Amazon's On-Demand Video Good, Not Great: Mossberg

Amazon’s new Video on Demand service works well, Walter Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal, although the selection of titles could be better. The service allows users to individually purchase movies and TV to stream, with most rentals lasting 24 hours. The videos are stored on an Amazon server, which nicely remembers where you were so you can resume viewing instantly.

But the service shows some signs of its youth, Mossberg writes. Differing studio rules mean that not every title that can be rented can be purchased, and vice versa, and some—though not all movies—can be downloaded as well as streamed. But in general, Mossberg concludes, the service works well as a replacement to Amazon’s previous Unbox. (More Amazon stories.)