primevideo.com
I got hooked up to Amazon Prime mainly because of its two-days free shipping feature. I didn't know much about its streaming service and wasn't expecting anything from it either. Two months later, I'm obsessed with Amazon Prime Video and Prime membership seems to be the best decision I've made in a long time. I love Amazon Prime Video's originals along with its vast library of popular TV Shows and movie collections. It's mind-boggling how this internet giant manages to keep itself at the top of the pyramid in its every venture. With Amazon Prime, not only is the company competing with Netflix in the online streaming industry but also with leaders in logistics, music streaming, data storage and multimedia industries.
Bundling services for cohesive offering
Amazon Prime Video is a great value and significantly changes the way people consume content. We've reviewed it and it's a strong pillar of the Amazon Prime membership. You get free streaming video, plus extra services like Prime Delivery, Prime Kindle, Prime Photos, Prime Early Access, and Prime Music.
What is Amazon Prime Video?
Amazon Prime Video is a great online streaming service where you can watch tons of variety of content, including TV shows, originals, and popular movies. With Prime membership, you can download the content and watch it at your own convenience. Plus, the impressive library has tons of tv shows and movies as well as additional content that can be accessed for purchase or rent.
History
Since its creation in 2005, Amazon Prime has been incredibly popular across the world. Originally, it was a free shipping service that let customers enjoy fast deliveries without spending extra money. However, in the past decade, Amazon has gradually increased its feature set, and now includes a host of other amazing benefits under the same subscription model. We're just concerned with streaming services in this blog post, so we'll only discuss those here.
Design
I don't like the overall design and interface of Amazon Prime, to start with. It feels as if I'm on a shopping website while trying to stream a movie, and the design is too cluttered and the content isn't well segregated either. Overall, I found the homepage to be unattractive with little visual appeal.
If you land on primevideo.com, you'll be given the option to click on Amazon.com. Both of these pages have little aesthetic value, but once you're on the page, you can choose from options such as Prime Originals, Prime Video, Movies, TV Shows, and Kids. There are video highlights for key movies and shows which are available for streaming and rest everything is organized horizontally. Thus, you can keep scrolling to check out popular TV Shows and Movies along with recommended content.
There are several menu items included under the main slideshow, including "All Videos," "Your Videos," and "Included with Prime." I especially like the "Your Videos" section, because it makes it easy to pick up from where you left.
I don't think the landing page is all that great compared to Netflix, Stan, and Hulu. The design is pretty basic with the main color scheme following a blue color instead of the orange one for e-commerce. The menus, banners, and content presentation look like they came from 2005.
What I appreciate about the interface is that it's optimized for different devices, but it's not easy to navigate. The only good thing I can say about it is that there is consistency regardless of the device you're using it on. So, whether you're viewing it on a Smart TV, Roku, Fire device, mobile phone, Chromecast or tablet, the experience remains the same.
Content
I think that the main thing that sets Amazon Prime Video apart from other streaming websites is the quality of their content. They have a lot of great titles, and they always seem to be adding more. Their library currently has over 4500 titles, including some excellent original content like ?The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?, ?Electric Dreams?, ?Bosch?, ?Sneaky Pete?, ?Red Oaks? and ?The Grand Tour.? So there's a lot to watch on this website, and I always enjoy using it.
Although they don't have as many originals as Netflix, the ones they have been doing a pretty good job of retaining the viewers. Similar to Netflix, they aren't backing down and allocating budgets towards creating great original content. Their efforts to save "The Expanse" and renew the sci-fi action drama for its fourth season just shows their commitment towards this project. You'd be excited to hear that it's also producing a series based upon the popular franchise "The Lord of the Rings."
The Prime Originals are the streaming platform's strength, but it also offers popular HBO series such as The Sopranos, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, and Oz. Apart from these shows, it also offers other popular shows such as Justified, Mr. Robot, Hannibal, Chuck, The Americans, Recreation, and The X-Files for no additional cost.
Desktop/Mobile experience
I haven't had any compatibility issues with the streaming service. I've tried it on my Android and iOS devices as well as gaming consoles and fire devices. I'm sure it works well on major gaming consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii) and set-top boxes (Google TV, Nvidia Shield, Apple TV 4K and Roku) as well. One thing I would like to point out is that it doesn't natively support Chromecast devices.
You can stream three titles on Prime Video from the same account at a time. However, you can only stream two of those titles simultaneously, which can be frustrating if three people want to stream the same content simultaneously.
Picture and sound quality
Amazon Prime Video is one of the few streaming service providers that have a decent selection of 4K and HDR content. It has ground-breaking deals with international broadcasters that allow it to showcase popular content alongside its own shows.
I really enjoy the picture and sound quality of the stream, and I think it works well in general. I also wanted to mention that the best Amazon Prime video experience is delivered on Amazon's Fire TV devices (not a surprise). So if you're considering an Amazon subscription over cable television, I would definitely recommend getting a Fire TV.
Plans & Pricing
Netflix is a streaming service that is similar to Amazon Prime Video. It has a subscription model with basic and add-on packages. The basic package costs $99/year, which works out to be around $8.75/month. This might look cheap on the paper, but if we're to compare the streaming service alone it's pretty much an entry-level package offered by Netflix. However, the fact that you get HD and 4K content along with added benefits such as delivery, music streaming, Kindle access, and other discounts makes it feel dirt-cheap in comparison.
Amazon Prime Video gives you the option to create your own library of content and also add content from other services for a monthly fee. For example, you can add HBO for $14.99/month, Showtime for $8.99/month, Cinemax and CBS All Access, each for $9.99/month.
Don't forget, Amazon Prime is not just for video. You need to have a full prime account in order to access all the channels that I mentioned. Furthermore, some of the Prime Channels I mentioned can only be accessed by members with a full prime account. This is a big downside.
Before you take the plunge and subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, try out its 30-day trial first. This period is to help you decide if it is good enough for you. If you are a student, you'll be pleased to know that Amazon Prime Video also provides a Student plan that brings down the Prime subscription rate from $99/year to $59/year. All you need is a .edu email address.
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