Amazon is getting into the online movie and video game.
Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites , is rolling out a new digital download service called Unbox. Unbox offers the video quality of the leading commercial Internet video services, delivering content encoded at 2,500 kilobits per second using the VC-1 Advanced Profile codec. Unbox also automatically includes a second file optimized for playback on any Windows media-compatible portable device. In addition, Unbox uses progressive download, eliminating the need to wait for the entire video to download before watching. This means the typical cable broadband customer can start watching any Unbox TV show or movie within five minutes of ordering. Content can be downloaded to any web-enabled personal computer.
"Amazon Unbox offers TV and movie enthusiasts a fast, convenient way to watch thousands of their favorite videos from around the world," says Bill Carr, Amazon.com's vice president of digital media. "Now Amazon.com customers can choose to get videos delivered to their doorstep from Amazon's DVD store or choose Amazon Unbox and download DVD-quality picture movies or television shows to their personal computer."
Amazon will implement Unbox along with an inventory of available content. Several television series and films will make their digital download debut with Amazon Unbox, including all 79 original episodes of TV's "Star Trek" series.
Movies available on Unbox include new releases such as "V for Vendetta," "Inside Man," "Failure to Launch," "RV" and "Walk the Line" as well as numerous classics like "Ben Hur," "Chinatown" and "Poseidon Adventure" from studios including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. Unbox will also have independent films from studios such as Focus Features, Fox Searchlight and Lionsgate, including "Akeelah and the Bee," "Brokeback Mountain" and "Friends With Money."
Unbox customers can purchase television series episodes for $1.99 per episode, purchase most movies for between $7.99 and $14.99, or rent the latest movies for $3.99.
Amazon is joining the growing ranks of entertainment companies and web retailers trying to carve out market share in the emerging video download business. Netflix, No. 21 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites , has announced it is considering a range of options as part of its strategy to enable subscribers to download movies from the Internet.
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