Friday, December 23, 2011

Streaming Wars: Amazon Prime

By Teacup

Streaming movies and television online is the next step in entertainment, so it's not surprising that many websites are now offering paid subscriptions to streaming content. Netflix, until recently, was on top of that throne, but their recent decision to split their previously combined lending and streaming service lead to the collapse of their monopoly on mainstream streaming content. They still may be on top, but their lead is nowhere near what it once was. Coming in closely behind are websites such as Hulu and Youtube, but a curious new contender has shown itself in the past year. Amazon.com, international shopping behemoth, added a video streaming service to the list of features for users with an Amazon Prime account.

After receiving so many emails in my inbox about this new service, I finally caved and purchased myself a Prime account. But I let it sit for a good couple of months, because I had a thesis to finish and a pile of school books to read, which took precedence. Finally, thesis turned in and pile of books demolished, I started at the beginning of the content Amazon had acquired and went all the way through to the end.