Amazon Debuts Video Download Service
Amazon.com has launched Amazon Unbox™, a new digital video download service offering customers television shows, movies and other video content from more than 30 studio and network partners from Hollywood and around the world. The only video download service to offer DVD-quality picture, Unbox's RemoteLoad™ technology allows customers to buy from one PC (such as an office computer) and download to another (such as a home computer). As part of the launch, the site is inviting customers to visit www.amazon.com/unbox to try the Unbox service with a free TV show.
Amazon says that Unbox offers triple the video quality of the leading commercial Internet video services, delivering content encoded at 2,500 kilobits per second using the VC-1 Advanced Profile codec. Unbox also automatically includes a second file optimized for playback on any Windows Media-compatible portable device at no additional charge. The service uses progressive download, eliminating the need to wait for the entire video to download before watching. This means the typical cable high-speed Internet customer can start watching any Unbox TV show or movie within five minutes of ordering.
Amazon Unbox customers will be able to access their videos in the Amazon Your Media Library, a personalized Web page that indexes and organizes their media purchases from Amazon.com, including books, CDs, DVDs and Unbox Videos. Your Media Library provides each Unbox customer a place to keep track of their Unbox video purchases, and the option to download them to an additional PC.
Customers can purchase television series episodes for $1.99 per episode and most movies for $7.99 to $14.99, or rent the latest movies for $3.99. For more information on this new service, you can read the Amazon.com press release.
