I buy things from Amazon. A lot of things to be exact. I even thought about buying food products from the website. If you are in the same situation as me then you have received numerous emails from Amazon containing Promotional Codes, Purchase Rewards, or Promotional Credit for various products. As it turns out, I racked up $47 in Video on Demand credit, $10 worth to spend in their MP3 store, and a free year subscription to Wired magazine. So after subscribing to Wired and buying the latest 50 Cent album, I decided to check out what they had to offer for their Video on Demand service.

I’m usually not one for digital copies of movies unless it comes with the physical disc. I like to hold and show off my movie collection. But free money is free money and I couldn’t let it go to waste. I fired up Amazon.com, headed to the Digital Downloads section, and began my assault on free Video on Demand goodness.

Amazon offers a plethora of different options including TV shows and movies in both high and standard definition. You also have the option to either rent or purchase content for unlimited viewing. The way the store works is you pick the selection you would like to consume, purchase it, and start watching instantly through the player that Amazon provides on the site. This is great but what if I wanted to watch my movies when I wasn’t connected to the Internet? Thankfully, they have a solution for that as well. By downloading their proprietary software, Amazon Unbox, you are given the option to download the content you purchased to your laptop or home computer. The only negative side effect to this method is that the software is for PCs only. So if you’re like me and own a Mac, then you can only watch these movies online.

Consumers also have the option to view their content on TVs as well with such set-top boxes like the Roku. The setup for these systems couldn’t be easier. While on your Roku box, navigate to the Amazon channel, receive a unique code that ties your Roku box to your Amazon account, enter that code on to the website, and you are good to go. You can even set up a pass code for your account so that you are the only one who can purchase movies through the Roku box. Yes, you can purchase content via the Roku box, making it really easy for you to setup a convenient place for loved ones to purchase content digitally without the hassle of a computer.

All in all, if you want to purchase digital content from any of the current systems, Amazon has a pretty easy and intuitive setup going on. You can stream content via the Internet to your TV or computer with little to no setup. While it would be nice if they had a client for the Mac to download the content to your computer, iTunes is still a huge juggernaut in the digital content scene. If you’re looking to hookup your computer illiterate friend or family member with digital goodness, opt for a Roku box or something like it to ease the pain into the new world. I’ll be sticking with my physical copy until that becomes obsolete.

amazon, digital content, movies, mp3, roku, set-top box, tv shows, video on demand