Amazon Instant Video

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

For those who may not know, the U.S. retailer Amazon.com has for some time now been offering a video streaming service with U.S. and UK movies and TV series that's kind of like (at least for now) a mini version of Netscape -- mini in the sense that Amazon's range of content is much more limited.

However, when I went to buy a small tech item the other day via Amazon, they were (at least for my account) offering another free one-month trial of Amazon Instant Video. Unlike Netflix, Amazon isn't offering their service on a paid monthly subscription basis, but instead, as a free side benefit for those who subscribe to their annual $79 Amazon Prime service, which provides free 2nd day U.S. shipping on most Amazon purchases.

So actually to be technically correct, Amazon has been offering free one month trials of their Amazon Prime memberships, which include the Amazon Instant Video service for free as a perk of membership. You can cancel the one month trial very easily online before it expires. But if you don't they'll then charge you $79 for the one year's membership.

I should note, Netflix and Amazon are the same, however, in that for those in Thailand, you need to have a U.S. IP address via proxy or VPN in order to access their video streaming. You also need, I believe, at least a U.S. mailing address of record in order to set up an account, and provide a credit card number with the same address for billing (not sure if they accept non-U.S. bank cards or not).

Netflix is, I should note, also branching out to other countries such as Canada and Latin America already, and I believe I've read plans are in the works for Europe. But I'm not sure how the mailing address and credit card issues operate for folks who might have addresses or cards from those other countries.

But the point of my post, apart from giving an overview of the Amazon Instant Video service, was to say the one-month trial has given me a new impetus to look over Amazon's streaming video catalog. And while not nearly as broad as Netscape, there are some nice things there, for example:

All the seasons of "24" (which also are available on Netflix), all the seasons of "The West Wing", which I hadn't seen available for streaming elsewhere previously, the "Ally McBeal" TV series, the Monty Python TV series and quite a few MP movies, the "LOST" TV series, a broad selection of the various "Star Trek" TV series versions, "Sesame Street" TV series for the kiddies (and maybe some adults too ), and a lot more.

If you can notch a free month's trial, there's a lot there to see. And if you do a lot of buying from Amazon anyway, then the Amazon Prime membership is a common-sense way to save on domestic U.S. shipping costs for Amazon orders, and the Instant Video Service just becomes a free perk on the side.