Amazon Unbox

I tried out Amazon Unbox for the first time tonight/yesterday--the ambiguity will be explained later. For those who haven't noticed it before, Amazon Unbox gives you video downloads with three choices--download to a computer, a portable media player, or a TiVo. The TiVo thing is what caught my attention. It allows me to easily watch from my TV which I just prefer.

Yesterday I paid 4 bucks for a rental of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Downloading takes forever. I can certainly see myself emailing Gwen in the morning and say "hey, do you want to watch suchandsuch tonight", but I doubt it'd be useful for spur-of-the-moment things. Still, the video quality was excellent and the entire process was seamless.

The selection wasn't up to Netflix' quality, most likely because I don't think every studio is unboard. For TV series, the selection isn't stellar, but it has Voltron, which is a pleasant surprise. I've managed to find enough that I keep busy through a long weekend. Woe to anime fans--you get three choices of Gundam and a lot stuff I haven't heard of.

Overall? It's a nice option, and one I've used and will probably use again.