Y’all, there’s medication for that sort of thing. (I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was on it myself.)
Amazon Prime is very nice. I wish they had subtitles on their films, because sometimes people talk too rapidly, or the volume varies too much, and it’s hard to make out important details. Re-watching the Robin Hood series premiere on my laptop where the first time I watched it on my 360, I picked up some small but important plot points on second viewing that I missed because of volume issues.
Subtitles would go a long way towards relieving that problem.
Aside from that, I got nothing. Just check into some decent psychiatric medication if you’re hearing voices in your head, is all.
People already spending hundreds of dollars more on Amazon were probably among the first adopters, so I don’t think that whole difference is a consequence of an impetus to spend more once you join. But I’m sure that contributes.
We order lots from Amazon, and sporadically, so we like it. We also have Netflix, mainly because I haven’t spent time figuring out if I can drop it, but also because our TV has a nice Netflix app.
I wasn’t impressed with their movie selection versus the Netflix subscription I already have, and I pretty much always hit $25 on any given Amazon order, so I get free shipping anyway. The shipping takes a little longer with the super-saver option, but that’s never been an issue for me.
I’ve done that; ordered something I don’t really need just to hit the $25 threshold. But then I realized that it’s cheaper not to order the unnecessary item and instead just to pay for the shipping.
I’ve been a prime member pretty much since it came out, and I’ll never give it up. I rarely use it for streaming video. I occasionally take advantage of the free Kindle book.
So I use it primarily for shipping, and it pays for itself, no question. The “free supersaver” shipping to my area takes fooooreeevvveerrr, and I’m often ordering stuff that I can’t wait on (business related stuff, etc.)
Plus, I don’t think people have mentioned that with Prime, for an extra $3.99 per item, you can get overnight delivery. Perfect for when you REALLY NEED IT FAST.
I also live in a rural area where I simply can’t find exactly what I’m looking for locally, so often ordering online is my only option. Amazon is definitely my first choice because they pretty much have everything, they have decent prices, and they’ll get it to me fast.
This, with a twist: I actually have a KindleFire, and declined to go the Prime route because I just order everything through MrTao’s account for the free shipping. The video selections were nice, but the fact that the sound on the Fire is SO low, and SO shitty, that you really MUST use headphones to hear anything, well…that killed the Fire for me as a tablet media server. I hate wearing headphones. Hate, hate, hate. So it’s for books and the occasional poker game now, and that’s about it.
As far as watching movies and stuff on my computer, bleargh. I already get it on my comp, put it on a thumb-drive, pop it into the media-box and yay, now it’s on tv and I can use the computer for other stuff.
I’m pretty happy with Amazon Prime. The free video selection isn’t enormous, but I can usually find something interesting. Last week I watched Into The Abyss, and The Glass Bottom Boat, which is a great, great Doris Day comedy.
I’ve had Prime for years, it’s great being able to just click one button and I know 2 days later the item will be at my door. It used to be nothing but UPS, now it’s a mixture of UPS, FedEx, and USPS. I order mundane items in bulk, like gum, candy, deodorant, etc. Saves me trips to the store.
The videos came after I was already a Prime subscriber. Icing on the cake. It’s like Netflix, you can’t necessarily go there looking for given movie, but once you search and browse there are plenty of gems.
The only downside of Prime I can think of is that it auto-renews by default.
No, he doesn’t have to log into your account. You just put his account as a user on your prime account. However, some prime benefits are limited to the prime account holder. I think the e-book lending is one. Not sure about the streaming.
The book is not recaptured. You just can’t borrow another until you return the one you currently have, and you can’t accumulate monthly borrowings. So, if you borrow a book in January and don’t return it until April, you can borrow one in April, but February and March are lost.
That being said, Prime is not worth it for the lending library alone. The main benefit is the free 2 day shipping. The rest is gravy.
What’s the best way to go for a family? All just use the same logon and share books and prime features that way? Or everyone get their own account and hook them all into the same prime membership to get the benefits?
I was an Amazon user well before Prime was offered. I often found myself paying shipping charges or buying stuff I didn’t need to make up the $25 minimum for free super saver shipping, and then waiting sometimes a week or more to get the things I ordered. When I figured it all up, at approximately $6.60 a month (about the standard shipping cost of any one order), I could order as many things as I wanted with no minimum spending and no waiting for items to be shipped together, free 2-day shipping, and if I needed something overnight, it would only cost me $3.99. At first, I felt guilty if I ordered a $2 item only, but then I figured if Amazon were losing money, they wouldn’t be offering the service. In other words, there are plenty of people who subscribe to Prime and don’t fully utilize it. So now, if I need a $1 box of paper clips, I order a box of paper clips and only a box of paper clips!
Then Amazon added free video streaming. At first, the selection was nothing to write home about - but it’s getting a lot better! You can also stream Amazon video through various TV set-top devices, like Roku and X-box, so you’re not limited to watching on your computer.
Now they’ve offered free e-book borrowing, which is not a bad deal, but at only one book at a time and one book a month, it’s certainly not worth spending $79 a year for. Most of the books available for loan are the lower cost indie books anyway.
One thing I noticed recently, the Amazon Video app on the PS3 is nicer than the one on my Roku. Check it out if you have a PS3. Not sure about the XB360 version.
I did find out how to do the share-the-prime thing after yesterday’s posting, and my husband is now hooked in.
As far as sharing the login for books etc.: I’d suggest doing that anyway, because (aside from prime shipping and the free borrowing), that lets you share books that you’ve purchased. Obviously the downside of that is that you may not want your kids to be able to order stuff on your account. I know you can have multiple Kindles on the same account (ditto Barnes and Noble with the Nook readers).
For prime TV viewing, you have to authorize the TV. Presumably that’s somewhere that anyone in the family can watch it. If you don’t want the kids spending money on movies (anything not on the prime watchlist can be purchased / rented) you may need to make sure they don’t know the PIN that you have to set up when you set up the TV.
I’ve had it since the only thing you got for it was fast & free shipping. Amazon has truly worked to add value at no additional cost. I routinely order things overnight that I don’t feel like going to the store to get after work. I love it.
