Amazon Instant Video! Now with ads.....

So, I was about to pull the trigger on the new season of Archer on Amazon Instant Video. I really like buying seasons of shows on Amazon, and I'm one of the rare individuals that has chosen to purchase things instead of torrent. So right before I went to buy the new season, I see that the reviews are AWFUL. The new season has an average of two stars; what a bummer. Then I actually read the reviews, and I see that despite people purchasing these episodes to watch, Amazon is throwing ads in now. We're talking like $3 an episode for HD, and to have ads tossed in on top of that? So justifiably, people are downrating the crap out of it to get the point across (worked in my case).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

I'm not super excited where this is going, and it ended up being enough to keep me from buying it. I really feel good about myself for paying money for stuff, so I sort of feel taken advantage of now. I use this service A LOT, but they just burned a ton of good will. I think it's only like 15-30 seconds, which is practically nothing, but I'm having trouble not taking it personally as a giant "F*** you".

I kind of shrug my shoulders at the furor over ads. And I am trying to see how amazon shares some blame that FX sent them video code with adds still in it.

i bought the first 2 season passes from amazon and i dont remember ads so if it's there it really didnt effect much, but damn that's one funny show.

ranalin wrote:

i bought the first 2 season passes from amazon and i dont remember ads so if it's there it really didnt effect much, but damn that's one funny show.

Yeh as did I, it looks like it's something with the stuff they're adding going forward. I can't imagine they'd go back and re-enter ads into stuff you already purchased, god that would suck though.

KingGorilla wrote:

I kind of shrug my shoulders at the furor over ads. And I am trying to see how amazon shares some blame that FX sent them video code with adds still in it.

I'm not going to go nuts over it, but I can understand the annoyance. I'm not too willing to pay someone money to advertise to me.

obirano wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:

I kind of shrug my shoulders at the furor over ads. And I am trying to see how amazon shares some blame that FX sent them video code with adds still in it.

I'm not going to go nuts over it, but I can understand the annoyance. I'm not too willing to pay someone money to advertise to me.

Yet we do it all the time in all aspects of our life and lifestyle

Boooo. My habits are to not purchase digital video and music so this doesn't affect me too much, but if you buy the boxed version and there were ads before and after each episode I'd really be ticked off. Putting previews on a disc is one thing, but commercials before each episode ... no thanks.

I also think Hulu+ is terrible for all the ads it has. $7 a month and as many ads as the free version of the episode? Screw that.

To be clear, though, the ads are 15 second promos for other FX shows that are only at the start and end, and they exist if you buy them from any digital retailer, not just Amazon. To me it just seems like trailers on Blurays - sometimes annoying but not a dealbreaker.

garion333 wrote:

Boooo. My habits are to not purchase digital video and music so this doesn't affect me too much, but if you buy the boxed version and there were ads before and after each episode I'd really be ticked off. Putting previews on a disc is one thing, but commercials before each episode ... no thanks.

I also think Hulu+ is terrible for all the ads it has. $7 a month and as many ads as the free version of the episode? Screw that.

Thats simply not true about Hulu Plus.. the ads are no where near as many as a typical broadcast hour or half hour show... I would say its probably around 25% of the ads of a broadcast show.

TheGameguru wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Boooo. My habits are to not purchase digital video and music so this doesn't affect me too much, but if you buy the boxed version and there were ads before and after each episode I'd really be ticked off. Putting previews on a disc is one thing, but commercials before each episode ... no thanks.

I also think Hulu+ is terrible for all the ads it has. $7 a month and as many ads as the free version of the episode? Screw that.

Thats simply not true about Hulu Plus.. the ads are no where near as many as a typical broadcast hour or half hour show... I would say its probably around 25% of the ads of a broadcast show.

I think he means the free version of Hulu.

kuddles wrote:

To be clear, though, the ads are 15 second promos for other FX shows that are only at the start and end, and they exist if you buy them from any digital retailer, not just Amazon. To me it just seems like trailers on Blurays - sometimes annoying but not a dealbreaker.

Thanks for the clarification.

I was going to say, if it's just ads at the start, like we've had on blu-ray, dvd, and vhs going back for decades then it's not a big deal. Even though you're buying the season, just like you've bought those previous things, having a "coming soon preview" style thing at the beginning isn't that big a deal, since we've had those forever.

If it was commercials for products, placed during the show breaks or something, like most network sites do when streaming for free, then you could be outraged that you pay money and get stuck with commercials.

But a "coming soon" trailer is way different than a commercial.

KingGorilla wrote:

And I am trying to see how amazon shares some blame that FX sent them video code with adds still in it.

If this is actually the case, where the ads are just at the start of the video and can be skipped, it doesn't seem like much to fuss over. I would be upset if they were applying hulu/youtube type ads that are unskippable.

obirano wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Boooo. My habits are to not purchase digital video and music so this doesn't affect me too much, but if you buy the boxed version and there were ads before and after each episode I'd really be ticked off. Putting previews on a disc is one thing, but commercials before each episode ... no thanks.

I also think Hulu+ is terrible for all the ads it has. $7 a month and as many ads as the free version of the episode? Screw that.

Thats simply not true about Hulu Plus.. the ads are no where near as many as a typical broadcast hour or half hour show... I would say its probably around 25% of the ads of a broadcast show.

I think he means the free version of Hulu.

eh? Seems clear he typed Hulu+ and the $7 a month.. neither of those mean the Free Hulu

TheGameguru wrote:
obirano wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Boooo. My habits are to not purchase digital video and music so this doesn't affect me too much, but if you buy the boxed version and there were ads before and after each episode I'd really be ticked off. Putting previews on a disc is one thing, but commercials before each episode ... no thanks.

I also think Hulu+ is terrible for all the ads it has. $7 a month and as many ads as the free version of the episode? Screw that.

Thats simply not true about Hulu Plus.. the ads are no where near as many as a typical broadcast hour or half hour show... I would say its probably around 25% of the ads of a broadcast show.

I think he means the free version of Hulu.

eh? Seems clear he typed Hulu+ and the $7 a month.. neither of those mean the Free Hulu

I think he meant to compare Hulu+ to the free version of Hulu, whereas you were comparing to "a typical broadcast show", suggesting traditional cable TV. I have no idea what is correct here, just pointing out the possible source of confusion.

Hulu's decided to crash a lot returning to the episode for me, lately, only working again once I reload and sit through the ads again, then often still again when I try to jump back to where the crash happened, so on average I get about the same number of ads on Hulu as on broadcast, with the added benefit of having to work for them.

garion's pretty clearly referring to free Hulu, and I agree with him--no f*cking way would I pay for Hulu+.

Oh right..I read it again and it made sense now..carry on.