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Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. is ramping up its Video on Demand business of streaming movies and TV shows from the web, and this week confirmed plans to offer titles in high definition this year.

Amazon offers the streaming video for purchase or rent. But it is also quietly experimenting with an entirely different business model for video through its Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website. IMDb offers a select number of videos for free — and wants to do the same with its entire library of titles.

The twin approaches show that Seattle-based Amazon hasn’t committed itself to a single business model when it comes to streaming video, and is hedging its bets between pay-per-view and ad-supported video.

Which model Amazon eventually chooses — rent or purchase, free with ads, or a hybrid of the two — will shape how the retailer takes on its major competitors in the web video market, including Netflix, Apple’s iTunes store, and website Hulu.com.

“Amazon is being smart,” said Matt McRae, vice president of products at Vizio, a consumer electronics company that recently struck a deal to incorporate Amazon Video on Demand into a new line of high-definition TVs.

By experimenting with paid and free videos, “they get to see how customers react and what kind of content they prefer,” he said.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said Amazon Video on Demand and IMDb “both are building separate, unique offerings for customers.” He declined to provide additional detail, but said the company is “refining our offerings for customers based on what our customers tell us they want and what we think they will enjoy.”

Companies have embraced an array of pricing models for streaming movies and TV shows. Netflix has a subscription model, offering streaming video only to members. Apple’s iTunes store sells videos for use on iPods and other Apple devices. Hulu.com offers free TV episodes and movies, with ads.

Amazon doesn’t break out sales from its Video on Demand service, which currently offers, for example, the teen hit “Twilight” as a $3.99 rental or $14.99 purchase. But there are signs that streaming movies and TV shows are finding an audience online. Hulu, a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., is currently ranked the No. 2 top online video brand by web measurement firm Nielsen Online, with more than 308 million video streams in February.

Amazon has been actively developing both sides of its streaming video business. The company has announced a string of new deals with device makers recently, incorporating its paid Video on Demand service into the Roku TV set-top box and new Vizio and Panasonic HDTVs.

IMDd.com, for its part, is trumpeting its plans. Recent releases such as “Twilight” are not currently available for streaming on the site, but IMDb founder Col Needham told a film conference this month that the movie trivia website aims to offer a much wider array of movies for free.

Amazon acquired IMDb.com in 1998 for an undisclosed sum.

(802: I did not know IMDb.com is owned by Amazon. Used it quite often to check up on movie's summary, actor/actress profile etc)

Amazon.com Inc. announced a new royalty option with more financial incentive for authors and publishers to keep ebook prices low, allowing those using the company's ereader platform to earn more for each book sold.

The new plan allows authors and publishers who meet certain criteria to receive 70% of the book's list price as royalty, net of delivery costs, which average about six cents a book. For an $8.99 book that meets the new plan's criteria, the author would receive $6.25 with the new option as opposed to $3.15 with the standard option, the company said.

For authors to choose the new plan, the book must have a list price between $2.99 and $9.99; the list price must be at least 20% below the lowest physical list price for the book; the book must be made available for sale in all geographies in which the author or publisher has rights; the title will be included in a set of Kindle features, such as text-to-speech; and books must be "offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices."

Amazon's Kindle and other ereaders, such as Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook and various offerings from Sony Corp., have soared in popularity in recent months, becoming a hot holiday gift. Consumers can use ereaders to download and carry multiple books and newspapers on a single electronic device. Prices for ebooks are generally lower than prices for physical books.