Amazon considers HD downloads, video subscriptions

Unbox customers just got a survey from Amazon, asking whether they'd be interested in services like HD movies, subscription services, and even free, ad-supported streaming video. 

TechCrunch reports that the Amazon survey asks the question, "Which potential improvement is the most likely to increase your use of the Amazon Unbox service?" Among the choices:

• Free video streaming with ads
• Paid video streaming without ads
• Independent film subscription service
• Hit movie subscription service
• Video extras
• HD videos
• Burn to DVD

Of course, this is just a survey—there's no guarantee that Amazon will actually add all or any of these features to its Unbox service. Still, it's an interesting glimpse at the ideas that are being bandied about during Unbox brainstorming meetings.

Adding HD movies to Unbox seems like an obvious move, especially given that the service works with the recently released TiVo HD DVR (not to mention the fact that Apple TV, Vudu, and the Xbox Video Marketplace all offer HD movies and TV shows). I'd also be interested in movie subscriptions; TechCrunch notes that paid digital-media subscriptions "have been tried before and failed," but I, for one, would consider paying $40 a month to have the run of Unbox's movie selection (or, say, $40 for 40 movies in a month).

As for the free-streaming-with-ads idea…it's something we've seen already from Hulu (which offers a handful of free, ad-supported movies), and while I'm personally not that hot about the idea of commercial interruptions during, say, "Star Wars," it's clearly an option for TV shows, which are produced with ad breaks in mind. That said, it appears that only a few of us are actually paying to download movies, so offering free movie streams with non-skippable ads might be a great business move for Amazon.

So, what do you think, Unbox users (and is anyone out there actually using Amazon Unbox on a regular basis)? Any of these ideas catch your fancy?

Related:
Is Amazon Rethinking Its Movie Download Service? [TechCrunch]