Amazon’s Recently Launched Video Site Unbox Has Problems

Amazon.com launched its version of online video sharing less than a month ago. Already now the industry sources, including a PC-World staff blog, are reporting the service is suffering substantial teething problems.

by Angelique van Engelen

The digital marketing effort of professional movies and TV series is seriously lagging. Amazon’s online video store, called Unbox, is running on Microsoft Windows Media Player software and is among a handful of companies that enjoys direct Hollywood backing.

According to Mike Langberg, who writes columns for the San Jose Mercury News Daily, Amazon together with Apple, are seen as the A-team, who are going to have to finally lead the breakthrough in marketing big movies digitally. “These aren't the first movie-download services; Hollywood has backed two companies - CinemaNow and Movielink - for several years, but neither has achieved any kind of name recognition. The A-team has enough marketing clout to make millions of consumers aware of movie downloads, and hopefully convince anyone now downloading pirated movies to switch to the legal approach”, he reported recently.

When it was launched a few weeks ago, Amazon promised clients smooth passage both buying and renting streaming content. However, to keep delivering on that promise or to actually make good, Amazon is already offering a software upgrade to its video player. Apparently this is because of feedback it has received. “Clearly the service had its problems, but it also appears as if the company is paying attention and is willing to act quickly to try and remedy them”, writes PCworld in its blog.

So what's actually gone wrong? Quite a number of things, it appears - problems during downloads, difficulties in fast forwarding and rewinding as well as time-consuming licensing agreements. The upgrade is meant to consider all of these issues. What’s more, the company is offering its registered users a refund of USD1.99 in the form of a credit.