The holiday is just days away. Here's a gift idea that can be delivered in minutes, or you can drop by the store on Christmas Eve on the way to the party. Gift subscriptions to online services or gift cards for digital media make a thoughtful present, or the perfect addition to a network media player or media streamer gift. And now they are easy to purchase and ready to give immediately.
Most media sharing devices need to access media--either digital media from your home network or movies from Netflix, TV from Hulu Plus, or music from Napster or Pandora. While many players come with a coupon for a free trial period, think how nice it would be give the gift of months or even a year of entertainment and not burden the gift recipient with additional monthly fees. Hulu, Napster, and Pandora have joined Netflix in making it easy to buy gift subscriptions so your loved one can always have something to watch and hear.
If you don't want to buy a subscription, you can get gift cards that can be used to rent or buy movies and music from iTunes, Napster and Amazon on Demand. It's almost like buying a CD or DVD as a gift, but it's even better because you can print or email the gift card from your computer and be on your way to the gift recipient's house in minutes.
Note that not all devices nor even all models from a manufacturer offer the same online content partners. You can check out the list of partners available on popular network media players and media streamers, or you can search for the device on the manufacturer's website and see which online streaming their model offers.
If you don't want to do the research, buy a Netflix gift subscription. Netflix is on almost everything.
Netflix seems to be on most media streaming players, video game consoles and networked TVs and home theater components. Netflix gift subscriptions are available online or you can buy a three month Netflix subscription card at Best Buy stores.
Hulu has been a popular website to watch TV episodes that you may have missed. While Hulu's online site is free to view on a computer, most network media streaming devices that offer Hulu, have Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus can be accessed on media streamers, iPhones and smartphones, and iPads and tablets. It is considered a premium service that requires a monthly subscription fee of $7.99. Hulu Plus adds recent episodes before they are available on Hulu, along with classic TV shows and some movies.
You can give Hulu in one month, three-month, six-month and one year gift subscriptions. Once you purchase the gift subscription, you can print or email a gift card to gift recipient. The recipient simply types in the redeem code to get their subscription, then activates the device on which they want to view Hulu Plus.
Pandora lets you create your own music station. Choose an artist, song or genre that you like and Pandora will stream music that has similar qualities. Pandora is ad supported so the streaming music will be interrupted every few songs for a message from their sponsor. The free service is also limited to 40 hours per month.
Pandora One is their premium service. It makes a great gift for the music lover who wants uninterrupted, unlimited higher quality music. Pandora One cost $36 for a full year.
Napster may be known for its origins in illegal file sharing, but the company is now legitimate and wholly owned by Best Buy. You can find just about any album or song you like and create queues and playlists. Your playlists can even be played when you are offline. If you find a song or album you truly love, you can buy it and download it to play on all of your devices.
Napster can now be enjoyed on your computer's web browser, on network media streamers, networked TVs and home theater components and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
Amazon On Demand is another popular online content partner on network devices. Amazon On Demand lets you either rent a movie or TV show to watch in a 24-hour period, or you can buy and download the file or access whenever you want to watch it. If you want to give the gift of Amazon on Demand, you can simply buy an Amazon Gift card. Amazon gift cards are found wherever gift cards are sold including at your local grocery store.
For those who have/received an Apple TV or other iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can gift music, movies, TV shows and apps or you can get an iTunes gift card.
If you have an iTunes account, you can gift a particular song, album, video or app. Browse to the album, song, movie, TV show or app that you want to give. Next to the "buy" button is an arrow. When you click on the arrow the first item is "Gift this song, or album, or video or app." Click on it and follow the directions to send a thoughtful email gift of that particular selection.
To let your gift recipients choose for themselves, buy an iTunes gift card online. You can either buy them from your iTunes account or you can go to the Apple online store. You can also buy iTunes gift cards where other gift cards are sold--pick them up in the checkout line at your grocery store or keep your eye out for deals on multiple card packs. You will usually find iTunes gift cards near CD sections in retail stores. Be sure to check out the Beatles-themed iTunes cards for the Beatles-lovers on your gift list.
You could always buy a network media player/media streamer to go with the gift description. A gift card may seem like small package at the time, but its continued usage will make a big impression.