Amazon Prime Not Worth It Unless You Shop A Lot And Don't Already Have Netflix

This CNet post wondered if Amazon Price is worth the $79 annual fee.  It's a good read and very fair in its praises and criticisms.  Personally, I don't think so.  Here's where I'm coming from.

I'm a Netflix subscriber and I enjoy the experience thoroughly if not for the occasion video that I want to watch that goes missing.  Case in point is that I'm a science fiction watcher.  And the very popular Stargate TV shows are not gone from Netflix.  I irked me immensely.  However, that had no made me quit the service and go over to Amazon Prime where the Stargate TV shows are still available for steaming.

Sure, Netflix cost more but it also has a wider selection of videos.  On top of that, Amazon's video is not available for streaming on most major platforms.  Like the post said, it's not on Android at all.  You have to buy into Amazon's Apple-like ecosystem if you want to stream videos on a tablet.  And yes, you can now stream Amazon's videos on iOS devices san the Apple TV.

Also, as for book borrowing that is available to Prime users, I'm not a big enough reader that I would join up.

And lastly, I don't buy enough to justify the 2-day shipping.  Honestly, unless I can get something overnight, waiting two-days is too long.  If I need something really bad, I need it and I'll get it locally, say, at Best Buy or a local department store like Target, Walmart, or Costco.  For anything else, I can deal with the 5-8 days long free shipping.

So, what will get me to become a Prime user?  More videos obviously.  More original content but not necessarily exclusive content like Downton Abbey (Engadget) which Amazon will carry exclusively soon.  Then again, if Amazon is willing to fork over more money to obtain more shows I want to watch and it's exclusive only to Amazon, yes, I might consider jumping ship.  At the same time, Netflix is showing that it ain't no pushover - developing its own shows and getting more movies than anyone else.

As for the other features, I like to see Amazon opening book borrowing on other devices and stream videos to Android devices.  That plus add more videos that I want to watch.