Amazon’s Fire TV to come pre-loaded with Vevo, Pandora and iHeart Radio content
Amazon’s new in-house streaming video device, called Fire TV, will come pre-loaded with content from other providers.
The US$99 device, announced on Wednesday at a media call in New York, will be set up with video streaming apps like Vimeo, Netflix, Red Bull TV and Vevo, music apps like Pandora and iHeart Radio, and pay-TV channel apps including ESPN and Showtime. No release date is currently scheduled for Australia.
Fire TV is now a direct competitor with Apple TV, Roku and Google’s Chromecast; all three feature the app for HBO, which Amazon is yet to include.
According to Billboard, Amazon has plans to add music capabilities to Fire TV through its MP3 Library and Cloud Player. A US$4.99 subscription fee grants users access to Qello Concerts’ full-length shows and music documentary collection.
Qello CEO, Brian Lisi said in a statement, “We could not be more thrilled for the opportunity to deliver this experience through the new Fire TV, where users can turn their big screen into a concert stage.”
This news comes as the globe’s largest Internet retailer celebrates the one-year anniversary of its AutoRip for vinyl feature (where Amazon adds MP3 versions of your purchases to its Cloud Player for playback or download).
“Amazon’s AutoRip feature has been a popular choice amongst Amazon customers since it launched last year and has continued to provide customers with a quick and easy way to stream digital versions of their favorite CDs and vinyl records,” a spokesperson from Amazon told TMN. “To date, AutoRip has delivered more than two billion free MP3 tracks to customers who have purchased AutoRip albums.”
Amazon users can purchase AutoRip CDs here for $7.99 each until the end of today.
Amazon has also named its current top three best-selling vinyl records and CDs.
Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue and Depeche Mode’s Violator are the current top three AutoRip vinyl records, in that order, while the Frozen film soundtrack, Johnny Cash’s Out Amongst The Stars and Beck’s latest LP Morning Phase are the current top three selling CDs.