Amazon Unbox on TiVo - not a fan

March 18, 2007 at 9:16 am · Filed under Television, Video, Beta, User Experience

I tried to give the Amazon Unbox on TiVo a fair shot, but its limitations are unforgivable. If there were a few (or even one) standout benefits (such as the price being dramatically lower, or the content being at a higher quality) there might be room for further consideration. But, that’s not the case. Here are a few things about the service that don’t sit well:

1. The movie browsing experience is only on the Amazon Unbox site, which is amateurish.
2. The download is slow, and you cannot start watching your rental or purchase until it has completely downloaded.
3. For rented movies, after pressing ‘play’ you only have 24 hours to view the movie-then it is gone.
4. The movie I rented had additional constraints put on it by the content owner which removed the 30 day lifespan the movie would give me until I pressed ‘play’ and instead only offered a 7 day window.
5. Many new releases can only be purchased, not rented.

Update: At public launch Amzona Unbox on TiVo service had the ability to rent or purchase straight from the TiVo unit.

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