Amazon Prime Instant Video - Page 9

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in order for me to say, get a video game on release date, it's going to cost me the $59.99 it does on Amazon anywhere else - but on top of that I'm paying 10.5% tax and transportation (at least $2.50 bus ride, sometimes more) to get to a Best Buy or Gamestop, plus my time. So, around $68. Or, I can get free release date delivery to my desk at work on that day, for $59.99 even.

Stuff like that.

So how many games do you get per year on average?

I'm not really up on the most current games (I play about 3 games a year on average and usually look in the $20 bin) but a quick look at Newegg shows free shipping on most of the games that pop up, even the $60 ones.

True, it's not 2 day shipping, but 3 day shipping isn't as bad as the 8 to 10 day average of Amazon's "Super-saver" shipping.

-Suntan

I would say around 15-20 boxed games. But it's not just games that I buy. Even so, you're talking an $8 savings per game, so after 10 games I've already paid for my Prime.

I game a lot with online friends, and if they have a game release date and I have it 3 days later, I'm already so behind that I can't play the campaign with them usually..

I got big video game department credits for pre-ordering things that had release-day delivery. Between Halo Reach ($20), Fable III ($20) and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood ($15), I netted $55. I applied a $20 credit from Halo to the purchase of Fable, the credit from Fable to the purchase of ACB and spent the $15 from the ACB pre-order on a Microsoft Live points card (MS Live points are their online "currency" for purchasing games and dowloadable content from the Xbox Live Marketplace as well as music and video from the Zune Marketplace--I spend hundred of dollars a year on that stuff).

yup, that too

For electronics and blu-ray, Best Buy and Frys may be able to price match (for online prices, YMMV on the Manager of the store).
But over the last 6 months, I've bought a new receiver, generator and safe that could not be bought locally and with free 2day shipping, it was a no brainer.
Also, no need to go burn gas running around trying to find a price match retailer locally.
Oh, and have fun trying to price match at Frys.
They do price match but it takes a long time to get all the approvals to bypass their pricing system. Have your patience ready.

Amazon gets more interesting, apparently they have an interest in purchasing Blockbuster.

Story here: Amazon, Best Buy and Coinstar Among Suitors

IMO, I doubt they have much interest in the B&M operation (for tax reasons) but they want the By-Mail and kiosk business. This would position Amazon very well to compete with Netflix and Redbox. It would make them a one stop shop for PPV, VOD and physical rental by mail and kiosk. That would be something no one else offered.

^

BB doesn't own or operate the kiosks. They just rent their name to another company....which is why the BB kiosks have the same 28 day delay everyone else does. Anyways, Amazon wouldn't have the kiosks either, but Amazon would still have the PPV/VOD and mail rental business, and of course their new buffet streaming plan. Hopefully Amazon could turn around the mail business by actually paying the studios for discs, and hopefully improve on the check in and turnaround times (and shipping delays)

What would probably be interesting if Amazon did buy it, is would they or would they not have the 28 day delay, or would that advantage die with the sale? With no stores (I am assuming they'd close all of them) the in-store exchange advantage is null, and we all know the current BB distribution center situation leaves a lot to be desired (2 day shipping in many areas, including mine). And of course Amazon's streaming model, which I am interested in, leaves a lot to be desired at the moment. Regardless, I would re-look at them for discs, and lower my Netflix plan if they would meet my needs for discs.

I am also not up on all the tax laws, but I believe Amazon doesn't have a physical presence in most states at the moment, which is why most of us don't have to pay state sales tax when we buy stuff from them. If I am correct in that (which I think I am, but not 100% sure), having a physical presence across the nation (via distribution centers) might be something I'm not thrilled about since I do a lot of shopping on Amazon and would prefer to avoid the sales tax.

Well, according to tax law, it is still your responsibility to pay the state sales tax. The seller is only responsible for *collecting* it in states that it has a major physical presence in.

You will be sending in those state sales taxes before April 15th won't you?

-Suntan

Of course. That's why I included the "...when we buy stuff from them". I would just prefer to invest that money over the course of the year then pay it, rather than have Amazon collect it at the time of purchase

I hope Amazon gets to win any bid for BB. Netflix needs a formidable competition. I personally don't want the Blu-ray (disc) format to die.

It would be interesting to know that if Amazon did end up with the by mail BB service, how that plays into the fact that Amazon is a major seller of the content .. at one point Redbox was buying content from Walmart and what not, until they imposed a 5 disk max purchase ..

Amazon presumably has the ability to get as many disks as it wants ..

Given that Netflix is moving out of the rental business, and Blockbuster being on the skids with no other rental option available, that I'm aware of anyhow, I hope some entity picks up BB, Amazon would be nice, simply so we still have a venue for renting discs. If there was no place to rents discs, the format would definitely die in my house as there are so very few films I would even consider purchasing. If I can't rent them, then I'll probably not ever see them.

I'm sure if Amazon did start renting discs, they would also have a way for you to buy and keep them if you wanted.

I'm pretty sure it's a safe bet that rental won't disappear anytime soon ..

Not that this is a solution for everyone but for me, if Netflix ever did get out of the disc business, I would probably just do PPV streaming from Amazon or iTunes for my rental fix and then buy the Blu Rays for the movies I really liked.

I think a viable place to rent Blu-Rays from is in real danger though. If BB by mail goes away and Netflix continues to not stock catalog releases that are being released, then where are you going to get them from? And don't say Redbox because that selection isn't that great.

It might not be tomorrow or next month, but I personally don't see good times ahead for us renters and think we'll be more forced to go the VOD route, which is what the studios want anyways (if we aren't going to buy, I mean).

Of course I think they'll succeed in killing off discs if that's the case. Who is going to buy a disc player when you can't rent discs and have to buy literally everything?

Yeah, that's all worst-case scenario though. Guess we'll know in a couple months what is going on with BB and if someone is buying them and what they're going to do with the current operations.


See above, although I'd use Netflix+Vudu or Zune. But I won't buy. The studios have burnt that bridge with me, at least for the foreseeable future. It'll only be the $5 or less bargain bins, if any (since at $5 it's actually cheaper than Vudu HDX). Although for the same price I could get Vudu HD without 10 minutes of trailers and Blu-Ray and anti-smoking and Sony commercials. That would be tempting, even if it's only a 24 hour rental.

why would you PPV rather than all you can eat Netflix, if you're going the download route?

While I'm sure you know the answer to that, I'll point out I'd use Netflix+Vudu or Zune.

Obviously the services compliment each other well.

I do not believe B&M stores are in Amazons future. I think that BB is selling its assets and different companies will be bidding on the things they want. I don't think they are selling BB as an entity. I could also be completely wrong LOL

ah yes. Sorry, I though spirit meant he'd drop NF.

Seems to me I read an article several months ago about Amazon looking at a commercial space in a popular London shopping area for local point of sale. Not saying they'll retain any of the BB outlets, but I think Amazon has definitely looked at having a local brick-and-mortar presence, I could see them having a store in the largest metropolitan cities; San Francisco, New York, Chicago and LA, maybe 5-6 more cities.

I don't see good times either and that's what bothers me about the BB failure. I don't buy discs anymore and if I can't rent them I'll end up watching far less films as online streaming/VOD simply is not the same quality, and it's far more expensive(VOD).

Yes, I know, the average person probably does not. The kiosk business (Blockbuster Express) is owned by NCR and has a licence deal with Blockbuster.

.. trust me, I'd never tout Redbox .. sure, we use them .. lately the selection is just crap on new material .. and they hand out free rental codes like confetti .. but they've got no selection ..



I'd agree .. as we know, Hollywood has wanted the rental business to go away since the first tape was rented .. why .. ?? They don't get a piece of the action everytime a disk is rented .. remember when they started playing around with those self destruct disks .. ?? Once you watched it they became unplayable after a few days .. ??



If the price of a stream was under $2 bucks on any new release, and it was 1080p / 5.1 .. I'd probably stream everything .. sure, I'd miss Master Audio, and yes, a BD looks better .. but convienience makes up for it IMO .. as it is with us, we use Redbox, Netflix as well as the last video store in the area (which gets about $4 bucks a pop on a new BD, but sometimes I'll pay because I want to watch it now and not wait ..

Really, the studios are the key to this whole mess and they know it ..

When I originally got the BB bankruptcy paperwork (I'm a stockholder, unfortunately) .. the Court did go into detail on the kiosk business .. I don't think it will be excluded from the proceedings ..

I am in the same boat. I don't see myself buying every movie that I want to see. I will use VOD for some titles that I want to see but @ $5.99 a pop, I will not be watching that many titles. I have also stopped buying HT gear as I am not sure what the futures holds. I have invested over $30,000 on high end gear for my HT in the last three years and many hours here at the forum researching, reading and posting and I see now that may end up being a waste of time and money. I will not be repeating this going forward.

Well, I'd watch less due to price. The quality (yeah it's not as good as BD) has nothing to do with it for me, since at that point it's an issue of watch if on VOD, buy the BD, or not see it (so I will take the VOD option). I'd probably just be a little pickier about what I watch and not "take a chance" on something for $6.


In what capacity? The only thing they'd be getting would be the income NCR pays them for the rights to use the BB name, right? Just a transfer of the contract, I would think. They certainly can't force NCR to turn over the kiosks....

I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on TV .. ..

Anything that is an asset in a case like this is fair game for a creditor .. that's how bankrupcy works ..

I don't profess to know the internal workings of the BB case, (perhaps you do .. ??) .. I'm just passing along info the Court sent me ..