Amazon Fire TV Vs. The Competition: Who Comes Out On Top?

Amazon has just announced its streaming TV media device, the Fire TV, and that means it now faces off against other tech giants and incumbents in yet another category. So how does the Amazon TK compare to the likes of the Apple TV, Google’s Chromecast and Roku’s lineup of streaming set-top boxes and new HDMI stick? Here’s a basic rundown. Amazon has a considerable leg up here; its Amazon Instant Video library is large and covers a wide range of different types of content from top-notch sources. The company just looked down exclusive rights to streaming Fox hit 24, for instance, and Amazon has invested in creating originals, too, with more to come for both videos and games. Plus, Amazon also offers access to its MP3 store and user libraries from there. The catch here is that for free access to Instant Video, you’ll need to be a prime subscriber, which carries a price tag of $99 per year.

First-Party Content

Amazon has a considerable leg up here; its Amazon Instant Video library is large and covers a wide range of different types of content from top-notch sources. The company just looked down exclusive rights to streaming Fox hit 24, for instance, and Amazon has invested in creating originals, too, with more to come for both videos and games. Plus, Amazon also offers access to its MP3 store and user libraries from there. The catch here is that for free access to Instant Video, you’ll need to be a prime subscriber, which carries a price tag of $99 per year.

Apple TV offers probably the biggest catalog in terms of first-party content thanks to iTunes music, movie and TV content. These basically span the range of what you’d want to see or hear, and the libraries are available in more markets around the world than those of their competitors. But there’s a catch; while iTunes Radio offers access to free streaming music in a couple of places, in most you’ll have to purchase content piecemeal, meaning the price tag is going to be a lot higher than $99 per year to get access to the same depth of library as you have on Amazon.

Google offers Play Music and Play Movies to its users, including a streaming radio option, but the content library falls just short of Apple’s, and is more geographically restricted. Also, like with iTunes, there’s no all-you-can-eat video option.

Roku relies heavily on third-party sources for its content, which brings us to the next area of comparison.

Read the full story at TechCrunch.