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Posted on 02/28/2015 3:06:06 PM PST by ducttape45
Amazon shuttering Unbox on March 29th; download your movies now
Once upon a time, Amazon had a product called Unbox that let its customers download rented and purchased movies to their desktop and play them, even when offline. It was a convenient way for travelers to consume content when on the go since you usually can't stream video on a plane or train.
Then last month, Amazon seemed to start shifting away from Unbox and over to it's Instant Video platform. Links to download Unbox vanished from the website, and CSRs provided conflicting information on whether it was available or not. Today the mystery is over: Amazon is shutting down the service completely on March 29th and customers will no longer be able to view purchased content offline after that date.
The news isn't all bleak though. In an email sent out to Unbox customers today, Amazon details steps that can be taken to download purchased content and play it through Windows Media Player, even offline. However, if you don't take steps to download your purchased material by Unbox's drop dead date, the content will be forever lost to you from an offline viewing perspective.
As someone who has used Amazon Unbox, we want to let you know about important upcoming changes to the application.
Amazon Unbox will no longer be available after March 29, 2015. This means you won't be able to use Unbox to view or download videos after this date. You can however continue to watch the movies and TV episodes you've purchased and previously downloaded on your PC after this date by following the steps below.
Important: The following two-step process will give you access to your purchased and downloaded videos through Windows Media Player, a standard media player included with most PCs. If you need to download or re-install Windows Media Player please go to Microsoft Support (http://windows.micro...ws-media-player).
1. Update the Amazon Unbox application to the latest version. This version includes a one-time license conversion that will make your videos available within Windows Media Player. Open the Unbox application and there will be an "Upgrade" notification you can use to do this. You can also click the "Settings" option in the Unbox menu and select "Check for Amazon Unbox Upgrades."
2. Use Unbox to download all purchased videos you wish to view offline on your PC by March 29, 2015.
Once you've completed these two steps, your downloaded videos will be available through Windows Media Player on your PC, and you can uninstall Amazon Unbox without losing access to them. If you don't download your purchased videos onto your PC and install the latest version of Unbox by this date, you won't be able to watch your purchased videos offline on your PC.
As always, you can also stream your purchased movies and TV episodes on your PC through your web browser as well as on hundreds of compatible devices, including Smart TV's, game consoles, iOS, Android, and Fire OS devices.
For more information about ways to watch, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/watchnow
Sincerely,
Customer Service Amazon.com
1. What happens if you have to reprogram your computer and cannot get media player to play any of the movies you downloaded?
2. The fix they mentioned will only work until March 29th, and then only for Windows Media Player.
3. Why don't they just provide a way of just removing the DRM and letting the user decide what player to play the movies with?
I've tried using many DRM removal software and while I have a "decent" copy of the movies without DRM, I want to get a better quality product. If anyone knows of a good program to remove the Unbox DRM I'm all ears.
Thank you for posting this. We have Unbox. We use it when we are up at our camp. Will have to look into this.
I have been leery of ‘buying’ DRM videos for that reason.
I have had too many experiences with other Internet features being cancelled by developers. At least Amazon is making an alternative available. Some just cancelled without much notice.
Does Amazon have an alternative method for buying videos in the future? They have been pushing their streaming videos service for a while.
I’ve been using Audials to convert those downloaded DRM protected movies to my HD as MP4 without DRM.
Audials
Thanks. I am checking their website.
I have converted some DVDs to Mp4s. I have a NAS hard drive with a lot of TV shows and a few movies. That way, I can use ROKU or WDTV, pull them up, and watch them on my LCD widescreen tv.
I figured there was a way to do similar with DRM files.
==
Are the resulting conversions from Audials pretty good?
What Amazon is doing is nonsense.
If you’re looking for a good way to record stuff you own online, check out www.playlater.tv . I use it all of the time ... it works great. You can record stuff from sources like Netflix and Amazon DRM free (just to name a few ... it supports numerous websites). It’s legal too. Your videos are recorded in MP4 format.
Only drawback is that it adds a 3 second watermark at the beginning and end of the file indicating who recorded it based on your licensing information.
It’s well maintained software too ... rarely have I run into problems when various websites change something.
M4L
.
Audials conversions are very good. It doesn’t crack the DRM code, but uses the key that’s downloaded with the video and plays / captures the movie in real time. So a 2hour movie takes 2 hours to capture. It works with rented movies too, but I can’t say how I know that.
No problem. It caught me by surprise and I wanted to let my friends here on FR know, just in case they missed it like me.
Far as I know, they are pushing their streaming service, and I even think they are partnering up with another service as well.
I've never heard of that one. All I keep getting referenced to is Aimersoft which doesn't work good all the time.
I'll check it out, thanks.
What is M4L?
Before I do, I need to ensure this software does what it says it does. I really need assurance.
Convince me!
Mark for later. A message to me, to visit later. Something interesting, or good reference info.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for recommending AuDials!
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