Black Sabbath. The Best Of Billy Paul. Carnegie Hall In These Silent Days. Brandi Carlile. Underworld: Limited Edition 5-Movie Collection.
A Place in the Sun Limited Edition. Dead Again. Music Of The Spheres. Carlito's Way. Ultraman Tiga DVD. High Sierra Criterion Collection. Respect Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Jennifer Hudson. Night of the Demons 2. The Monster Squad. Project Christmas Wish. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The O. Crime Story aka Reckoning. Apache Junction. Jungle Cruise. Christmas Cookies. Fritz the Cat. SS Camp 5: Women's Hell. The Protege.
Murder In Set 3. Maniac Cop 2. Old Henry. Lana Del Rey. Christmas Waltz. One Royal Holiday. On the Rocks. The Replacements. I Dont Live Here Anymore. But with digital video, Apple, Amazon, Google are all competing to be our provider.
Even Microsoft is belatedly getting into the mix. They all have their perks, but one unsettling fact remains true with all of these providers: you can't simply download your movie and use it on any device you want. You are locked into using that particular company's app, which may not be available on every device. Which company is the cheapest? With retail prices set by the studios, they are all about the same in terms of price.
However, you can still find some movies on sale, so it's possible to shop the deals. Unfortunately, this splits your library, which means you'll need to use multiple apps and even multiple devices to view your collection. So which provider should you choose for your digital movie library? The answer to that question may be decided by what devices you use as much as which company you like the most, so we'll go over the pros and cons of each provider.
We'll start with the one that you may not have heard about before reading this. Vudu popped up in , so they've been around for a while. But who are they? One primary thing you need from your digital movie provider is trust. You don't want to buy some movies and have the company shut down in two years, and with Amazon, Google and Apple, you don't have those worries. You also don't have those worries with Vudu. In , they were acquired by Wal-Mart.
And while Vudu isn't a household brand, Wal-Mart certainly is. One nice benefit of Vudu is the ability to download the movie to your PC. Most video providers are now offering offline downloads for mobile, but Vudu and Apple offer the same service for desktop and laptop PCs. You still must use their respective apps, but it's a nice benefit.
Vudu supports UltraViolet, which was a digital locker that gives you access to digital copies of DVD and Blu-ray titles. Vudu also offers some movies for free with advertisements. Vudu has perhaps the widest range of support for devices.
While this list isn't to be interpreted as best-to-worst, Google Play gets the second mention based mainly on the ability to stream their offerings on a wider range of devices than Amazon Instant Video or Apple's iTunes movies and television.
It's easy to trust Vudu's neutrality in the war over our digital video lockbox because they don't have a device they are trying to push. Google's Android, Chrome and Chromecast platforms don't exactly make them Switzerland, but they've played nice in the war for our living rooms.
Google's philosophy is more about providing the opportunity to watch on the largest range of devices rather than battling it out for platform dominance. Google Play offers some titles in UHD, but these titles aren't marked in the store, so it can be difficult to know if any particular movie is available in UHD until you go to buy it. Google Play isn't available for Apple TV yet? One of the first to offer streaming video, movies, TV shows, and rentals and still a leader in terms of stability and performance.
As you can imagine, Apple's ecosystem works great together. You can also download movies to your desktop or laptop and well as your iPhone or iPad, so you can enjoy your collection offline. What you can't do is watch anything on Android. Or your Smart TV. Or that Blu-Ray player with all the streaming apps. Or basically anywhere besides a PC or an Apple device. That's enough to give even Apple Watch owners some doubts on whether or not to put all those eggs in Apple's basket.
Apple also offers 4K streaming. While digital 4K movies are expensive compared to HD and the titles are limited, if you want to build a top-quality movie collection, having the option is a definite must. Apple isn't a bad choice for those who love their products. But in a decade, we could all be using smart devices from a company that doesn't even exist yet. And will we be able to take our movie collection with us? Despite its limitations, Apple is top-notch in just about every other category.
They offer a great streaming service, you can download your movies to any device that can actually play them, they always have some type of deal going on, and what's better, those deals are easy to find thanks to a pretty decent interface.
The tie-in with Amazon Prime video makes it easy to browse through available movies and TV from both Prime and your digital lockbox. Amazon Prime includes a Netflix-style streaming service alongside its many other benefits. It also offers a selection of 4K video and allow downloads to mobile devices for offline viewing.
Amazon doesn't always play well with others: for a time, it wouldn't sell Apple TV or Chromecast, because, neither device worked with its streaming service. The company eventually reversed course, and Prime is now available on a wide range of devices, including Apple TV and Chromecast.
It's all well and good to list out the various options for your digital video lockbox, but what about those companies you should avoid at all costs? Obviously, if you've never heard of the company, you shouldn't trust them with your movie collection. We've all heard of Apple and Google and Amazon, which makes us more comfortable doing business with them. But what about your cable company? It might seem easy to purchase movies directly from your cable provider, but it really becomes just one more thing that locks you into the service.
While some companies offer ways to view your purchases after you end the service, it's much better to go with a company that offers more permanence. Don't like your digital library tied to one single company?
Neither does Movies Anywhere.
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