuster (or even half of it), I’d use it every day.
What about working on a Mac? Number one barrier for me to use it without wasting time to power up a VM.
I can’t believe that the only thing that is really stopping it from being successful is not listed: A bigger library.
Of course, they probably don’t list it because that’s just not an option for them, but that’s when it will take off.
I have to disagree with Mike D. above, Unbox is far from great. In fact, the software stinks and that above all else is why it doesn’t succeed. Add all the features you want, it isn’t going to make up for unbearable software. It is literally the buggiest software I’ve ever seen in my life.
The only reason I continue to use the service is because NBC/Universal pulled its stuff from iTunes. Otherwise I’d get away from Unbox in a hurry.
Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about…
One example, there are still certain videos that, once purchased off Amazon, just won’t play in their software. You click on them in the software and the system just locks (actually the video player jumps up to 99% CPU usage just to be accurate). But you try playing that same video in Windows Media Player and it works fine.
Another example is that some videos go into perpetual download which means they download themselves over and over and over again. This is only annoying because those downloads take precedence over new downloads so you have to manually set your downloads to top priority to make sure they start downloading immediately.
On that note, the software isn’t smart enough to download TV shows in order. So when you buy episode 2, 3, and 4 of a TV series it always starts downloading episode 4 first. This isn’t a bug per se but anyone who had tested the service for more than 5 minutes should have seen this and fixed it.
Anyway, ranting aside, if I had to choose from the above options I’d say “Burn to DVD”. As someone who used to download videos and watch them on his iPod I miss being able to carry a video with me so that I can watch it when I have the time. A DVD (along with my portable DVD player) would allow me to do that.
The thing that would make me use it isn’t on your list: get rid of the DRM.
That’s what made me start using Amazon’s music download service.
I use the Amazon unbox through my tivo on occasion, and BY FAR, the main thing preventing me from using it more is the 24 hour time limitation on the rentals. I have kids. I can’t always finish a movie right away after I start watching it. It sometimes takes me 2 or 3 days to watch a movie.
I don’t care about the limited selection. If they don’t have a movie, I will rent it from blockbuster. If they do, they saved me a trip. BUT, there have been plenty of times when I decided against renting a movie because I’m not certain I will have time to watch in in the next 24 hours. I’ve been wanting to rent Transformers, but I haven’t gotten a chance to.
I think it is only a matter of time. People seem to be slow moving on certain parts of technology. I have somewhere that I get tv shows and movies, it works, why change…
Downloads should have the option of the extras. If you don’t want them, you should be able to just get the movie by itself for either low or no cost. If you want no frills movie files, you should be able to get that by itself (no menu, no artwork, no extras, no subtitles or anything else). I mean just an AVI or DivX or WMV file without DRM or copywrong protections – just that by itself should be free, while any additions should tack on extra money. Let’s look at an example. “Transformers: The Movie” should be available with just the actual movie itself and no trailers, links, menus, choices or subtitles – just an MP4 file that can be moved onto any device at all whatsoever. If you want just that, it’s free. If you want something akin to a DVD copy on your computer (with any menus that would normally accompany the DVD), you’ll pay five bucks for that. If you want the cover artwork and behind-the-scenes extras with multiple camera angles and interviews with Shia and John Voight and Frank “Optimus” Welker, you’ll pay ten bucks for that. If you want all of that plus a slimmed down mobile version and an HD version and a version that can be burned to Blu-Ray, that’ll cost you somewhere near twenty-five bucks. See where I’m going? No need for advertisements – just give the people what they want. I could go a step further and say that they might want to try following the Radiohead model – pay what you think it’s worth – but Michael Bay might not like that as much.
@Tom, I suggest you call the amazon support and ask them about your problems. I have been using Amazon Unbox for a while now on two different machines and I have never seen those same issues. The only problem I ever had was a download that was purchased and would not show up in my queue. But I called Amazon support, was refunded my money and repurchased it and it worked… took only about 10 mins of my time with their support. I agree it is not the best media player, but like you said, you can use Media Player. I usually download the movies through their software and watch them on my TV through media center. No issues, ever.
@JPack – their answer as that these were known issues and that they had no fix for them at this time. They did, in fairness to them, offer a refund for the videos that locked up the PC but since I could easily watch them in Media Player I declined.
Ironically, since you watch your videos through Media Center you could very well have the same problems I have and just not realize it. (though I’m interested in people who haven’t had problems with Unbox because I know about 15 people who switched to get episodes of the Office and they all have had problems so I thought it was universal)
It may be because a user experience is not that good
@Tom, hmm interesting, no issues here. At least they confirm it, but I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing… but at least they are aware. I guess I am lucky and will continue to profit from it. I am glad I don’t have issues because I usually get a movie or two every weekend through Unbox and don’t know what I would do if it did not work. I guess I will stick to playing them through Media Center, and keep my fingers crossed. I had issues with other MS DRM services in the past, but so far so good here.
I tried it because of the Tivo link which worked very well. But the selection for Tivo was terrible. There were hardly any good movies to watch.
I have a Tivo and I would’ve loved to use the service more often. The only reason I don’t is that their movie selection SUCKS. I’ve pretty much has seen every interesting movie in the library, but they haven’t added much new stuff in at least a half a year (I mean new movie that arn’t B). Neither do they have many options for new TV shows.
They had their chance during the writers’ strike. Having combed the library for every intersting movie, I had to resubscribe to Netflix. Oh, well, they blew it, so what else is new…
Two things:
1. lower prices.
2. Have an option to play subtitles or captions.
They need a different deal with the content owners. They need a larger selection of movies to compete with NetFlix & Blockbuster and to fulfill their tagline of “Earth’s Biggest Selection,” and they *NEED* to get past the 30 day / 24 hour timelimits on rental. I’ve largely stopped using Unbox because I’ve been burned by starting a movie and having it disappear before I could finish watching it.
For me, what’s bad is finding a title only to see ‘Download Unavailable’. What’s the point? If I can’t download it, I shouldn’t be able to search for it on Unbox… of course, you can always buy the DVD, and that’s entirely the point. Amazon thinks its okay to inconvenience me a little because they get another chance to sell me the boxed DVD. The inconvenience adds up over time and I’m wearied by unsuccessful searches for downloadable content. FAIL.
For < $25, you can setup your computer / laptop to play your movie on your TV using s-video cable. I wrote a post on how to do it.
http://technolo...top-on-your-tv/
@Barry Welch, I am confused… are you talking about searching for Unbox videos directly from a Tivo? I don’t use tivo and only search through the web, and it is very clear when the video is not available. It tells ‘your search did not match any products in Unbox video.’ Underneath it does show other options which could be to buy it on DVD. But I cannot believe you would complain about that. I would assume Amazon would try to offer me other means of obtaining a video I was searching for… Would a ‘404 error’ be better? How are you inconvenienced, just because they don’t have it for download? No video download service offers 100% of all movies ever made… it would be nice, but come on be realistic.
Example of an unbox video not available:
http://www.amaz...amp;x=0&y=0
Number one barrier for me and the majority of Australians is lack of Internet Speeds, number two barrier is lack of download limits from our Internet Service Providers.
We’re so far behind in Internet Speeds it’s not funny!
On “Movie Unavailable” I had that problem too. When I first tried Unbox (the day it was opened to the public) I downloaded the movie “City Slickers” (I love that movie) and it worked fine. When I came back months later I could no longer watch it.
If you search unbox for it you’ll find it but where the download link normally is it says “This item is currently not available.”
I don’t know how they lost the rights to certain items but that seems to be the reason for the “unavailable” message.
@Tom – thanks for corroborating my story.
@JPack
If I search Unbox video for ‘Vendetta’, I get lots of results. See here:
http://www.amaz...ywords=Vendetta
The search box says “Search Unbox Video Downloads”, so if I find what I am looking for in the resultset of my query (#17 is the result I want), you’ve set expectations. At this point, I believe I am about to download the movie, so I click through to the rental page. Then, DOWNLOAD UNAVAILABLE. No explanation why. It might be temporarily unavailable, but I don’t know that.
At this point, you’ve wasted my time. I don’t trust the search results anymore. If you don’t have the movie, don’t show it in the results.
“Underneath it does show other options which could be to buy it on DVD. But I cannot believe you would complain about that.”
Believe it. User experience counts.
I feel that am a discerning consumer and if I wanted to buy the DVD I’d search Amazon propper. I’m here to rent movies, not to be distracted by other objects that look like they may be movie rentals, when they are in fact advertisements for other boxed items. Amazon, and not Yahoo, is the anti-Google.
Headline should be:
Amazon does user polling to improve their products
or
Schonfeld is paid by the post
or
Schonfeld phones it in
As has been stated, the only problem I have with Unbox is that the last several movies I’ve wanted to watch have not been available.
before reading this I had deleted my unbox just hours ago… why? because it took over my system… I did everything to not have that damn thing load in my system tray… or just plain load period. I turned it off everytime (which was a pain in the ass, prompt window and all), I re-did the settings, everything short of going to the registry … finally I gave up and got rid of it when it loaded ONCE AGAIN after I rebooted. worthless piece of crap software that takes over your system… kindof reminds me of hotmail… and aol… worthless as well. could’ve been great.
@Barry, I see what you are talking about. That is pretty misleading and I agree if the movie is not available for download then do not even bother displaying the ‘rental’ and ‘purchase’ options. If it’s not there, don’t show it.
As for other options offered, I guess to each their own. I personally like the fact that Amazon shows similar matches in other categories. I have found some interesting things that I would not have found otherwise if it was not for Amazon suggestions. Normally the suggestions are too interesting, so I ignore them and proceed with my search. I would probably complain more if Amazon offered me nothing after a search, and just said ‘no results found’. All search engines offer other solutions, even if it is not exactly what you are looking for, just hear it does tend to feel like they are just trying to get you to buy something else.
Me personally, I would love to see Amazon not even bother with other features (other than debugging the software for everyone else) and just work on increasing its catalog of movies. It would be nice to have the same selection as Netflix for download through Unbox. The selection is too limited and needs to increase before this would ever be a viable alternative to Netflix or Blockbuster.
I have heard that the choice at present is not great. I have a PS3 and am wondering what services will be available in the coming months
I think ADVWindowsClientService.exe, which is installed with unbox, is evil.
So, the first thing that Amazon rethink is to eliminate this module evilness.
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Unbox sounds like a great download free dvd movies service.