News - Amazon Prime to be merged with LOVEFiLM Instant on 26th Feb

[HEXUS]

Just like in the US the new service will be called 'Amazon Prime Instant Video'.

Read more.

[AJRDLawrence]

I rarely shop on Amazon, but when I do I tend to opt for free super saver delivery. On occasion it may take too long for them to pull their finger out and crack on with shipping within a reasonable time frame so I may cancel my order and shop elsewhere. I don't have / want / need or care for Kindle either so Amazon Prime hasn't interested me until now.

Goodbye Netflix, hello Amazon Prime I guess.

[Dooms]

Took them long enough, US have had this (with Amazon Instant) for YEARS!

My LoveFilm account is still active from the 6months for £10 that was kicking about before but to be honest I've only opened it up twice and never found anything I fancied watching that wasn't already on Netflix.

[crossy]

Zero interest here in Lovefilm - other than in avoiding those annoying folks that accost you when you're trying to get shopping done. Checked out the selection and it seemed to be mainly old films and TV that you can probably get quite easily on box set from various folks - including Amazon themselves.

Really quite like the Prime feature, although I've not used the Kindle library yet, figuring that I'm ahead on the deal after about 6-8 months.

So if they're planning to boost the price by £30 in order to add stuff that I can already get via VirginMedia then I'm a lot less impressed. Hopefully Amazon will do a version of Prime that comes without the Lovefilm dross, otherwise I'll think about not renewing.

[Saracen]

Has Amazon's new offering and time limited merger special offer pushed any readers over the purchasing edge?

Well, yes. It's pushed me over the edge to not use Prime.

This deal might be a good deal if you want Lovefilm. But I'm that strange old-fashioned breed that buys media on disc. It may not be the way of the future, or even the way of now for many/most, but it certainly is the way for me. I tried Lovefilm back in the days when it was a disc exchange, and gave it up because, first, I could rarely get the discs I wanted, and secondly, those that I actually enjoyed I ended up buying anyway. So I gave up Lovefilm.

Customers who love movies and TV will love Amazon Prime Instant Video."

I can't speak for anyone else, but this one doesn't. I'm not interested in Lovefilm, or Netflix for that matter.

In fairness, I stopped using Prime, too. It works well enough and is a good deal if you're ordering enough. But these days, I don't. I tend to buy locally, and on those occasions when I buy from Amazon, I'll either use free delivery and wait, or it's cheaper to just pay for one-off express delivery if I really need it.

So, by bumping the price by £30, all it does for me is turn a marginal deal that's not quite worth it into an 'absolutely not worth it' deal.

As for the Kindle lending library, even as someone with (currently) two Kindles, and looking at a third (for backlight, as it's sometimes useful) I've never used the library, and have no plans to, free or not.

IF there was a "Prime Plus" that included Lovefilm and "Prime" that was just what it used to be, I might go back to Prime, if I think I'd be buying enough. But for me, neither Lovefilm nor the Kindle lending thing add any value to me that I'd be prepared to pay for, so all this deal does is represent a 60%+ price hike in a service that was previously marginal anyway, turning barely worth it into certainly not worth it.

Of course, YMMV.

[Dooms]

I didn't notice the price increase. F that!

I thought you could do the £79 a year deal for both before? I swear I've seen it before. And what's with the increased price? The US get it all included for their $79 a month PRIME cost.

[Infinite]

I'm on Amazon prime now. Does it mean that when I come to renew it will cost me £79?

To be fair I've made about 80 orders in the past year with Amazon so its people like me that are abusing it is probably why the price has gone up :/

Thinking back, next day UPS delivery for £3 worth of pens is what is destroy any profit.

[Saracen]

I'm on Amazon prime now. Does it mean that when I come to renew it will cost me £79?

They don't explicitly state that, but it's certainly how I read the statement, which said something like "existing customers get Lovefilm free until their renewal."

So I read that as, at renewal, the price will be £79. You'll get Lovefilm 'free" but pay £30 more for Prime.

So, if Lovefilm is worth > £30 to existing customers, and they'd buy it standalone at that price, then I guess it's a good deal. To me, it isn't worth that, and I wouldn't, so it isn't a good deal.

EDIT - It was in the HEXUS bit, not a direct Amazon quote, but what I read was

However current Prime customers will enjoy the upgrade for free, until their renewal date, ....

To me, that says renewal price will be £79, and which point you're paying £30 extra, for Lovefilm.

Which is why it tips me over from borderline worth it, to definitely not worth it.

[herulach]

didn't you know cable is at $1 now?
I've had prime for about 2 months, and TBH, at £50 it works out about break even for us (two kindles, and we do tend to read one book/month at least) with the free delivery being a handy extra (especially are we're in a sunday area). but at £79 this really isn't worth it. With the exception of vikings there's nothing on there I want to watch that I can't get easier elsewhere, and it doesn't integrate with XBMC.

If they made the lending library unlimited (or even 20/30 year) I'd be all over it even at £79, as it is I won't be renewing.

[cheesemp]

Glad I saw this article. Hadn't spotted the £30 increase in Prime. That sucks. Use prime all the time but no real interest in lovefilm as it doesn't work on Android - hence why I have netflix. Will be complaining. If this doesn't get dropped back to the old price with optional lovefilm I'll have to consider dropping prime...

[Dooms]

I have till Sept for them to sort it out, I love prime, I order a lot and its very convenient but I'm not paying £79 for it (lovefilm is crap, I would rather not have it)....

[Saracen]

didn't you know cable is at $1 now? .....

Who is the "you" you mean? If me, I'm not sure what you mean is $1 (or £1?) but if it's Lovefilm, I'm not on cable. And if I was, $1/month, $1/ year, $1 for rest of eternity? I don't, personally, care really, because I'm just not interested in Lovefilm.

[flufflogic]

I'd be all over that if it wasn't for the MASSIVE price hike that comes with it. Prime used to be £40! And it was worse than Super Saver delivery (I had a free trial, and they never got my packages to me the next day despite always ordering before 11am).

[Dooms]

Hang on a minute?!

Prime is currently 29 EUR (£24) and going upto 49 EUR (£40) in all of Europe. Why are we paying £49 (59 EUR) and going up to £79 (96 EUR!!)?!?!

Stupid damn exchange rates/price fixing/expensive UK deliverys.

[Flibb]

Recently trialled Lovefilm, NowTV and Netflix (have done the mall before anyway), have to say that I found none of them to be worth keeping after a month or two. The lack of android support (other than kindle fire) from Lovefilm is another reason I can't be bothered with it. Main reason is the lack of new content.

[herulach]

Who is the "you" you mean? If me, I'm not sure what you mean is $1 (or £1?) but if it's Lovefilm, I'm not on cable. And if I was, $1/month, $1/ year, $1 for rest of eternity? I don't, personally, care really, because I'm just not interested in Lovefilm.

Sorry, meant to quote dooms post. cable is GBP/USD exchange rate.