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TiVo has announced a partnership with Amazon’s Unbox service to deliver movies direct to your TiVo set. Not all TiVo units will work (Comcast, DirecTV, or Series 1 models), but when the service switches live, all the other boxes will work. I still have a TiVo Series 1 & 2 in storage, simply because I don’t use them, but this might be a reason to pull the Series 2 out of storage.

Not all of Amazon’s Unbox movies will be available either. Sony and Disney are the holdouts. There will be limitations to how many devices you can have the movies on, as well as mac computers being incompatable, but this is a huge step for TiVo. There have been rumors that TiVo would offer this sort of service with nearly every distribution company out there, from Netflix to Apple.

This certainly takes a bite out of Apple’s new Apple TV, which allows viewing of anything in your iTunes directory, but doesn’t allow for downloading from your tv. You have to go over to your computer to purchase a movie/tv show from iTunes still.

Walmart today launched an online movie download site. They have deals with ALL six major movie studios, so the library has a lot of room for growth (only 3,000 titles on launch).

In the “Wal-Mart” fashion they undercut everyone on price by mere pennies . New releases start at $12.88 - $19.88. TV shows are only a 4 cent savings over other services at $1.96.

I don’t think that online people care that a tv episode cost 4 cents less, or that they just saved 20 cents on a movie down. It’s Wal-Mart, they have the whole retail thing down, but online they just don’t cut it. People go for the cool, hip trendy companies online, and I’ve never heard anyone say Wal-Mart is cool.

Check it out today

How long has this been rumored, and now it’s finally here. Nexflix is offering 1,000 downloadable movies soon. The Watch Now feature will only be available to a few customers at this time, and it will be rolled out to all customers over the next six months There is no cost, other then your monthly membership, which determines the amount of online viewing you have.

Say you have the standard plan, $17.99, you get 18 hours (1 hour per each dollar) of online viewing. Watch a movie and cancel within the first 5 minutes for no penalty.

Of course, this is only available for PC’s and not transferable to mobile devices. They only have 1,000 titles, but hope to have over 5,000 by the end of the year.

I am a Blockbuster subscriber, and until something like this is mac compatible, I don’t really see a huge desire to switch.

On top of the updated Blockbuster Total Access program, where you can return in-store for a free rental on the spot, and allowing Netflix users to get free in-store rentals, you now also get 1 free game rental a month. The coupon is sent out once a month and can be used for a movie or video game.

I know a lot of people are making the switch from Netflix to Blockbuster, myself included. Both services charge the same amount, but Blockbuster is simply offering better features that Netflix simply can’t offer. With the combination of in-store rentals, online rentals, and now even in-store game rentals Blockbuster is taking charge of the rental business once again.

Sign up for Blockbuster today

Netflix users save that address flap that you normally throw out. From now until December 21st, Blockbuster is giving away a free in-store rental with every Netflix address flap you bring in.

Blockbuster’s Total Access program allows you to (like Netflix) have DVD’s mailed to you, and you can mail them back. The benefit to Blockbuster’s service is that if you bring it back to any store location, they give you a free rental on the spot.

This is in ADDITION to sending out the next movie in your queue. No more waiting for the next movie to arrive in the mail, or for that classic movie you haven’t seen in years. You get it right there and then.

Either way, this offer is good for Netflix users who can see the advantages of the Total Access program.

Who is going to run out so they can be part of “The Social” as Microsoft is calling it. To me, and quite a few others, it sounds like some sort of ice cream gathering, or some secret society.

Based on the fact that Apple is selling between 100,000 and 200,000 iPods per day, I have a feeling that “the social” will be something that not many people ever want a part of, myself included.

The special Zune store is open today and offers tracks that are downloadable only on the Zune (sounds like the iTunes Store). The Microsoft Plays for Sure has been dropped and won’t be included in Microsoft’s own music player.

Oh yeah, the Zune in another attempt to copy Apple includes stickers, but I doubt anyone will be proudly displaying these.

Mike over at Thought Out is offering a free Ped2 stand to the first Zune owner who replies with a picture they’ve taken of their Zune. He wants some shots of the Zune in a Ped2 and is willing to give you a free one for the pictures.

The Ped2 comes in white or black…sorry no poop brown color to match your shitty Zune. (Contact Mike here).

Blockbuster has been Netflix’s largest competitor and the competition has become more fierce. After the last SuperBowl, Blockbuster was offering 4 in-store rentals (1 a week) in addition to what you checked out from online. This is all done to try to drive towards 2 million users by the end of the year.

The new system is a bit fuzzy, but it seems to work out better for anyone using the service. It is now called Total Access, and this is how it works.

Rent 1, 2, 3, or 4 DVD’s online via mail at a time. If you return it to a physical store instead of via mail, you get a free rental coupon on the spot. They will scan your return and the next movie in your queue will be shipped to you.

This allows you to have a new rental without waiting for your queue’d movie to ship to you. They say this will speed up the shipping by about a day, since Blockbuster is scanning them when you return.

I see this as an advantage if you rent more than 4 movies a month. They say there is only 1 E-Coupon per month, but I am still showing one a week for the next 4 weeks.

Check it out for yourself and make the switch.