Foo - Amazon Prime- worth it?

Since I'm always on the prowl for bike swag on the cheap, and my wife is into the Kindle library (w/o a Kindle atm), and I like to stream video (for free on hulu and crackle), I'm thinking about possibly ponying up the dough for a Prime Memership... without ever once buying anything from them before. Am I nuts?

When we bought the Kindle Fire for Xmas last year, it came with a one month membership to Prime. Before the month was up, we had ponied up for the annual subscription. For us, the one free Kindle book per month and the Amazon Instant Video was a bonus. The free two day shipping has paid for it many times over. The amount of gas, time and aggravation it has saved us from driving to a bricks and mortar store is worth it, in our view.

It's a lot of money but worth it if you buy a lot from amazon. If you do your christmas shopping there, you might save the whole membership fee in shipping alone and the rest of the year would be a bonus.

I like amazon personally.

If you sign up for the credit card I think you get 3 months free trial.

Considering we probably get 1-2 packages a week from Amazon, it's way worth it for us, for the expedited shipping alone. I didn't know about the free movie thing, I might have to check that out.

It's cheaper than a netflix subscription and you get free shipping, but I don't think they have the same selection that netflix does. I got the free month trial and it was really nice, but it coudlnt' replace netflix at the time. We do order stuff from amazon occasionally, but I just do the free shipping option since it's normally not very important to get it fast so it isn't saving any money that way.

Does anybody use the video service from their prime membership that has used netflix previously?

Yes, IMHO it's worth it. You wife can use the kindle lending library also. BUT beware, as I found out, to stream video and use the lending library, and other free for prime kindle features, the registered kindle owner and the prime owner have to be the same person. For instance, my wife is the owner of our(her) prime account. I, and my kids, are secondary users of the prime account. I can buy stuff from amazon and get the free shipping, but I can't use the free prime features for my kindle, because it's registered to me, not the prime owner. For me to use the free kindle stuff, i'd have to have, and pay for, my own prime account.

Many people also qualify for Amazon Student, too, which is a free trial of Prime and then from there it's a Prime account at a heavily discounted rate. :)

Just in case it is important to you, be aware that the Amazon Instant Video or downloaded video services, do not have closed-captions for the hearing impaired. It makes no difference if you watch them on a Kindle Fire, PC, or internet-enabled Blu-Ray player. Much of the Netflix content does have closed-captions for the hearing impaired. According to Amazon, they have no plans to add closed captions to their content.

Both my wife and I have hearing losses, so we do like captions when they are available.

It's a lot of money but worth it if you buy a lot from amazon. If you do your christmas shopping there, you might save the whole membership fee in shipping alone and the rest of the year would be a bonus.

I like amazon personally.

For the past couple of years, we have done much of our Christmas, birthday and other gift and general shopping on Amazon. I especially like doing the Christmas shopping since it keeps me out of the malls. Even better when we can have the gifts shipped directly to the grandkids.

It's worth it for me, but I'm a bit of an Amazombie. I generally don't like to drive to stores and stand in lines.

If you sign up for the credit card I think you get 3 months free trial.

Ain't gonna happen- I got into trouble using CCs back in the day and still dealing with the repercussions years later.

Yes, IMHO it's worth it. You wife can use the kindle lending library also. BUT beware, as I found out, to stream video and use the lending library, and other free for prime kindle features, the registered kindle owner and the prime owner have to be the same person. For instance, my wife is the owner of our(her) prime account. I, and my kids, are secondary users of the prime account. I can buy stuff from amazon and get the free shipping, but I can't use the free prime features for my kindle, because it's registered to me, not the prime owner. For me to use the free kindle stuff, i'd have to have, and pay for, my own prime account.That's something to keep in mind. She is saving up for a Kindle product (either Fire or Paperwhite), she can have the ebook library and I/we can take advantage of the shipping savings.

Just in case it is important to you, be aware that the Amazon Instant Video or downloaded video services, do not have closed-captions for the hearing impaired. It makes no difference if you watch them on a Kindle Fire, PC, or internet-enabled Blu-Ray player. Much of the Netflix content does have closed-captions for the hearing impaired. According to Amazon, they have no plans to add closed captions to their content.

Both my wife and I have hearing losses, so we do like captions when they are available.When The Eldest was still living with us before moving off to college (then dropping out), she had the Closed Captioning enabled on everything. As I am visually impaired, it was either read the dialog or watch the action. It was not uncommon for us to rent a video and the kids would watch it first on the big screen with the captions and then I'd get to watch on my laptop without- I prefer my laptop anyway.

Yes, IMHO it's worth it. You wife can use the kindle lending library also. BUT beware, as I found out, to stream video and use the lending library, and other free for prime kindle features, the registered kindle owner and the prime owner have to be the same person. For instance, my wife is the owner of our(her) prime account. I, and my kids, are secondary users of the prime account. I can buy stuff from amazon and get the free shipping, but I can't use the free prime features for my kindle, because it's registered to me, not the prime owner. For me to use the free kindle stuff, i'd have to have, and pay for, my own prime account.Just took a look at the Prime benefits page on Amazon. It looks like they break it down (though all under the same price plan) Prime and Prime for Kindle.

So there is there is Prime and then Prime that can only be accessed via a Kindle device. The Kindle Owners/Lending Library is a no brainer, but it looks like Instant Video can be accessed on a Mac or PC with just the Prime account holder's log on info, correct?

Didn't notice this thread till now.. I love the free streaming I use it on my xbox often.. it probably pays for itself in that alone. And I can't tell you how many hobbies I have that I end up ordering parts/gear for from amazon.. it pays for itself many times over in a year for me personally.

It's worth it for me, but I'm a bit of an Amazombie. I generally don't like to drive to stores and stand in lines.

Amazombie! lol!

I guess that's way better than being a Walmartian.

We use it a lot because the instant you get free shipping, all these incidental purchases that you might make @ Walmart, CVS, etc., become easier to make off Amazon and then it lands on your doorstep two days later. The free shipping means you don't think twice. And half the time you also pay less for the product on Amazon than you would at the brick and mortar store. I figure that between that savings and the gas I save not going to the store it pays for itself over the course of the year. The convenience alone makes it a no-brainer.

You can get a one month free trial of Amazon prime. I was just looking at it a couple of days ago. Also there are quite a lot of Kindle books that are free to the prime people. I'm not sure if the 1 a month limit applies to those.