Comments on: Amazon Ponders The Future of Unbox

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:26:56 +0000

I agree the MS DRM situation isn’t great – too cumbersome, inconsistent, etc. But… did you call Amazon? Betcha, they’d resolve this for you.

By: stoopid

stoopid — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:00:56 +0000

Unbox SUCKS! I “bought” a video from them, but can’t even watch the video that I “OWN” on my own video player! That is a total infringement on my fair use rights! I deleted the software and kept the copy protected video that I “OWN” so I can figure out a way to RIP it from it’s protection and watch it where and when I want to watch it. I have learned my lesson, and will NEVER buy from this rip-off service again!

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:28:04 +0000

I find it amusing how many people complain about the 24-hr rental period. Occasionally, I’m impacted by both the 24-hr and 30-day periods but this is exactly the same model as PPV on cable-boxes. Based on the enormous popularity of this model, why would they change? I’ve noticed recently that some of the purchase prices on the films has dropped. When you purchase, you do not have the 24-hr or 30-day restrictions (usually).

Anyway, I’m anxiously awaiting near-HD content from Amazon but I would settle for 16:9. I do miss close captioning as well at times. Was that covered by the survey?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:03:10 +0000

I do use Unbox for TiVo, but I am part of Adam Smith’s invisible hand. $4 for a 24 hour movie-watching period (and no special features) compared to around $4 for 9-14 days of watching. There’s no comparison–unbox loses. (though I’ve done plenty of 99cents purchases)

If there was one thing I’d fix, it’s the 24 hour period.

If anyone knows how to take this survey, I’d love to participate. Got a URL?

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:29:03 +0000

iPod support is an interesting dilemma… Apple has been reluctant to license their DRM and I seriously doubt they’d offer it to a competitor (until a court makes them do so). And we’re not going to see very much DRM-free content in the video space… I’m an iPhone owner and I agree it would be nice, though!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:25:53 +0000

I use Unbox all the time, but a little peeved with a few things. I think Unbox needs to tend the weeds before they plant their revenue garden.

1) Browsing for movies is really a pain. You can’t search movies from the viewer. Only select material is listed. – Point here being, if you can’t find it easily, it’s hard to buy.

2) No iPod support – Number one portiable player and you don’t have the option to save in a different format?

3) Client always starts during startup – Regardless of the settings you choose in the preferances. – This made me think bad programming and I was about to delete the player off of my PC.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:37:09 +0000

16:9 HD (5Mbps h.264 at least 720p) to the Tivo.

If my unbox buys were accessible either on the Tivo or the laptop depending where I was, that would be cool, but otherwise I don’t care about the laptop side. I won’t pay for something I can only watch on the laptop unless its a cheap rental.

Honestly, releasing titles simultaneously with DVD release, releasing more titles, are probably the most important thing.

Also, the current interface still sucks. Keep working on it. The interface on the PC isn’t very good, and the one on the Tivo is really sad.

How about listing the episodes of a TV Series in the order they’re supposed to be watched, and including the Season/Episode number in the title or description. Battlestar for example has several mistakes in the episode order on the Tivo anyway…

Speed up how quickly unbox downloads to the Tivo start.

Let me transfer unbox Tivo purchases from one Tivo to another in the same house, or at least let me stream it.

By: jeadly

jeadly — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:08:20 +0000

I’ve rented plenty of movies from Unbox onto my Tivo and I love it. But I’m not willing to pay more than 99 cents to rent a movie that doesn’t warrant being purchased.

I would be all up on an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription like white on rice.