Anyone buy video on demand movies from Amazon?

[tfinch2]

Back around Christmas, Amazon was running a deal where if you spent $5 in their video on demand store, they would send a $20 off coupon for a Roku device. I ended up buying "The Town" for $9.99 to get the discount.

I logged in this morning to watch it for the first time (at least on Amazon) and get the following error message:

Due to our licensing agreements this video is currently not available for online viewing or downloading.

WTF? Is this kind of crap typical?

 

[Lifted]

LOL


Sorry, that's pretty funny. Not for you obviously.

Damn, that's fucked up. I don't suppose you asked Amazon? Don't they have email/chat/phone service?

 

[tfinch2]

I don't suppose you asked Amazon? Don't they have email/chat/phone service?

I have not talked to Amazon yet. I plan on it though.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I see you still have the same signature 🙂

I bet Amazon will try and help you out - as an outsider, it seems like they have a focus on newer products/services, like video on demand, blackberry apps, ebook store, etc. and so they'll probably do whatever they can to make the experience good for you.

 

[tatteredpotato]

This is exactly the reason piracy is so popular... you try to acquire stuff legally and they screw you over any way they can (By "they" I mean the movie studios not Amazon itself).

 

[NikolaeVarius]

This is exactly the reason piracy is so popular... you try to acquire stuff legally and they screw you over any way they can (By "they" I mean the movie studios not Amazon itself).

Or people just want free stuff.

 

[busydude]

Yup, I purchased The Dark Knight and I got the same error message after a few months. I called them and they promptly refunded the amount, they said there were some licensing issues with the studios.

 

[Lifted]

Yup, I purchased The Dark Knight and I got the same error message after a few months. I called them and they promptly refunded the amount, they said there were some licensing issues with the studios.

Nice. They wait to see if the customers will notice and only then offer a refund.

Amazon just lost a large chunk of respect from me.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

This is exactly the reason piracy is so popular... you try to acquire stuff legally and they screw you over any way they can (By "they" I mean the movie studios not Amazon itself).

That still doesn't justify it - it's stealing. It is the movie studios' movie - they should be able to sell it however they want. We don't have any right to take it from them.

If I produced a processor twice as good as anything on the market, then that's mine. If I choose to not sell it, that's my choice, because I made it. If I know what's good for me, I'll sell it though, because I know I could make a ton of money with this. The same thing goes for movies - maybe they think it's more profitable for them to run their business this way, and so it's their right to continue it.

I think they've done a horrible job with online distribution, but it still doesn't give us the right to go and steal it.

 

[tatteredpotato]

That still doesn't justify it - it's stealing. It is the movie studios' movie - they should be able to sell it however they want. We don't have any right to take it from them.

If I produced a processor twice as good as anything on the market, then that's mine. If I choose to not sell it, that's my choice, because I made it. If I know what's good for me, I'll sell it though, because I know I could make a ton of money with this. The same thing goes for movies - maybe they think it's more profitable for them to run their business this way, and so it's their right to continue it.

I think they've done a horrible job with online distribution, but it still doesn't give us the right to go and steal it.

I didn't say it gave us the right to pirate, but my point is that the movie companies are doing things that promote the use of piracy.