Amazon’s Firestick!
Access to TV just keeps getting easier and easier. Admen just keep getting more and more desperate. The latest toy I tried out is called the Amazon Fire TV Stick.
History: first I got an Apple TV. I liked it very much until it decided that it would no longer allow me to access Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime is quite a fine service in terms of TV shows and films – after all, you’re paying $100 a year for 2-day delivery and Video and Film service, why should you not be able to view it on any device that supposedly hooks you up to your Internet powered services?
I was also given a ChromeCast. It was wonderful for a while and then one day just – quit. Can’t access it. I’m not sure why, and I will say that when it worked it was great: simply start a program on Netflix or YouTube or whatever and then “cast” it to your TV. Simple, and functional. Until it wasn’t.
And then just recently I was given an Amazon Fire TV Stick – the mother-lode of casting devices! You simply plug it in (rather like the ChromeCast device it’s a simple HDMI plug in, with a power cord); you enter your Amazon Prime credentials – and… that’s it. Really. That’s it. You are hooked up to your various services and the remote simply controls what you want to watch when – unlike the Apple TV, which I really don’t have a lot of quarrels with except that it takes about 10 exits to turn off. Whatever device, you simply go to your television’s “Input” control, select the HDMI port your device is hooked up to – and you’re in business.
The bigger issue, of course, is one I’ve addressed here before – what becomes of “television” itself? That remains to be seen (all puns of course intended).
In truth – you really can’t go “wrong” with any of these devices. And yes, you will have to have subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Acorn, or other services to get the most out of your device (which probably answers my question above – we will be “paying” for TV not via commercials so much as via paid subscription services). But the bliss of watching what you want, when, with no interruptions, is… excuse me, I have a show to watch. Now, where is my remote?
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