“I do not recommend you try Amazon Unbox, and here’s why,” Tom Merritt blogs for CNET. “Even after it downloaded fully, it wouldn’t play. I tried several times in both the Amazon player and the regular Windows Media Player, to no avail. After less than two minutes, though, I found that if I dragged the progress indicator in the Amazon player a little, it would start playing.”
“I left work after that and rebooted my laptop at home. That’s when the real trouble began. I noticed that the Amazon player had launched itself. Annoying. I looked in the program for a preference to stop it from launching itself, and there was none. Typical. So I went to msconfig and unchecked Amazon Unbox so that it would definitely not launch itself at start-up. When I rebooted, it was no longer there. However, my firewall warned me that a Windows service (ADVWindowsClientService.exe) was trying to connect to the Net. I clicked More Info in the firewall alert and found it was Amazon Unbox. Downright offensive. It still was launching a Net-connection process that even msconfig apparently couldn’t stop. Forget it. That’s not the behavior of good software. I went to uninstall it,” Merritt explains.
“After the Install Shield launched and I chose uninstall, I got a login screen for my Amazon account. I just wanted to uninstall it. I shouldn’t have to log in to my account to do that. So I canceled the login, and the uninstall failed. I tried that three times, and it failed each time. Finally I gave up and logged in and the uninstall finished,” Merritt writes.
Merritt writes, “So, in summary, to be allowed the privilege of purchasing a video that I can’t burn to DVD and can’t watch on my iPod, I have to allow a program to hijack my start-up and force me to login to uninstall it? No way. Sorry, Amazon. I love a lot of what you do, but I will absolutely not recommend this service.”
Full article here.
Unsurprisingly, the reviews aren’t as pretty as the press release.
Related articles:
Analyst: ‘Amazon Unbox – Well that didn’t work at all’ – September 09, 2006
Analysts: Amazon’s ‘Unbox’ to be ‘Unsuccessful’ vs. Apple – September 08, 2006
Cringely: Apple, Amazon, and what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve for next Tuesday – September 08, 2006
Amazon.com launches ‘Amazon Unbox’ DVD-quality video download service with TV shows and movies – September 07, 2006
reacurring theme? lol
apple 1 , amazon 0
roll on tuesday !
Gee, I guess Amazon has already had their 15 minutes!
this is a really great product from Amazon. too bad I have not had a windoze pc going for almost 4 years. sigh, I guess I just won’t be able to use it.
And I ask, “Was this not expected?”
It seems obvious now that Amazon rushed this out the door just to steal some of the thunder from Apple’s announcement on Tuesday. With the web smacking Amazon around, Apple’s offering better be rock solid. (which I assume it will be
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You know, this just makes me realize what a great job Apple’s done so far: when I download an episode of Lost (or whatever) I don’t at all worry about it not playing, nor of iTunes hijacking my computer. Things just work as they should; a simple concept, but obviously not easy to execute with material this complex.
will sales people ever learn?…the DESIGN of your products and services actually does matter.
Wow. Amazing. All that trouble. PC users put up with it. Amazing.
MDN Magic Word: “Income” as in “I don’t see a lot of income for Amazon on this one”
Apple 1 – 0 Amazon?
say rather Apple 13 – 0 Amazon. Pretty much like Germany vs San Marino qualifier scores few days ago!
Tuesday-
I want my MTV (MacTV, that is).
Why all the repeated criticism and scathing comments? Amazon and Microsoft are working precisely according to well-established historical standards. If Unbox worked flawlessly, well, now that would be news worthy of attention.
Wow, painful.
I say the score is Apple 8 – Amazon 0. Apple got a touchdown off of a fumble and they are going to run the score up, so they converted the two point conversion.
What’s great is that Apple can quote all these bad reviews in its presentation on Tuesday. It can even make a list like it did with the iTMS to show what’s better with their offer than with competing one(s).
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Unreliable.
Unpleasant.
Ungainly.
Uninspired.
Unforgivable.
Unbox.
Are these companies complete morons? How on earth did that get past the drawing board? Now, even if they improve it, hardly anyone will use their service.
For the record: Whatever ad company or marketing firm or person who came up with “Unbox” as a name should be run out of the business and should never be allowed to use their minds creatively again.
Tom Merritt has since published an update to his experience…
Update: I received an email from Sheila at DV guru saying that she hadn’t had to log in to Amazon to uninstall. On a hunch, I reinstalled Unbox and this time allowed ADVWindowsClientService.exe to access the Internet when prompted by my firewall. This time when I uninstalled, I was not prompted to login. So ADVWindowsClientService.exe is connecting to the Net without your knowledge, even when uninstalling.
Why on earth would any consumer want to deal with any of this.
Onward Apple.
Unbox
Unbelievable
One more point:
Early adopters shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of garbage, either.
UnBox was probably thought up (copied) by an ad exec, drawn from the popular, and SUCCESSFUL 7 Up ad theme.
“7 up, the Uncola”.
Unbox, the newest killer app for the PC.
Literally.
Unbox, Xbox, all the same crap
So here’s how the launch conversation went…
Bezos: Apple’s about to release something big and kill us. How far are we from launch?
Amazon QA guy: We’re somewhere between vapor and pre-alpha.
Bezos: Is it on par with the rest of the PC experience?
QA guy: It’s a buggy POS… so, yes.
Bezos: Then launch, wintel users never know the difference. Just don’t let the Mac people see it.
What these jokers fail to understand is that people may actually want to view films once downloaded!!!!
These fuckwits with their DRM nonsense just don’t get it. Make it easy and affordable for people to access content then they are much less likely to pirate it. Make a legal service so limiting and unwieldy you’ll drive people to piracy because its a damn site easier download off P2P. Not to mention its probably been ripped and encoded by someone who knows what they are doing.
Apple must be pissing themselves at this disaster that is Unbox.
The twats that went along with this show be UNemployable…..
It isn’t Apple 1-0 Amazon; Apple didn’t do anything.
Rather, it’s Apple 0-(-1) Amazon. Now Apple needs to do something on Tuesday…
I think that this is a good preview of what people will experience with Zune.
Meatofmoose
Don’t forget “Unnecessary”
Welcome to the “Sucks For Sure” planet, Jeff Bozos!
MW: planning. Yeah, right….
Or, more correctly:
At the bottom of the first, it’s Amazon 0, and Apple coming up to bat.
Of course everyone is expecting Apple to score big time in their half of the inning!
(That’s baseball talk, for our worldwide friends who don’t recognize trhe terms.)
meatofmoose
Deep in the Amazon
Golf claps for the two of you. Miniature American flags for the others.
What scares the bejeezus out of me is that it sounds like something gets installed that automatically tries to connect to the Net.
How many hackers downloaded the Unbox Player on Friday and are spending the weekend redesigning it to use as a new exploit?
If I want to rent a DVD, I’ll stick with Netflix (still got three movies to watch this weekend).
Is there any reason why Apple wont get into console gaming?
UnBox reminded me of XBox, thus spurring the question.
Anybody notice how both these last reviewers tested Unbox by downloading episodes of Star Trek? Talk about geeks!
This was not rushed out the door…….this is as good as it gets partnering with Microsoft.
this blog post of toms, does not do his frustation justice.
listen to his podcast, cNets buzcast 9/8
he was pissed, you here it in his voice.
this blog post of toms, does not do his frustation justice.
listen to his podcast, cNets buzcast 9/8
he was pissed, you here it in his voice.
Sounds to me like UnBox needs to be ReBoxed and sent back as defective.
Unbox my heart… say you’ll love me again…
I wish that either Amazon launched their service a week ago or Apple’s announcement wasn’t coming until 9/19. I’d like to read about this all over the place for a week instead of Apple inadvertently smothering Amazon’s negative publicity by Tuesday. Let the world see the disaster that is Unbox and then save the day.
This is symptomatic of a larger issue in the business of software development, in that too often now incomplete and inadequate products are rushed to the market. The irony is, in rushing this product to market, the target audience will immediately identify the brand as crap, and will never use it again, even if successful attempts are made to improve the product. Had Amazon held off, they may well have made money off of a nice, competitive product that people would have used… but instead their eagerness has utterly destroyed the brand in this arena, and future profitability in this market will be a longshot. What amazes me is the big brains behind Unbox were paid big bucks to make decisions that defy general business fundamentals. Absolutely amazing.
P.S. Along the lines of marketing, what was the thinking behind the name “Unbox”? It makes no sense to the target audience, and generally negative references (like use of the prefix “un”) should be avoided. 7-Up’s “uncola” campaign (which used ‘un’ to brilliantly insult their competition) is one of the few exceptions that come to mind. Putting “un” in front of “box” though, makes no sense at all and just confuses the brand.
Get in bed with Microsoft and the media companies and do as they say, and you’re brand will get slimed.
It’s what happens when you do business with the wrong types of people. Especially on their terms.
It’s why I am glad Apple put up a fight and wasn’t afraid to go to market without most of the studios.
They’ll get greedy once they see how much money Disney and the independents are making and jump in sooner or later.
Absolutely freakin’ hilarious!!!
No wonder Amazon warned me about this service when I tried to use it with my Mac! LOL!
That would be some of the vaunted (by M$ trolls/fanboys) & superior ‘Trustworthy Computing’ from Micro$oftopoly. Makes me want to throw a chair.
Subject normal. Shafted by Microshaft.
They should have called it “Boob Tube”
I smell a rat. Sounds to me like it’s just another ploy by the MPAA and RIAA to create even more control over how people use media files and to boost their profits. Now, I’m not saying that ITMS is perfect in this regard, but it certainly is a lot more tame. I think in the future, you’re going to see a lot of artists jumping ship from the RIAA and creating more independent labels. Look at LeAnn Rimes. She got sick of B.S.
Perfect illustration of why I love the Mac and hate Windows.
How dare a piece of third-party software refuse to allow me to turn off auto-start? Or to place conditions if I want to uninstall? This is my computer! You are a guest! I make the rules here! If I want you gone, you are gone!
God!! I still cannot believe PC owners put up with this shit! Are they really okay with spending $1000 on a decent computer set-up, only to be ordered around by the software they install?!
The fight is already over. The Women of the Amazon were KO’d on the way to the ring by their manager, ScratchYer Ballmer. It was an Unboxing match. Reality-Mac remains UNtouched…
msconfig – man, that brings back nightmares from an earlier stage of evolution.
The following is a quote from the Unbox license agreement:
====Begin quote====
3. Unbox Video Player
In order to download and view Digital Content using the Service, you will need to install the Unbox Video Player (the “Software”) on an Authorized Device and agree to the Microsoft Software Supplemental License Terms set forth as an Addendum below these Terms of Use (the “Software License”). The Software may operate on your Authorized Device continuously for a variety of reasons, including the management of your Digital Content. The Software also will access the Internet in order to perform a number of functions including as described below:
a. Software Upgrades. The Software automatically checks for upgrades, but the Software will not automatically upgrade without your consent, except as provided herein. If you do not consent to an upgrade that we make subject to your consent, the Digital Content may no longer be viewed on your Authorized Device. You must keep the Software on your Authorized Device current in order to continue to use the Service. We may automatically upgrade the Software when we believe such upgrade is appropriate to comply with law, enforce this Agreement, or protect the rights, safety or property of Amazon, our content providers, users, or others.
b. Information Provided. Amazon respects your privacy, and the Software will not access computer files or other information on your computer that are not used by or otherwise related to the Service. Among other things, the Software will provide Amazon with information related to the Digital Content on your Authorized Device and your use of it and information regarding your Authorized Device and its interaction with the Service. This information will enable Amazon to manage rights associated with the Digital Content, allow Amazon to help you use the Service more effectively and otherwise help Amazon to enhance and improve the Service. For example, the Software may provide Amazon with information about the Digital Content from the Service on your Authorized Device, whether it has been deleted and whether it has been viewed. The Software may also provide Amazon with information about your Authorized Device’s operating system, software, amount of available disk space and Internet connectivity, such as whether your computer or other device is available online. This information will, among other things, help us deliver Digital Content to you more efficiently and effectively. The Software may also provide Amazon with information about the transfer of Digital Content to portable devices to help us ensure compliance with our rules concerning portable devices.
c. Removal of Software. If you uninstall or otherwise remove the Software, your ability to view all Digital Content you have downloaded to the Authorized Device will immediately and automatically terminate and we reserve the right to delete all Digital Content from that Authorized Device without notice to you.
====End quote====
How about having a rep from the MPAA as a sys-admin to my computer instead? Or maybe inviting the rep to be my room-mate and give him full access to my computer?
If this is not malware, I don’t know what is.
I have a few issues:
DVDs hired from a shop give us at least 32 hours (10 am until 6 pm the next night) to watch a movie as many times as we want to – my kids often restart or rewind as they come and go for baths and phone calls. It seems Amazon lets you watch once only in a 24 hour period – much less than a hired video.
What does the uninstall do to your bought movies – if it needs to phone home, do your bought movies stop playing? Do we need to have an account and internet connection with Amazon/MS forever to watch what we will have bought in ten years time?
If you uninstall due to getting a new PC/OS, then reinstall, do you need to re-download those movies again? I don’t want to do this every 5 years that I upgrade my computer.
My wife and I are always taking a pile of bought DVDs to friends houses to choose one or two to watch together. Will I be able to log in at a friend’s house and watch a movie I’ve paid for, or will I have to drag my bootcamp iMac with me?
This solution is so full of holes that any solution Apple comes up with is guarranteed to succeed. Even carrying a suite of HD movies on a 6 Gen iPod would solve all the problems above. If not, my 5 Gen iPod with Handbrake is an excellent substitute for all my bought movies.
Well, it certainly sounds like Amazon totally blew it in every way possible. First there is only a Windows version which uses it’s really crappy software that won’t even work on Windows. I’ve read several articles that have said that the videos don’t play and then say your time is up and if you want to watch the video that you never saw in the first place you have to pay for it again! That’s really a good way to lose your customers Amazon. Then it takes over your system like Microsoft and tells you what to do rather than the other way around. It’s one thing to have a program start when you tell it too. But it is totally wrong to have a program start on it’s own. Then when you try and remove it you find that it seems to be monitoring you every second your online and you can’t remove it until you login. What a piece of crap!
Ahh the simplicity of iTunes will change all this if Apple starts there movie service which will just work and not take over your system. It also will not make you login and watch over you like you are a criminal. It will start only when you run iTunes and it will work with Macs and PC’s.
What Too Hot! quoted above clearly demonstrates how using a browser-based store with rental services and DRM creates the need to force your computer to surreptitiously access the Internet, and how that just makes for trouble. Even the downloading to handheld player limits causes trouble. (Can someone check what Napster has been doing? I don’t use it.)
This is why Apple probably won’t have rentals, and limits on downloads to iPods. And it’s probably why some of the studios won’t license their catalogs to Apple.
A few other questions:
1. Why don’t others use an application like iTunes instead of a browser-based store?
2. Why don’t others track copies within the application instead of checking back over the Internet? And why don’t the others just tell you that they need to access the Internet to do a check when they want to access the Internet?
Why don’t they learn from what Apple has already done?
THIS IS WHAT KIND OF SERVICE IS DESIGNED BY THE MIAA/RIAA
Now you know how much Steve Jobs influence comes to play with a service that works for us.
Amazon videos can’t be played on Amazon’s #1 selling computer system. Wasn’t there ANYONE at Amazon’s board meeting that realized this?
I’m waiting to see if Microsoft will try to get them not to use “Box” in the name of their service since it is close to xBox. Perhaps Microsoft will force them to come up with another name.
If I were Amazon, I would configure the service just to work with the xBox Box Live. It could become the official movie supplier for that platform. If they worked with Microsoft on that, it would probably have a better chance.
This is not an Apple-related story.
— “This is not an Apple related story”
It may be more relative on Tuesday and thereafter.
There are already online movie stores, but now as leading name brands get into the game it is becoming more in the public awareness. At some point in time, all media will be relevant to the Apple brand.
Absolutely do try iTunes.
@ MrBoma
No, they should not have called it Boob Tube. The contents of Boob tubes are always interesting!
MDN Magic Word – View (as in I’d like to view more boob tubes and less u-tubes!)
It’s an Apple-related story for this reason:
(use this template)
==
Dear Amazon,
Top 2 Bestselling Notebooks on Amazon: Apple MacBook
Top 4 Bestselling Desktops on Amazon: iMac 17″, iMac 20″, Mac Pro, Mac mini
Top 3 Bestselling Computers (overall): MacBook
Unbox: “The Unbox Video player is not compatible with Apple/Macintosh operating systems.”
How dare Amazon settle for Windows-specific software for it’s Unbox movie service?
Are you kidding me?
I will not use Amazon again for anything, boxed or unboxed, until you get your act together.
Sincerely,
___________________________
======
even from the name (UnBox), Amazon’s attempts looked a bit insane.
perhaps, Netflix could do better.
Truth is (and do keep this under your hat), it is so very easy to rip a DVD to one’s hard drive and then burn it to a blank for PERMANENT future use, I don’t understand why anyone would want to avail himself of this kind of service.
The download quality isn’t as good as the real thing, the DRM hassle is suffocatingly complex, and the cost/value equation just isn’t right.
Let me know when I can buy a TRUE copy of the movie online, keep it as long as I want, play it as many times as I want, and make a new copy thereof any time I want. THEN AND ONLY THEN will Apple or anybody else for that matter get my business.
This is exactly why Apple cannot lose when they announce their movie store on the 12th!
When will all these windows users and Apple competitors realise that the ONLY company that can do it right is Apple.
Dont waste any more money, buy a mac and get a system that bloody works!
You’d think a Windows user would be used to things like this.
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