Amazon.com unveiled the Unbox Video Store yesterday, a direct rival to Apple's iTunes 24-7 video store, which allows U.S. users to buy or rent TV shows, movies, and other video content from the Internet.
The company says that when customers download a movie or show, Unbox automatically gives them a second file that can be viewed on portable digital players that use Microsoft Windows Media Player.
Launching the service, Bill Carr, vice president - digital media, Amazon.com, said that Amazon Unbox offers TV and movie enthusiasts a fast, convenient way to watch thousands of their favorite videos from around-the-world. Amazon.com customers can now choose to get videos delivered to their doorstep from the Amazon DVD store, or choose Amazon Unbox and download DVD-quality movies or television shows to their PCs.
Unbox is supposedly the only video download service to offer DVD-quality picture. Moreover, Amazon Unbox customers can access their videos in the Amazon Your Media Library, a personalized Web page that indexes and organizes their media purchases from Amazon.com, including books, CDs, DVDs, and videos. Your Media Library effectively provides each Unbox customer a place to keep track of his/her Unbox video purchases, and download them to additional PCs.
The Unbox service provides titles from six Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros; TV networks, such as CBS and Fox; and cable channels like Comedy Central and E! Entertainment.
It is learnt that the TV shows would cost $1.99 per episode, while most movies would be available in the range of $7.99 to $14.99. Movies can also be rented for $3.99.
Videos can also be sent as a gift. The company's Unbox RemoteLoad technology enables users to buy video from one PC, such as their home computer, and download it to another, Amazon said.
