Journal 6, July 20, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/technology/17amazon.html?ref=technology

Dennis Whitfield
LBST 2213
Journal 6

Amazon Plans an Online Store for Movies and TV Shows
By. Brad Stone

Last Thursday Amazon announced a product that will allow users to order TV shows and movies, called Amazon Video on Demand. Customers that subscribe to Amazon will be able to order over 40,000 movies and television shows because the stream, similar to how the cable companies video on demand works. This is different than similar online stores, such as Apples iTunes, which requires the user to download to their hard drive. Amazon is now pursing new technology that would provide an Internet pipeline to the TV. They have settled on a deal that would places its internet store on the Sony Bravia line of televisions.

Amazon’s video on demand opened up for a limited number of customers on Thursday, but will open later this summer for all customers. At this moment almost all of the publisher’s have signed on, but Disney and ABC are the lone hold outs. But they both are in sync with the Apple version. One of the main advantages to the system is that they videos do not download to the hard drive. Also, the videos that are purchased will be saved in a Video Library.

Amazon’s video on demand, sounds like a promising new invention. From what I read, this will become competition to not only video stores, but also cable companies. Someone without cable, could just sign online, and watch the latest shows, movies, and sporting events that they choose, without having to have an cable source. Also if you are fortunate enough to have a Sony, then you would have the service already on your television allowing you more freedom to watch and pay for exactly what you want to see and when. I personally cannot wait to check it out for myself to see exactly how this works.