Amazon Prime Video adds SD card storage for downloads
David Farnor | On 20, Jul 2016
Amazon Prime Video now supports SD card storage for offline downloads.
Downloading titles from a subscription VOD service is something that has long been on the wishlist of Netflix users. Amazon beat its rival to it, though, by adding downloads last year. Prime Video subscribers can already download select titles from the SVOD catalogue to view offline.
Netflix, though, continued to dismiss the idea.
“It’s not going to be instant, you have to have the right storage on your device, you have to manage it, and I’m just not sure people are actually that compelled to do that, and that it’s worth providing that level of complexity,” Neil Hunt, Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, told Gizmodo at the IFA trade show in Berlin last year.
“I think it’s something that lots of people ask for. We’ll see if it’s something lots of people will use.”
Amazon evidently believes that people are using it, and has now taken steps to solve the biggest problem of all: not having space on your device. Android users can now download movies and TV stores on a removable memory card, which means you can watch things offline without taking up space on your phone. (Apple users, on other hand, will not be able to do this, as iOS devices have never allowed external SD cards to be inserted.)
The system will work in the same way as Prime Video downloads do for on-device storage: once you start watching a title, you have 48 hours to finish watching it, unless you connect to the Internet. If Amazon Prime Video loses the rights to a title, then you will not be able to store and watch it – something that will be applied to any applicable titles you’ve already downloaded, again when you next connect your device to the Internet.
Videos and TV shows that have been purchased and downloaded from Amazon Instant Video can be stored and watched indefinitely.
The new feature is available to Amazon Prime Video users in the UK, USA, Germany, Australia and Japan.