Streaming platforms are ever-changing, and not always in the right way. As every studio has come up with a platform, it’s getting more frustrating and expensive to keep up with all of them, and they’re all raising prices, Prime Video included.
The streaming platform announced in early March that they are replacing the Ad-Free plan with an improved version of it called Ultra. That, of course, comes with a significant price increase. Ahead of Ad Free’s phaseout on Apr. 10, fans started to complain about the “absolutely horrible” user experience on Prime Video.
Prime Video’s User Experience on Desktop Is Getting Harder to Navigate
In a recent post on Reddit, user Janderson2494 recalled a conversation about Invincible Season 4, and he “wanted to share some shots from the show that were just like the comics, and I am literally not able to navigate to a specific episode of the show through their desktop interface.”
The post continued, “It’s not even easy to find the show on the service in the first place as a weekly watcher! You can even search Invincible in the search bar, and it won’t even come up! But the Atom Eve special does!” Some users noted they don’t have this issue, but others confirmed that they could replicate it.
One of the most-liked comments agrees with the issues, writing, “A lot of shows don’t even have the seasons/parts in the correct order. A lot of shows have some of their seasons randomly unavailable.” A different user replied to the comment, adding their own grievances: “Some shows with seasons under different titles. Subtitles missing entirely, or wrong. Or incorrectly generated in some other broken way,” giving German series You Are Wanted as an example of wrong and missing subtitles.
A different user added, “Also when you pick up a series and “play next episode” it can take you back to a random early episode.”
The post also includes a comparison between the “worst streaming platforms,” with other people bringing up Paramount+ as a “far worse video experience.”
Amazon Is Replacing the Ad-Free Plan Soon
Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service has been around for over a decade, although it wasn’t until recent years that it started to become a major platform. After its acquisition of Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2021, the streaming service added multiple classic titles, as well as the benefit of the long-running Hollywood studio’s experience.
Since then, Prime Video has started offering some of the most entertaining films and shows, including Reacher, The Boys, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Invincible, Fallout, and more. The streamer has more plans for the future, with Mike Flanagan’s deal for Carrie, The Dark Tower, and other unannounced titles, as well as God of War, the Reacher spinoff Neagley, and Tomb Raider.
That will happen after its upcoming major change. Starting Apr. 10, Prime Video is officially removing its ad-free service, which is replaced by Prime Video Ultra. The new service comes with a $4.99/ month charge, and will offer some new features, like 4K UHD video, Dolby Atmos sound, and 100 titles for offline viewing, as well as five concurrent streams.