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Consumer Reports joined Into Tomorrow this week to tell us about the different Amazon Prime options:
Last month Amazon announced new offers that will let customers pay monthly to get either the full Amazon Prime membership, or a new video-only plan. If you think that sounds like a great deal, not so fast, says Consumer Reports. Their electronics spokesman James McQueen is here to explain.
Until recently, to get the full Amazon Prime membership—which includes free two-day shipping, plus Amazon’s video and music streaming services at no extra charge—you’d have to pay a yearly, upfront fee of $99. That breaks out to $8.25 per month.
With the new plan, you can get the full Amazon Prime membership by paying $11 per month instead of a yearly fee. But that means you’d be paying $33 more each year, with no additional benefits. The only way that makes sense is if you intend to subscribe for eight months or less—there’s no contract, so you can quit at any time—or you just can’t handle the one-time charge.
As for the Prime video-only offer, it doesn’t make much sense, either. At $9 per month, it’s cheaper than Netflix’s popular $10-per-month plan, but it’s still more expensive than a $99 annual membership to Prime. And the video-only deal doesn’t come with Prime benefits such as free shipping, free photo storage, and access to Amazon Prime Music. Taken strictly as a video service, the marginal $1-per-month savings compared to Netflix doesn’t matter much.
For more info on this story, visit ConsumerReports.org.
The Team recommended apps they’ve been playing with:
You know how some people find a thunderstorm so relaxing, they just drift off to sleep? White Noise is an app that is intended to help you sleep by bringing that and over 40 other sounds to your smartphone. Even when you’re asleep, your brain is constantly scanning and listening for sounds. Many times, if it’s too quiet, unwanted noises such as faucet drips or police sirens can interrupt your sleep. They say White Noise generates sounds over a wide range of frequencies, masking those noise interruptions, so you can not only fall asleep, but stay asleep. Once you launch the app, you can select your sound. (You can also record your own sound and create a loop from within the app) You can also set a time for how long you want the sound to play for and set an alarm to wake you up, all from within the app. White Noise is $1.99 in the Apple App Store.
Have you ever stumbled home after a long night out just to find that you’ve lost your keys to the house? Well this may have been the inspiration behind my App of the Week. Key Me! … It’s a digital copy of your physical keys. This app allows you to snap a photo of your key then it gets saved into the mysterious cloud waiting for that one moment I come home clueless to where my keys are. Key Me generates a code that your local locksmith can use to cut you a new key. This free iOS app can save you time and money in the future. You might want to Check out Key Me.
