# Amazon video on demand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947 "2010-10-31T02:18:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947/1 "2010-10-31T02:18:21Z")
I decided I’d watch _The Longest Day_ tonight, so I went to my shelves to get the DVD. I have my DVDs arranged more or less by genre, alphabetically. (They’re pretty messy right now, though.) Let’s see. There’s _Lawrence of Ariabia_, _Memphis Belle_… Wait a minute. That one starts with an ‘M’. No gap between them. Somehow I seem to have not bought _The Longest Day_. WTFO? So I’ve ordered the two-disc edition from Amazon. I received the normal order confirmation email, and also another email telling me that I have a free ‘rental’ of the film I can watch right now. I have 30 days to watch it, and have 24 hours to watch it once I start watching it. I didn’t know they did this. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947/2 "2010-10-31T04:17:01Z")
I was still working at Amazon when they unveiled this as Unbox in 2006. I was in a different department working in production on demand (we produced books and dvds after a customer ordered them). I didn’t have fast enough internet at home to really try it out. Their Video on Demand is fairly powerful, but not their most well known feature. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947/3 "2010-10-31T09:29:06Z")
I’ve known about it since I got a Roku. However, I prefer Netflix, since it has less restrictions. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947/4 "2010-10-31T12:11:44Z")
I use it on occasion, and it works well. I have a Tivo and Netflix, and still, sometimes the movie/show I want to watch is not available on Netflix instant watch, and I want it RIGHT NOW, don’t want to wait for a disk to come. That’s when Amazon Video on Demand is great. It also sucks me in on TV series. I might start out renting a disc of, say, “Breaking Bad” but then I get to the end of disc 2, and I want to watch just one more episode tonight… and there’s Amazon, beckoning me with Video On Demand. I’ve done that way more times than I care to admit. I also got my mother hooked on it. She refuses to get Netflix for some reason (I think she’d love it, but she just has a mental block) but I don’t think she’s rented a video from a store since I told her about Amazon Video on Demand. She loves it. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazon-video-on-demand/558947/5 "2010-10-31T12:55:56Z")
I’ll bet it doesn’t stream outside the US. Nothing does. Poop.