Amazon releases Amazon Instant Video app for iPad

[dgstorm]

Amazon and Apple might be fiercely competing with one another on the tablet market, but that doesn’t mean that Amazon will not try to use Cupertino’s products. Just this week Amazon launched the Amazon Instant Video service for the iPad. The service becomes available on-demand and is similar to the already popular Netflix and Hulu Plus.

To get the Amazon Prime membership interested parties will have to pay $79 but the first month comes free of charge. Amazon Instant Video will allow users to stream Prime content for free and also download videos to be watched later on. Season Pass enables TV enthusiasts to watch the latest TV shows episodes, and fresh content is uploaded the very next morning the episode airs on TV screens.

The app is smart enough to let users resume what they have been watching from Kindle Fire, PS3, PC or Mac computers. There’s a caveat to this release. For example it can be quite annoying that you can’t actually search for available content. You also can’t buy new content, so you’re pretty much limited to the library you created on Amazon.

To get Amazon Instant Video users will have iOS 4.3 or higher.

By Radu

Source: Amazon Instant Video on Your iPad and Amazon Instant Video for iPad on the iTunes App Store

 

[iPadOhana]

Has anyone tried this app? I've heard it doesn't work for iPad 3.

 

[MadChef]

I am a Amazon Prime member using the app on the original iPad. The app works great for me and I plan on catching up with some TV shows I missed.
My first will be season two of Downton Abby. They have the original UK version, not sure if it is any different than what was shown here in the States on PBS.
I tried a couple of preview clips and they looked great.

☮ ♥ 

 

[SheerLuckHolmes]

WOW! All this promotion for such an assume idea. I downloaded the app, because I have a number of TV shows I bought through Amazon. They stream nicely on my iMac. How fantastic it would be to send them to my TV through this app over airplay. It DOES NOT work! I only get audio no video.

So I use the App to report the problem. Within 24 hours I get a responce that says I am correct it will not work, but thanks for the feedback. Could this be just a hype to get you to buy the Amazon Prime Service where everything there does work?

Very Dissapointed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Fleexr]

Just tried it and the design is quite nice but it's completely missing search. This could be because they're trying to hide the fact that their content base is so small. You can't NOT FIND things they don't have.

 

[Blue iPad]

If anyone also runs Netflix, how does it compare? I wonder if they will make one for the iPhone too?

 

[ericwalker425]

This app does not work for jail broken iPads wow this sucks! I will not unjailbreak my new iPad 3 for amazon

 

[AdmiralAdama]

Not available in Canada. Extremely irritating.

Amazon has seriously neglected the Canadian market place with its digital offerings.

AA

 

[iPadOhana]

This might be a stupid question, but are there more choices than what appears when the app opens. It seems like there are not many choices to choose from.

 

[Blue iPad]

It looks like not many people here are happy with the app.

 

[Mickey330]

I think the streaming for Prime subscribers is to just "get our feet wet" - I should imagine the hope is to reel us in so that we will buy or rent more videos than available for free streaming.

However, just to be sure: When you say there is much selection, I would assume you've (1) scrolled up and down the screen that first appears when you open the app, or (2) scrolled left to right in each category's line or (3) selected "view more" for each category? Yeah, there's not a lot, but there is more than I would have expected.

Also, maybe if you went to the actual site via a web browser you might see more choices. If you find something you like, you can always add it to your queue for viewing later [on the ipad].

Marilyn

 

[Kaykaykay]

I used the Prime streaming previously on my Kindle Fire and had a good experience. I've since used the iPad app and have not been impressed. It repeatedly stopped streaming, prompting me to variously restart the app and/or (dis)connect my wifi connection. If I hadn't really wanted to watch Downton Abbey's second season, which isn't available via Netflix, I would've given up watching, because it was such a PITA.

Compared with Netflix, the Amazon streaming sucked

I figure that I get Prime streaming for free, since I pay for the membership for other reasons, but I wouldn't use the app even for free at this point unless there was something I really wanted to see that wasn't available on Netflix.

I hope they improve the iPad app streaming, because it's good to have options. But I don't see any reason to switch from Netflix at this point. Netflix also had probs in its early streaming days, from my experience, but they didn't have a big competitor that had already set the bar.

 

[epb]

After playing with it a few days, it seems tailored to act like their Kindle app, which is focused on bypassing iTunes. You make your choices and purchases outside the app on their web site, and simply consume the content on your iPad. For someone like me, who owned 139 tv seasons and over 100 movies, it's a huge benefit to be able to access that content on my iPad, and even download some of it - accessing Prime content is a small bonus (seems the bulk of what I want is also on Netflix).

As far as performance, I've had no issues watching video - I've re-watched half od the last season of 24 without a hitch.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I watched the entire season of Downton Abbey over two days this weekend, despite repeat streaming interruptions on iPad. At one point, I tried switching from one iPad to another, in case there was an iPad issue, but the iPad app said I couldn't watch on more than one device, even after I'd logged off the app on the first iPad. Lame. Netflix allows viewing on multiple devices at the same time. I also tried 3G, which the app didn't allow. Netflix allows streaming on 3G, too.

Maybe Amazon's servers were overloaded, or maybe Downton Abbey was the prob, because it seems to have an exclusive on season two in the U.S. But later last night I tried rewatching an episode of it on my Kindle Fire, and there were zero interruptions.

 

[AdmiralAdama]

We've had Netflix for almost 2 years and I've noticed a major improvement in streaming
quality.

AA

Sent from my iPhone using iPF