Most people don't know that Amazon Video has been around for almost a decade. It debuted in 2006 as Amazon Unbox, then changed names to Amazon Video on Demand in 2008, eventually settling on its current name of Amazon Video or Amazon Prime Instant Video.
For all those years, Amazon Video was only available as a bundle with Amazon Prime. However, now Amazon offers three different subscription plans. Facebook Meddles in Politics, Pay Monthly by Amazon Prime... [Tech News Digest] Facebook Meddles in Politics, Pay Monthly by Amazon Prime... [Tech News Digest] Facebook could change the face of politics, Amazon launches Prime option monthly, Apple gives iPhones three years, Microsoft's Captionbot sucks at photo identification, and a Fallout game hits YouTube. Read more so you can Choose the one that best suits your needs. .
If you've ever wondered if Amazon Prime is really worth it, is Amazon Prime a good deal? Is Amazon Prime a good deal? Amazon Prime sounds like a lot, but is it? We dug into the benefits to determine if they're worth the $99 per year. Read More But if you don't want to pay for the full set of Amazon Prime features, or if you don't want to pay for the full year upfront, here are some alternative plans to consider.
The new Prime Video Plan is one of the most incredible developments from Amazon in recent years, not because it offers anything new, but because it underscores how serious Amazon is about its instant video offering, which is surely good for cable. -cutters considering canceling the cable? The true cost of cutting the cord considering canceling the cord? The True Cost of Cutting Cord When you add everything up, do you really save money by cutting cord? We do the necessary calculations to cancel the cable in favor of Internet services. Read more.
What you get with this plan: For $8.99 a month, you get access to Amazon's entire digital streaming library, complete with TV shows and movies in HD, Ultra HD, and HDR (as the tech becomes available) HDR TV:What It Is and Why You'll Need It in 2016) HDR TV:What It Is and Why You'll Need It in 2016 High Dynamic Range, or HDR, is shaping up to be the big TV buzzword for 2016. But what is it? Will it live up to expectations? it needs to know. Read more).
What's great about this attention-getting subscription plan is the fact that it's actually cheaper than Netflix's standard plan, which costs $9.99 per month. It's also cheaper than Hulu's non-commercial plan, which costs $11.99 per month. Compared directly on price, Prime Video clearly wins.
But is it worth that price? That's a little harder to answer because it really depends on what you want to watch, how you want to watch, and how often you plan to watch it.
As for the library selection, Amazon offers a lot of exclusive and original content worth watching 10+ TV Shows That Make Amazon Prime Worth the Money 10+ TV Shows That Make Amazon Prime Worth the Money Netflix is undoubtedly the king of Movie and TV Show Streaming Services. However, Amazon Prime does have some great TV shows that make it worth the asking price. Read More and The Man in the High Castle . Prime Video can also be streamed on many devices, including Roku boxes, smart TVs, Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Xbox, and PlayStation.
But the real benefit of this particular plan is that it pays you month-to-month. Instead of dropping a lot of money on a yearly Prime plan, which we cover below, you can watch as much as you want for a month, then cancel, then tune back in next year when news becomes available. When done this way, it's very affordable.
And if the Prime Video selection isn't enough for you, Amazon allows you to add additional subscriptions to third-party channels How to Add Video Subscriptions to Your Amazon Prime Account How to Add Video Subscriptions to Your Amazon Prime Account Amazon Prime Members in the United States can now subscribe to premium channels to watch more TV shows through Amazon Video. In this article, we explain how to do it in simple terms. Read More However, at around $9 per month per channel, this can quickly become an expensive endeavor.
The other exciting addition to Amazon's arsenal is the ability to subscribe to Prime on a monthly basis. So far, if you want to take advantage of all the amazing benefits of Prime 10 Awesome Amazon Prime Benefits You May Have Missed 10 Awesome Amazon Prime Benefits You May Have Missed Free two-day shipping is just the beginning. Here are some notable Amazon Prime benefits you may have forgotten about or never even realized existed. Read More
What you get with this plan: For $10.99 per month (or $99 per year), you get access to all the features of Prime, including free two-day shipping, Kindle Owners Lending Library (free eBook loans), Prime Photos (free photos), Prime Video (unlimited streaming), and Prime Music, which actually (isn't as bad as you think it is) Why you should give Amazon Prime Music a second chance Why you should give Amazon Prime Music a second chance There are several reasons why you might want to give Amazon Prime Music a second chance. It certainly deserves a lot more credit than it's currently getting. Read on to find out why. Read More).
In other words, for just $2 more a month, you get everything in the Prime Video plan and more. This represents massive Value:So great that if you're considering the Prime Video plan but also want just one feature from the Prime suite, then you should probably choose the Full Prime plan over the Prime Video plan.
Which brings us to another question:Why would anyone opt for the monthly plan? Astute readers will note that a year's worth of Prime at a monthly price comes out to $132, while Prime normally costs $99 per year. Seems pretty clear, right?
Well, not quite. If You're Actively Avoiding Online Shopping Buck the Trend:5 Tips to Avoid Online Impulse Buying Buck the Trend:5 Tips to Avoid Online Impulse Buying Are you an impulse shopper? Do you waste money on items you don't really want or need? Here are some tips and tricks to help you get back in control. Read More
Or, similarly, if you've just moved into a new house and you know you're going to be ordering a lot of replacement supplies over the next month or two, then it makes sense to get Prime for just those months. The monthly plan works well for these high-density purchasing scenarios.
However, if you know you're going to take advantage of the full feature set of Prime and you've decided to commit to the Amazon ecosystem, then there's no question:the annual plan is absolutely the best deal between Netflix and Hulu against Amazon Prime:which one should you choose? Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon Prime:Which one should you choose? It's been years since we've compared the big-hit streaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. And with changes in pricing, content, quality, and interface, we thought it was time to take a fresh look. Read more . It comes out at $8.25 per month, which is even cheaper than the Prime Video plan alone!
If you're still having trouble determining which Amazon subscription plan is best for your needs, here's a quick rundown:
Hopefully that helps. However, if you've never streamed an Amazon video before, you should know that some of the issues currently hampering Netflix 7 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Subscribing to Netflix 7 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Subscribing to Netflix as well as there are difficulties in cutting the cord, there are downsides to Netflix that you might consider to be a deal breaker. So before you sign up for Netflix, take a moment to consider these blemishes. Read More It's best to be prepared before diving in.
How do you feel about the new Amazon subscription plans? Which one are you going to buy? Which of the Amazon Prime features do you think is the most useful and important? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
