I downloaded Amazon’s Unbox this weekend to watch some BSG (yes I am a nerd). Unbox is Amazon’s video download service. I say service because it is much more than just another download. Amazon allows me to re-download videos or transfer them to multiple machines. Obviously, the Unbox player doesn’t allow burning to DVD, but I am over my purist-open-world days.
As with any service, there is room for vast improvements. The software is slow and buggy, but not bad enough to piss me off, which means it is still very usable. Also, the software only works on Windows XP or Vista, which is annoying for me because I run Ubuntu and Windows. In the future, software for linux that could be integrated with MythTV would be stellar-sweet. (Something tells me the suits are worried about the ability to rip the videos easier in linux).
All things considered, it is exactly what I wanted when my craving for season 4 of BSG got the best of me. I can’t compare it to similar services, but it is worth trying if you don’t care to hook your laptop up to your TV and pay $1.89 an episode.