[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, we tried it for the first time tonight. We rented Jackass Number 2.

Overall, I gotta say I'm impressed. Dunno if I'm $4 impressed, especially since we already have Netflix, but it performed as advertised. We ordered the movie around 7, it started downloading to the TiVo within 15 minutes, and it was done downloading less than 2 hours later. Not blazing fast, but had I ordered it earlier (say, from work or right when I got home) that's certainly pretty quick.

It played without issue, and gave excellent on-screen info about how long we can keep it and how long it will stick around. Basically, you have 30 days from the time of download to begin watching it. Once you start watching it, you have 24 hours, and then you can't watch it any more. That does mean you better be sure you've got time to watch it once you start, but at least you can sit on it until you have the time.

I don't know if they're considering this still in beta, but there were a couple things that I'd characterize as beta-level in the ordering process. First off, we were given a $15 credit when we signed up. While the page before we clicked order very clearly stated that, once we clicked order, no mention of the $15 credit was made through the ordering process. They had us pick a credit card and a billing address, no where to say, "I'm using my credit" or enter a code. As it turns out, it's taken care of automatically behind the scenes, but it definitely feels like a bit of a bodge job, wedging a new system of payment into their old billing system.

Secondly, and following from that, the confirmation email was...lacking. It did not include the info about downloading and viewing the movie, and it linked to the standard "my account" page which actually has no links to any "Unbox" account info. If you want to see things like your download history, you have to go through the "Unbox" page which isn't linked from the email.

Other than that, while I'm not really a likely heavy user of this, it is fairly well executed for anyone who might be interested.

Oh, and Jackass was hilarious. It delivered what it promises, I still hurt from laughing an hour and a half later.