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Amazon Prime Now Offers Video-Only Subscription Plan




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LaughingElbow



Joined: 19 Apr 2014
Posts: 237
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:57 am Reply with quote
Comes out cheaper to just buy Prime...
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:04 pm Reply with quote
LaughingElbow wrote:
Comes out cheaper to just buy Prime...


The big one time cost was cited as a deterrent by many after Kabaneri was announced for Amazon Prime.

Wish they had announced this sooner, though I saved some money overall by getting it yearly.
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:33 pm Reply with quote
I knew it was coming since that was a big issue for people regarding Iron Fortress,and it makes even more sense since their library of originals is really starting to grow.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:41 pm Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
The big one time cost was cited as a deterrent by many after Kabaneri was announced for Amazon Prime.
Wish they had announced this sooner, though I saved some money overall by getting it yearly.


And now ends up being the one reason the majority of its members subscribe--
Show of hands, did ANYONE get Prime just because of the programming, and not simply enjoy/tolerate it as a bonus perk of the free disk shipping they were trying to get?
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Barbobot



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 460
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:14 pm Reply with quote
LaughingElbow wrote:
Comes out cheaper to just buy Prime...


That's the whole point and is how many subscription services work. If you commit to a longer period of time, you save money. Funimation and Crunchyroll both do it. Amazon just took a while to add the shorter subscriptions as they were building up their library of streaming options I guess.
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:25 pm Reply with quote
Apparently the monthly plan can be turned on and off at your discretion (as is usually the case) so a savvy binge watcher could actually save a good deal of money. Whenever they put out a show you like, you just get a month's subscription, binge watch, and you get a whole season for 8.99, even less than if you bought eps individually, though I don't think most people buy shows by individual episodes. Some writers worry than the monthly plan for Prime could lose them money over the holiday shopping season due to people following a similar strategy of selectively paying for the monthly service as they need it, but a writer I read suggests that may actually be the point, given their philosophy of pumping all their money back into their business. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/11449748/amazon-prime-video-temporary

Not really a desirable option for people who watch as they air or a lot of shows like me but anyone worried about the cost of a subscription has the option, and it's not illegal like other avenues.
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
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Location: Maine
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:33 pm Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
LaughingElbow wrote:
Comes out cheaper to just buy Prime...


The big one time cost was cited as a deterrent by many after Kabaneri was announced for Amazon Prime.


Plus not everyone buys enough off Amazon to make that kind of one-time commitment for the free shipping. Besides that, I've gone this long without Amazon having any shows I'm interested in, what if after this season they don't get anything else I want to watch? Better to pay $26.97 for the three months I know I'll be watching than $99.99 for the whole year I may not be.

Emerje
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:52 pm Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
so a savvy binge watcher could actually save a good deal of money. Whenever they put out a show you like, you just get a month's subscription, binge watch, and you get a whole season for 8.99, even less than if you bought eps individually, though I don't think most people buy shows by individual episodes.


Oh, now THAT gives binge-watching an even dirtier name than it already has: Mad
Do you realize how much it sounds like those disk-Netflix abusers from fifteen years ago who bragged about "I binge-watch my disks and mail them back the next day, so I can get six disks a week on my four-out plan!"?
With such a shortage of good "real" programming on Prime available (and half of that for me is just serendipitously digging for what obscure Public Domain Gold lies within the deep, deep browsing searches), it sort of emphasizes that the purpose of using subscription to fill in where TV Failed Us is to have a little of something to watch every night.
The good stuff on Prime is slowing to a trickle; use it up too early, and you will regret it.

Quote:
Some writers worry than the monthly plan for Prime could lose them money over the holiday shopping season due to people following a similar strategy of selectively paying for the monthly service as they need it, but a writer I read suggests that may actually be the point, given their philosophy of pumping all their money back into their business. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/11449748/amazon-prime-video-temporary.


Again, most of the one-time annual subscribers seem to be in it for the one-time shipping discount, but if the cost works out the same, the one-time splurge makes it an "invisible" price advantage for not having to pay another subscription charge the other 11 months of the year.
Ironically, if most of the customers are into Prime because they're frequent enough online-shopping customers for the free shipping to be an advantage, just exactly what are they using the free shipping ON?: More physical disk Blu-rays? CD's? Hard-copy books?
Not exactly the most sympathetic hardcore loyalty to the "digital-frontier streaming future".
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 2:16 pm Reply with quote
^^That's a good point. I never think about thinks like that because I tend to buy literally everything in bulk. But that does make a lot of sense for a lot of people.


Barbobot wrote:
LaughingElbow wrote:
Comes out cheaper to just buy Prime...


That's the whole point and is how many subscription services work. If you commit to a longer period of time, you save money. Funimation and Crunchyroll both do it. Amazon just took a while to add the shorter subscriptions as they were building up their library of streaming options I guess.


Yep. I still pay only $50 per year for CR because I locked into their yearly subscription back in 2013. Pretty sure paying monthly will cost you like $84 or something.
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Rukiia



Joined: 30 Aug 2010
Posts: 1897
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:30 pm Reply with quote
I hate this because it blocks out anyone outside the US (Canada) from watching it. There is absolutely no other legal way for anyone not in the US and Japan to watch Iron Fortress. That claim that they are streaming it world wide was a load of shit.
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Swiftyy



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 190
Location: Florida, USA.
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 4:46 pm Reply with quote
Rukiia wrote:
I hate this because it blocks out anyone outside the US (Canada) from watching it. There is absolutely no other legal way for anyone not in the US and Japan to watch Iron Fortress. That claim that they are streaming it world wide was a load of shit.


Amazon Video is also available in the UK, Austria and Germany but I certainly get your point in availability to certain territories, especially when they've been saying it's available for streaming worldwide.
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Pepperidge



Joined: 13 Sep 2003
Posts: 1104
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:51 pm Reply with quote
Swiftyy wrote:
Rukiia wrote:
I hate this because it blocks out anyone outside the US (Canada) from watching it. There is absolutely no other legal way for anyone not in the US and Japan to watch Iron Fortress. That claim that they are streaming it world wide was a load of shit.


Amazon Video is also available in the UK, Austria and Germany but I certainly get your point in availability to certain territories, especially when they've been saying it's available for streaming worldwide.


That should be the main controversy here, and I'm kind of appalled that it continues to get buried under petty complaints about affordability in the US. As long as Amazon continues to claim that their release is "global," Americans will continue to assume that this is true and let the issue fall to the wayside completely.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9809
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:11 pm Reply with quote
Pepperidge wrote:
Quote:
As long as Amazon continues to claim that their release is "global," Americans will continue to assume that this is true and let the issue fall to the wayside completely.


And just what do you expect us to do about it? I would certainly think it would be a good idea if Canada had the same access as the US, if only to cut down on complaints. But neither I nor any one else here has any leverage in the matter unless they work for Amazon at the corporate level. This is basically an issue between Canadians and Amazon Canada.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:10 am Reply with quote
I wish they had this when I joined back in Aug. I will have to further halt some of my anime streaming subscriptions to save more money. That would involve Hulu and the Anime Network.
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