Amazon Is Testing New Design

Amazon appears to have redesigned their website and is doing some limited testing. I briefly saw the new UI at 7:18 PM EDT and quickly lost it. After using the site non-stop for an hour to try to get it back I turned to Twitter and saw that Nathan Corsen was among the first to see it and he sent me a screenshot of the new version.

You can see it is much cleaner and is easier on the eyes with more white space and less blue. The left navigation panel has moved into the page as well. I like it! It seems to come and go fast so enjoy while you can.

New - Thanks Nathan!

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Amazon Cloud Drive Is The Real Prize, Not Their Cloud Player

Many of us have been waiting for the fabled "Google Drive" and trying to use Google Docs as a stand-in. Today Amazon has launched Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. Cloud Player allows you to play your uploaded and Amazon MP3 purchased music from any computer browser, or Android device with their app.

The real news is the Cloud Drive. They beat all other major players to the market and have done it pretty well. From what I can tell you can upload any file within the size limits (2 GB); even .sam files that Google Docs does not allow. With the ability to purchase additional storage beyond the free 5 GB you could almost move 100% to the cloud. The prices still need to come down though because $1,000/year is a way to high for 1 TB. Once one terabyte is under $100 a year we will see wide adoption of cloud storage. The storage uses their reliable and secure S3 infrastructure. Amazon's new service is so easy to use that it will help with its adoption.

Even with this, another large company can swoop in and out do Amazon easily. As users transition to the cloud they need a simple way to use and sync their physical drives with their cloud ones; much like Dropbox does. If someone added that and also the ability to upload folders and files (hierarchy) we would have a winner.

I will certainly use Amazon Cloud Drive, especially for large files I need to move from one location to another, but not for everything. My hope is Google will still answer the call and bring us all a seamless integration cloud drive with less expensive storage options.

Amazon Instant Video is Live and Streaming

Amazon has launched their Instant Video service which is a re-brand and update to the VOD (Video on Demand) service. The service offers many movies and shows (about 5,000) at no additional cost to people who have paid the $79 annual Amazon Prime subscription. The movies and shows are still available at the prior cost (usually $0.99 - $3.99 per rental) for non-members. Prime members do not get to watch everything for "free" though so be sure to browse the list if you are considering signing up.

They have an uphill battle I think. From skimming the movies, most are on Netflix streaming and the annual (single) $79 charge is a hard sell. To at least be in competition they need to spread that out to monthly charge. For now, this is a nice additional benefit for Prime members but is not intended as only being a movie streaming subscription service. Knowing Amazon I am sure it will be in the future as they work on pricing and their catalog. Plus, the quality of the streaming service is excellent from my experience.

Don't forget that Redbox streaming is on the way also!

With all the streaming services the space is getting crowded and competitive. This can be a good thing for pricing, a bad thing for content scatter, and also make things very complex for new consumers. I see consumers having 1 or 2 paid subscription services. Let the battle begin for the number two slot as Netflix is clearly number one today with its massive library and its wide integration on so many devices.

Jeff Bezos on Amazon Instant Video