Unbox Elicits Yawns From Observers

Amazon.com opened up its online video download service, called Unbox, to its customers. Unbox provides film and TV episode sales, and movie rentals, that can be played on a PC or a TV. The offering has drawn a great big "meh" from some quarters, though.

Unbox lays out Amazon's version of what many have seen as the future of online entertainment. It places the control of obtaining a video from a variety of content providers at a person's fingertips, instead of at the whims of a network's programming. Compared to the ease of use of video on demand from cable providers, Unbox may not offer enough to excite people beyond a certain hardcore segment of computer users. While provisions of Unbox movie and TV purchases permit the videos to be stored on two PCs and two portable media players, a burned DVD cannot go for a ride in a family's Honda Odyssey to entertain the kids. There is also the competitive factor to consider. "Apple to the starting gate when it comes to movie download business, but that doesn't ensure success," wrote GigaOm's Techdirt ran down a list of issues with the service, and acknowledged that these limitations may have been inflicted by Hollywood movie moguls: Unfortunately, the offering is about as "me too" as you can imagine. It's got all the problems of just about every other video download offering out there. It only works on Windows. Copy protection galore. Limited usage. Relatively high prices compared to alternatives. Rather than making the content portable, you basically get to download two files: one that must stay on the computer you downloaded it on, and one that can be transferred to an approved (i.e., has Windows media copy protection) mobile device. You can burn the movie to a DVD... but it's of almost no additional value, since that DVD will only play on the computer you downloaded the movie to. Discounting the DVD portability issue is the same as disregarding the purchasing power of families who buy DVDs to keep their children entertained on car trips. While one could argue the merits of having children plugged in on the road like this, DVD players are a sought-after feature in minivans and certain SUV models. Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.