- Free 2-day shipping on eligible items. Note that this applies only within the States. Don't dream of having free 2-day shipping to Singapore. I think it's almost impossible.
- Free Prime Instant Video access. Amazon claims that their collection is well over 40,000 movies.
- Borrow Kindle books, once per month.
[Update : Amazon has since increased the subscription to $99/yr]
Free 2-day shipping. This is of almost no use to anyone of us here in Singapore as it applies only to US addresses. But, if you are a spree organizer and frequently ships to freight forwarder, then you might want to consider. The best part is that you don't have to satisfy any minimum orders (except Add-On items) in order to have Amazon shipped your items out for free.
Prime Instant Video. This is the one that interests me the most. I have a current subscription to Netflix that cost me $7.99/month, or about $96/yr. The content on Netflix is ok and for $7.99/mth, I think it's good value. First impressions of the collection at Amazon, I really really like it. I'm currently watching The Blue Planet
with my trial Prime membership.There's one caveat. The Prime Instant Video is only applicable within the US. So folks in Singapore are actually missing out quite a fair bit. But fret not, we do have workarounds. If you're a ViewQwest subscriber, you can add-on their Freedom VPN service and you'll have access to this Prime Instant Video service from Amazon automagically. If you subscribe to the 'You can't go wrong' traffic lights telcos, then you need slightly more work. You have to hunt for a VPN provider and sign up with them.
What's the difference between the 2 approach? The ViewQwest approach is transparent to you. All your devices within your household that are connected to ViewQwest's network get full access. If you have a PS3, it works. If you have an iPad, it works too. The VPN approach is not that transparent. In order to watch the videos on Amazon, you have to connect to the VPN server. What this means is that if your VPN provider does not work with Android devices, then you can't watch it on your Android devices! The same holds true for your PS3, your xbox360 etc.
Lastly, borrowing Kindle books. I love to read. I have a 6" older generation Kindle with no back light and no touch screen. But borrowing just 1 book per month is a weak effort on Amazon's part. Bookworms like us can potentially burn through a few per month. So, I won't take this seriously. It's a sweetener for sure but not a deal breaker.
In any case, Amazon offers a free trial for 30 days and you can sign up directly here -
Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies
Just remember to cancel it after your 30 days are up. For me, I'm now seriously considering terminating my Netflix subscription instead.
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