Services
Amazon Prime Instant Videos Free for Paying Prime Members
Amazon introduced Prime Instant Videos today, a new Prime benefit that allows members to watch more than 5,000 movies and TV shows for free. Amazon typically rents or sells videos via its Instant Video service.
Existing Prime customers may or may not be able to watch all of the free movies and TV shows however. Only those who are paying for Amazon Prime will be able to stream all of that content for free. Those who’ve taken advantage of free Prime offers, such as Amazon.com/mom, will have to pony up $79 to access the Prime Instant videos without paying for rentals.
A quick glance at Amazon Prime Instant Videos selection shows that many of the films can also be found in Netflix’s streaming library. Those who are happy with Netflix probably won’t find enough reason to pick up Amazon Prime solely for the free movies.
Like Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos are heavily weighted towards older films. The latest Hollywood video new releases still premier first on DVD or On Demand cable services.
GoodThings2Life
02/23/2011 at 12:05 am
Incidentally, the Amazon Prime membership is more than this too… there’s also automatic free two-day shipping on all orders (from Amazon and select 3rd party shippers), and reduced next-day shipping. This alone pays for itself if you actually buy stuff frequently.
Anyway, depending on the selection, this is a huge deal that I’m looking forward to using.
Xavier Lanier
02/23/2011 at 2:18 am
Yep, I’m a long time Amazon prime member and use it for the cheap/free shipping options. But I now get Amazon Prime (at least the shipping part) for free based on my particular purchases.
Ldouglas27
12/15/2011 at 6:35 am
I just had to pony up the $79 after finding out that my free prime membership through Amazon Mom only gives you Prime (shipping) for up to one year and then you are not eligible without paying. Of course, I’m hooked on just the value of free two day shipping or even $3.99 overnight. I have browsed through the movies and think they are really lame except they do have a good selection of documentaries especially regarding the food we eat.