2 things about Amazon Prime Video that disapoint me

[james_bond]

The first is mode of payment. At least in my country Amazon only accepts digital payments for Prime membership.

I purchase from Amazon several times a year & I always choose the COD that is cash on delivery but sadly if someone wants to purchase the Prime membership COD is not an option

 

The second one is the neglect towards the Linux platform. I use only Linux at home. I have no Windows or Mac clients. I read that although it is possible to stream Amazon Prime video under Linux but the downside is that the resolution will be limited to SD. No HD under Linux.

Please read this >>> https://www.primevideo.com/help/ref=atv_hp_nd_cnt?nodeId=GUX9FYHU5D8LC9EJ

Quote

Prime Video playback is supported on these web browsers. If you are running an operating system other than Windows or Mac OS, playback is restricted to standard definition.

 

[Blue4130]

How can you expect cod when there is no physical item shipped? 

[dalekphalm]

37 minutes ago, james_bond said:

The first is mode of payment. At least in my country Amazon only accepts digital payments for Prime membership.

I purchase from Amazon several times a year & I always choose the COD that is cash on delivery but sadly if someone wants to purchase the Prime membership COD is not an option

This is... well... not a criticism.

 

Literally every digital subscription for a streaming service requires some form of digital payment.

 

The fact that you could get Amazon physical items mailed to you with COD is, I would say, the exception rather than the rule.

 

You can, however, buy an Amazon Gift Card, in person, and use that to pay for Prime, I believe (I haven't tried this myself personally).

37 minutes ago, james_bond said:

The second one is the neglect towards the Linux platform. I use only Linux at home. I have no Windows or Mac clients. I read that although it is possible to stream Amazon Prime video under Linux but the downside is that the resolution will be limited to SD. No HD under Linux.

Please read this >>> https://www.primevideo.com/help/ref=atv_hp_nd_cnt?nodeId=GUX9FYHU5D8LC9EJ

 

This likely has to do with the way that Prime utilizes DRM to encrypt the video. Unfortunate, but Linux desktops are very niche.

 

Have you considered getting a streaming box instead for your TV? Like a Roku or NVIDIA Shield, etc? A lot of them run on Linux anyway.

 

My major criticism on Prime is that it does not filter out titles available to Rent or Buy digitally - these items should be in a separate catalogue. If I search prime and something comes up, I expect it to be included in my subscription. It's quite annoying to see lots of stuff there, but not included, and only available for additional fees.

[james_bond]

@Blue4130

I understand your logic but its not impossible. I login to my Amazon account, I request for Prime membership & then they send staff to my residence & finally they activate my Prime membership once I make the payment.

 

@dalekphalm

Linux in 2021 can play DRM-controlled content. Its Amazon which refuses to cooperate.

Please see attachment.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, james_bond said:

@Blue4130

I understand your logic but its not impossible. I login to my Amazon account, I request for Prime membership & then they send staff to my residence & finally they activate my Prime membership once I make the payment.

So hold on a second, you're expecting Amazon to literally send an employee (whether delivery or otherwise) to your home, in order for you to pay cash for Prime Video?

 

No offense, but that's not exactly a very practical or reasonable option.

 

As I said, I'm fairly confident you could just buy an Amazon gift card and use that to pay for Prime, if for some reason you were extremely adamant against using digital currency like a Credit Card.

Just now, james_bond said:

 

@dalekphalm

Linux in 2021 can play DRM-controlled content. Its Amazon which refuses to cooperate.

Please see attachment.

It can. But that doesn't mean it's been implemented with Amazon Prime Video specifically (Unless this is some artificial limitation specifically implemented by Prime Video just to tick off Linux users, which doesn't seem likely).

 

Most likely Amazon simply hasn't bothered to setup the proper systems to make Prime Video work in HD on a Linux Computer.

 

I'm not saying it's technically impossible, I'm saying Amazon just hasn't enabled it (likely due to the Niche nature of Desktop Linux Users being a tiny tiny fraction of their viewership).

 

Again, I recommend a streaming box such as Roku, etc, if you want to watch Prime Video and don't want to use a Windows or Mac to do it.

[Skiiwee29]

5 minutes ago, james_bond said:

 

I understand your logic but its not impossible. I login to my Amazon account, I request for Prime membership & then they send staff to my residence & finally they activate my Prime membership once I make the payment.

 

 

 

Honestly,

 

Amazon is not going to send someone to your home to collect cash from you. They never have, they never will. It makes no sense when what you're subscribing to is digital content and online services. its not unreasonable to expect you to use a digital form of payment for digital/online content/services. 

[Arika]

7 minutes ago, james_bond said:

 

I understand your logic but its not impossible. I login to my Amazon account, I request for Prime membership & then they send staff to my residence & finally they activate my Prime membership once I make the payment.

 

How incredibly entitled.

[james_bond]

@dalekphalm@Skiiwee29

Okay I understand.  I will purchase this device very soon.

 

@Arika S

By "staff" I mean the people who deliver items to owner's doorstep

[lewdicrous]

There's no such thing as "cash on delivery" for virtual services..

They're not going to send someone to collect payments for a subscription.

[dalekphalm]

27 minutes ago, james_bond said:

@dalekphalm@Skiiwee29

Okay I understand.  I will purchase this device very soon.

That device should work nicely. It will also allow you to use other streaming services too.

27 minutes ago, james_bond said:

@Arika S

By "staff" I mean the people who deliver items to owner's doorstep

Yeah I get that. Maybe that's still common where you live? COD is simply not common anymore in North America (no doubt too easily abused).

[dilpickle]

No one at Amazon or any other streaming site cares about these 2 complaints. You're on your own.

[Donut417]

On 3/27/2021 at 9:38 AM, james_bond said:

I always choose the COD that is cash on delivery

No streaming services use COD. The only way to pay cash is to buy those cards at a store. To me the only disappointing this about Amazon is the lack of paypal support. I perfer to use paypal. 

 

On 3/27/2021 at 10:59 AM, james_bond said:

By "staff" I mean the people who deliver items to owner's doorstep

Those people dont work for Amazon directly most of the time. Some time they are Flex drivers who are treated like Uber drivers. They have an app on their device and deliver for Amazon part time. Then there are the ones who drive the prime vans/trucks. Many times those are 3rd party companies who are contracted to Amazon. These drivers DONT carry cash. 

 

 

As far as the Linux thing goes, all streaming service kinda suck with Linux. I had a hell of a time getting any to work. ALSO while many streaming service state they work with Safari, I found those statements are BULL SHIT. 

[colonel_mortis]

I've not had issues playing back HD video on Prime Video using Firefox on Linux.