Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I first got into Hulu when it was website only. I did not have any broadcast television, so it was great to see some of the newer shows once again, even if they were a day late. It played well, streamed nicely with good quality picture and the ads were far and few between (although extremely redundant). Then, as it got popular, some shows were getting longer windows, such as a week later than its air date. Not such a big deal. Then more ads. Then more ads. Soon they announced Hulu Plus. Yes, the pay service seemed inevitable as it became very popular. Free TV was a nice idea...once upon a time. So I signed up for the service. Let's see what we get: Well, out of the gate, the best part was the ability to watch it on TV instead of my laptop, which is where I would rather watch anything. I watch Hulu through my Roku box which has a Hulu app as well. At least on the Roku, the navigation is probably one of the more cumbersome apps available. But, after using it for a time, there are so many things I dislike about Hulu that it really is a pointless service. With Hulu Plus, you get TV shows the day after, rather than a week later. But this is not every show, only ones that studios choose, like House or Family Guy are two shows that I watch that I cannot watch a day later without Hulu Plus. The other things you get are back catalogs to current and older shows. If you have seen recent ads for Hulu, they are promoting the fact that you can watch all of this great stuff on "more platforms than ever". This news should come with a big glaring asterisk! What it boils down to is this: You can watch all of it on your laptop. You CANNOT watch a lot of it anywhere else. Not on your TV, kindle, ipad, iphone, blackberry, wristwatch or anywhere else. Their ad campaign to take over the world and melt minds is more out of frustration than entertainment. Hulu still feels people want to watch 3-minute clips (?!?!). For news, maybe, (maybe!), but for a TV show, no. Ads are about as long or longer than what you would watch on regular television (approximately 20-minutes of advertising in a 60-minute period - show depending). I dont mind the ads, but when I pay $7.99, they should be removed. And Hulu seems to think their own produced 5-minute show "The Morning After" is funny, when its the most scripted and unfunny Entertainment update show I have ever seen. I point this out because they always have it highlighted in the main area. The biggest issue I have with Hulu Plus, and this is primarily my experience on Roku, is that the video and sound constantly goes out of synch and eventually crashes the system that needs to be rebooted. NEVER has this happened with Netflix or Amazon's service or with AppleTV's iTunes (HBOGO, while plays nice, does frequently crash Roku as well.). So, for $7.99, save your money and watch whats available for free on your laptop. All the latest stuff is available, which is what most people are watching anyway. To pay for shows that are dated seems silly when its available elsewhere with better service (yeah, Netflix or Amazon Prime) and wont crash your system. My review, I recognize is more at Hulu in general, and not so much the Kindle Fire edition. It may play better on the Kindle than on the Roku, and thats a benefit Kindle Fire users will have. But Hulu in general was once a cool service, but it is now bogged down by both ads and red tape that prevents it from being anything but just ok. Sadly, it only took 2 years for them to ruin their service.