Google Play vs. Amazon vs. iTunes Store: How the Content Stores Stack Up - geistfairie

With the upcoming plunge of the Nexus Q, which lets you stream Google Play contented to your Video or stereo, Google will compete more now with Amazon and Apple in a media-store scrimmage where damage is pickings a backseat to how and where consumers can play what they buy.

Using both a computer and a pad of paper linked to each store, I checked out the online media markets move by these Internet behemoths. I used a Inflame Fire for Amazon's medicine and video recording stores, an iPad for Apple's iTunes, and an Android tablet for Google Recreate.

Apple Has the Most Content

I launch, inaugural of all, that Apple continues to take over the biggest catalog of music and video offerings–more than 28 million songs and 45,000 for-purchase movies as of April, and much than 85,000 TV episodes as of last October.

Amazon's MP3 store hosts more than 20 million songs, and an drained search of its Instant Video recording lay in indicates that it has more than 52,000 movies. It's difficult to underestimate the number of TV episodes available there; the search shows to a higher degree 9000 TV titles, merely titles May cover entire seasons in some instances.

Google is far to a lesser extent specific about the size of its catalog, but it clearly trails the other two. Publicly, Google says only that it has "millions" of songs and "thousands" of movies and TV shows.

Varying Pricing Models

Prices for current releases were the same at all trine services: You can rent out movies in standard definition for $3.99 each or in high definition for $4.99 each, or you can purchase them for $14.99 (standard def) operating theatre $19.99 (unpeasant-smelling def). In the music markets, current albums consent $10.99 apiece and singles for $1.29 apiece.

Nevertheless, I found considerable variance in the pricing of older movies, TV shows, and music. Google Play, for good example, offers a escaped song every day (presumably to pull in you to the put in).

Amazon Prime members can watercourse thousands of movies and TV shows to a computer, a Kindle Fire, an XBox 360, or another supported device free of shoot down: I used the service on a Kindle Fire to watch the 1954 interpretation of Sabrina, which costs $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy up happening Google Play and along iTunes. Non all devices that support Amazon Instant Video also support Prime Instant Video, withal. For object lesson, my TiVo DVR, which offers access to Amazon Instant Video, can't stream Amazon Instant Prime content.

Playback Options Disagree

Regardless of what you pay, you don't forever get the same playback options–especially with video. For example, if you rent the film Mirror Mirror connected iTunes, you experience 30 days to part with watching it, but one time you start, you retain access to it for just 24 hours. Amazon and Google Play offer the same 30-day interval for initial access, but the window for watching it once you've started the video is 48 hours. These limits vary from title to title, in part because Hollywood studios dictate them–and the studios are still scrambling to figure exterior how best to monetize their content.

More importantly, though you tush instantly stream iTunes purchases to Orchard apple tree TV, the iTunes store does not endure present streaming of content to iOS devices–iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch players–which means that you have to download the (purchased surgery rented) content first. Both Amazon Instant Video and Google Bring, by contrast, terminate start streaming purchased or rented contented on sympathetic devices at once. True if a device doesn't support flowing of Amazon content, Amazon's download technology usually lets you start watching information technology within a few minutes, as it continues to download.

Amazon Service Available happening More Devices

Device support is a big differentiator. Amazon Instant Video is available on an impressive number of devices besides the Conflagrate (including computers, smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, game consoles, and TVs); just you need either a desktop-form browser or an Android gimmick to sentinel Google Play videos. This holds true even out for the Nexus Q, which requires an Android twist to serve as its remote control. But steady without a Link Q, you might constitute fit to watch Google Play content on an HDTV if you have a device equipped with an HDMI output.

To play videos from Apple's iTunes store, you need an iOS device–an iPhone, an iPod Touch, an iPad, an Apple Boob tube, or a electronic computer running iTunes. Apple also sells a $39 dock-to-HDMI connector that, in hypothesis, lets you watch iTunes video on a big screen without having to invest in an Apple TV. But drug user reviews are decidedly mixed on how well IT whole caboodle.

High-Definition Options

Options for squeaky definition (HD) versus standardized definition (SD) video vary, based some on device support and licensing considerations. Apple offers all videos in both SD and HD–if such versions are free from the content provider–because the iPad and current iPhones and Apple TV support both.

The Kindle Fire and most Humanoid devices don't documentation HD video; however, on the Kindle you can still rent surgery buy videos in high def when such versions are available, in case you wish to switch to a twist that supports HD playback.

Google Play offers little HD content than its competitors. At this writing, for example, Google Play has no HD choice for Mirror Mirror, which you can get in HD on the other services. According to Google's documentation, studio licensing agreements dictate HD availability.

Finally, the services cause different rules on how many another devices you give the axe utilisation to watch media streams or to download content.

In Detail: Amazon Instant Video and Peak Instant Video

Amazon's focus on selling depicted object as opposed to hardware is obvious in the way IT runs its media computer storage. Customers can watch Amazon Imperative Video connected dozens of supported devices, some of which–including the Kindle Fire, computers, and the XBox 360–let you choose between streaming letting videos and downloading them for offline viewing.

Customers who compensate $79 for Amazon's Prime service, which offers freed deuce-day transport for all purchases, besides get unrestricted Prime Instant Video access to streamed versions of some 13,000 movies and TV shows. Again, this service doesn't work with all Amazon Instant Video-compatible devices–for example, TiVo DVRs don't stand Prime Instant Video.

Amazon River lets you download purchased content to two compatible devices. If you want a Personal computer to be one of them, you must install the Amazon Unbox Player. You fire make backup copies of your purchased videos on a Personal computer, and Amazon recommends doing soh to ensure that you give the axe restore the subject.

Amazon does maintain your purchases in a so-titled digital locker, however; as a result, if you bunk out of space and have to delete a downloaded video recording connected, articulate, a tablet or a DVR, you'll likely be able to download it again. Amazon River says that it can't assure that the content will be obtainable indefinitely, owing to license restrictions "or other reasons."

Also, you may have to initiate your download online: Though I tin can buy and download content on my TiVo past going through a registration cognitive operation and acquiring a cardinal-digit Tholepin to punch in whenever I want to approve a buy out, I mustiness go to a Web browser to download items I've purchased online, OR to retrieve deleted content from my digital storage locker.

After downloading placid to two devices for screening offline, you must deactivate a license if you later want to download the content to a third device. Freeing up a license can be complex–the process varies from device to twist–and it may involve removing entirely licensed content, and then read the online instructions carefully.

Virago restricts renters to a single download or TV stream, only it permits users to stream cardinal different videos at the same time to a single account–a nice feature if mom and dad want to watch one movie and the kids want to lookout man another. Rental damage–specifying how long you let access to the television, and the duration of the viewing window once you start watching–variegate conditional licensing agreements.

The Kindle Arouse doesn't hold up HD picture, but it gives you the option of purchasing HD content in case you plan to access information technology later on a high-def CRT screen. In my tests, the Prime Moment Telecasting SD stream for Sabrina ran fairly smoothly, though not without occasional freezing and unmitigated.

Amazon makes its video content accessible in two formats: H.264/AAC within a .mp4 container, and VC-1/WMV9 within a .wmv container. AAC video is best for Macs, while .wmv is optimized for Windows Media Player.

Amazon handles music otherwise from video. When you buy music, you can either download information technology operating theater have it stored online on your Amazon Cloud Drive, so you canful teem it from devices with the Amazon Sully Player. Amazon lets you upload your existing euphony collection to the Cloud Drive, to a level bes of 5GB of storage–and tunes purchased along Amazon wear't count against that limit.

Amazon says that, where workable, it encodes MP3s using a variable bit rate, aiming at an average bit rate of 256kb.

You can access music connected the Cloud Drive from no to a greater extent than eight registered devices–and Web browsers consider toward that total. In fact, if you clear your cache and discard the biscuit Amazon gives you, the Cloud Player will count that sam web browser as a new unmatchable the adjacent time you usage IT. It's possible to unregister devices in your calculate settings, but you moldiness call customer service to get rid of duplicate versions of a browser that count toward the device restrict.

If you you want to download your music purchases, you'll need to install the Amazon MP3 Downloader to your computer. Information technology is essential for downloading more than one file cabinet at a time, and IT can import your downloads to either your iTunes depository library or your Windows Media library. But if you lose a downloaded MP3 file, Amazon North Korean won't replace it.

Apple iTunes Store: Biggest, But Not Best?

Apple pioneered the online media store when IT launched iTunes, and the breadth of its content offerings is unmatched. But the features in the current version–iTunes 10–are starting to look a bit dated.

Most notably missing is support for streaming purchased content to iOS devices. When you buy a song or a picture on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, you moldiness download it to looseness IT, and that can take a while. Malus pumila TV does LET you pelt iTunes purchases straightaway, however, and several third-party apps promise to add streaming back to iOS devices.

Other, Apple–the sole one of the three stores reviewed here that requires you to install desktop software–treats purchased music and videos clean consistently. You can store iTunes content online exploitation iCloud and sync it to as many as ten canonized devices, including five computers. De-authorizing a twist from within iTunes on a computer is sluttish.

Purchasing videos from the iPad iTunes app requires only entry of your Apple account watchword. Once content finishes downloading, it appears in the appropriate player (euphony or video).

The New Kid: Google Play

The new kid happening the media store block, Google Play doesn't yet have the volume of content (especially HD movies and TV) OR ubiquity of device support enjoyed aside its competitors.

But if you materialize to own an Mechanical man device of fairly recent vintage, acquiring content via the Google Play Store app is as easy atomic number 3 doing so connected the iPad or the Kindle Fire. Simply maneuver to the expedient content category, and search or shop atomic number 3 you favour. The Play Store charges purchase or rental fees to the charge card that you have on file for entirely your Google purchases; if you preceptor't cause charge plate data on file yet, you'll comprise prompted to tot it.

Music that you buy from Google Play automatically goes to your online Google Bring up library, and you can stream it to any Android gimmick or browser. You nates also upload up to 20,000 songs from other sources to the library via Google's free Music Manager software system, which makes the service bang-up for streaming your tunes anywhere. Just you can stream music to only unrivaled device at once.

You throne also opt to download purchased tunes to up to 10 authorized computers surgery Mechanical man devices for offline playback. If you run upwards against the ten-device determine, you can de-authorize a gimmick and then add a novel one–but you can't do this for more than four devices per class.

Download limits are to a lesser extent lavish for movies and TV shows: You can download them to only Phoebe devices, and you must delete the download happening single device if you wish to view it along a sixth screen door.