Amazon launched its video download service, Unbox, today in advance of Apple's expected entry into the fray next week. Here are my initial thoughts given I can't use the thing because I'm on a Mac.

• The pricing is not horrible. $1.99 for a TV show is typical. $3.99 for a rental undercuts my local Blockbuster by 30 cents. Purchase prices aren't too bad - many are $9.99 or thereabouts but I did see some for $20, which isn't an advantage over buying a DVD.
• You can burn to DVD, but it doesn't work in any DVD player so this is just for backup. Lame.
• They offer Trek, which means Paramount hates iTunes for some reason.
  
• Doesn't work on iPod or with iTunes natively; wonder if there's a way to strip the DRM.
• Must use Amazon's player (gee, more programs, thanks.)
• The quality is DVD quality and, if you want it, a smaller, worse quality version for your portable video thingie. That's nice. However...
• Download times suuuuck. Per Amazon's own chart, a two-hour movie takes almost two hours to download on a 3.0mbps connection. On my so-so 1.5mbps at home, it takes almost four hours. That's unacceptable to me. I know that's not Amazon's fault.

So, if a movie takes four hours to download I could in theory set it to download in the morning and have it on my computer at night. But I can just stop at Blockbuster on the way home (or use Netflix, dur) and for that extra 30 cents on the rental I can actually play it in my DVD player, which has much more comfortable seating nearby.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again but, anything that doesn't support the iPod does face an uphill battle. It's funny how Amazon addresses this in the FAQ:

Can I use Amazon Unbox on my Macintosh or iPod?

No. Apple Computer Inc. has exclusive rights to the hardware and software that would make this possible. Because of these restrictions, we are unable to make Amazon Unbox compatible with these products. While it is possible to run one of the approved operating systems on computers made by Apple, we cannot guarantee the performace [sic] of Amazon Unbox on these systems.

The thing is, that's not entirely true. Amazon could sell non-DRMed videos which would work splendidly on an iPod - they just choose not to (either by force from the MPAA or not - but probably so.) This kind of oh-so-slight misinformation bugs me a lot; the truth is that both sides are using DRM, one shittier than the other (arguably), and they don't work together. The correct answer would be:

Can I use Amazon Unbox on my Macintosh or iPod?
No, because the copy protection Amazon Unbox's downloads uses is designed only for the Windows platform and Windows-compatible devices.

That's the real truth. Why doesn't Amazon just say that?

One last thing that is actually great is that this does provide competition for iTunes in the pricing department. The first season of Firefly is on sale at Unbox right now, and it undercuts Apple's price by a few bucks. That's good! I hope Apple considers responding in kind. (They might even consider doing a "series run" sale - buy all x seasons and save money.)

And About Apple

The rumors on the internets say that Apple'll open up a movie store next week, selling movies and not doing rentals. $10 for old movies, $15 for new. No word on quality or selection. The rumors also state that if Apple does start out it'll be only with Disney (surprise).

It's my opinion that the pieces are indeed coming together for some awesome convergence, but we're not quite there yet. If Apple offers high quality downloads like Unbox, it'll take a fortnight to download the things. That's a bad experience. If they offer middling quality, people will bitch about it (and rightfully so at $10 - $5, maybe not.)

Apple isn't big on bad experiences, so I'm hoping these rumors turn out to be false. I find it a bit hard to believe that Apple would settle for a mediocre experience to appease the movie studios... but time will tell.

Rebox

So, in summary, Unbox will serve as an interesting experiment - perhaps, nothing more.

Addendum: About Rentals

I learned today that the Unbox rental model is this: you can watch it one time within a 30-day period. That plainly sucks, and I'll definitely pay the extra money to get it from Blockbuster because I can watch a film 18 times within a week. That's much more valuable to me. Can't imagine many people enjoying that restriction.

Apple's gotta pull a rabbit out of its hat if they're going to compete with Unbox, but the MPAA's restrictions are horrible.

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