Amazon continues to expand into the digital media space in a number of ways. Currently, the company offers MP3s, TV shows, movies, books, and even newspapers in digital format. While the user-experience for audio files and text-based content is seamless, their video delivery system has more than just a few flaws.
Even today, many people want to watch their purchased/rented content on a big-screen TV. Apple solved that issue by introducing the Apple TV, which allows users to stream such content onto a television set. Apple’s content is accessible via the iTunes store and Amazon’s (video) content is available through its Video On Demand portal (previously known as Unbox).
Similar to the iTunes store, Amazon.com allows consumers to either a) rent content or b) purchase content. While the purchase workflow is very efficient, viewing purchased content is a challenge.
Broadly, Amazon allows customers to view purchased content in 3 different ways:
a) Stream it via a web-browser.
b) Download it onto a PC and/or
c) Stream it to a hardware device, such as a TiVo or an XBOX 360.
For a short video, the ability to stream it via a browser is sufficient. However, for long-form content, such as movies, it is not.
In order to view content on your computer, Amazon forces you to download the Amazon Unbox Video software. While it is designed to help users, it is very buggy and often times, users run into numerous problems, including missing content. One good thing about the software is that it allows users to start watching the video before the entire file has been downloaded.
When it comes to integration with the XBOX 360, the user experience goes down hill and it becomes frustrating.
Here’s how the XBOX 360 integration works:
- Download the video via the Amazon software.
- Connect your PC to the XBOX 360 by setting up the computer as a Media Center Extender.
- Locate the downloaded content via the XBOX 360.
For advanced users, this is easy. But, keep in mind that most consumers are not tech-savvy. It would be far easier for Amazon to integrate their content with the XBOX 360 the way Netflix does it.
If you’re a Netflix customer, you simply power on your XBOX 360, go to the video section, select ‘Netflix,’ enter in your customer information, and you’re done!
Amazon does offer competitive pricing and has much better customer service than Apple (on the digital media side). However, this lack of proper integration is disappointing. With digital media, the learning curve for customers has to be reduced, not increased.
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