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Amazon debuts Unbox service
Video-download store launches with content from seven movie studios and TV networks like CBS, Fox, Comedy Central, and MTV.
Amazon.com launched its long-rumored Unbox video download service today, offering up thousands of movies, TV shows, and other videos from 30 movie studios and TV networks.
The Amazon Unbox player.
Amazon Unbox will sell TV shows for $1.99 per episode--in line with the standard set by iTunes--and movies will sell for between for $7.99 to $14.99.
Users can also rent movies for $3.99, with all content using Microsoft's PlaysForSure digital rights management (DRM) technology to restrict the use of the downloaded content.
"Amazon Unbox offers TV and movie enthusiasts a fast, convenient way to watch thousands of their favorite videos from around the world," Bill Carr, Amazon.com's vice president of digital media, said in a statement. "Now Amazon.com customers can choose to get videos delivered to their doorstep from Amazon's DVD store or choose Amazon Unbox and download DVD-quality picture movies or television shows to their PC."
The store launches with content from a slew of movie studios, including 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, and MGM. Movies in Unbox include Brokeback Mountain, V for Vendetta, Walk the Line, and Chinatown.
One notable omission from that list is Disney, whose movie roster includes Pixar films like The Incredibles and Toy Story. Disney acquired Pixar in June, a move that gave Pixar and Apple chief Steve Jobs a seat on the Disney board.
Apple is expected to announce the addition of movie downloads to its iTunes Music Store soon. The company sent out invites this week to a September 12 media event with the tagline, "It's Showtime."
The Unbox catalog also includes TV shows from CBS, Fox, MTV, Nickelodeon, PBS, BBC, A&E, Discovery Channel, Comedy Central, and the History Channel. ABC and NBC have yet to sign on to the service.
The service claims DVD-quality picture for video content that can be purchased on one PC and downloaded to another. Unbox uses progressive downloading technology, so most broadband users will be able to begin viewing videos within five minutes of ordering, rather than after the entire file arrives, which can often take an hour or longer.
Content can be transferred to Windows Media-compatible portable media players, meaning that it cannot be played on an iPod or Mac computer.
Amazon is currently offering a free trial of the Unbox service with one free download of a TV show in its catalog.
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