Stopped watching netflix because they banned sharing accounts and £18 (24 USD) monthly was too much for just one person. Cheaper plans didn’t have 4K or 5.1 audio, so it felt like a waste when I couldn’t even use my setup as it is meant to be used.
Never watched prime because I refuse to pay for something then still see ads.
Now I either source stuff by other means (🏴☠️🦜) and put it on my media server, or I use BBC iPlayer. Not sure if that’s a thing outside of the UK, but zero ads and decent quality programming is something I’m happy to pay their fee for, especially when it also goes towards funding ad-free TV, radio, news, sport, podcasts, etc.
It’s fucked how greed has completely ruined the streaming market. Back in ~2010 it felt like the market was going in such a positive direction.
Same thing happened with cable decades ago.
The public TV was full of ads and bad programs. Cable offered you pay them for no ads, good series and new movies. Then the prices rose, then the ads started, then the programs turned to shit as much or even more than before.
Streaming just went the same path.
Just in time for me to have already cancelled my Prime membership last month. I’ve also not purchased from Amazon at all since then. Plan working as intended?!
I do have a prime account as do use Amazon, but we haven’t watched a second of prime TV since they put ads in the included video subscription.
For some reason this was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I setup a NAS, Plex server and all the arr apps. It’s been amazing. Haven’t looked back.
I’m using plex but still hosting it on my desktop which is a little inconvenient at times. I really should set up an always available NAS
I watch their content, I just dont pay them for it
When they announced the ads it was just the incentive I needed to quit Prime totally. I don’t miss it. I already was wary of buying from Amazon due to the sketchy sellers and fake products, so I’m glad buying my stuff elsewhere except when I can’t find something somewhere else, which has been rare.
I’m subscribed to Prime because I order too much shit and want to save on delivery costs. Those little Amazon lockers are too damn convenient for me.
If I watch their content, it’s via my PC with an ad block. I stop watching their shit the day I can’t block their ads because fuck’em.
Fwiw, I’ve been prime free now for almost three years. If you batch your orders, you can still get free shipping.
Not only that but if you’re looking at a high priced item the manufacturer will often ship it for free at the same price as amazon.
I still pirate shows I would have the right to stream 😂😅quality is better and no tracking 🤷🏻
Well, guess it’s time to get an eye patch and a pet parrot
Do you know any sea shanties to go along with that?
What shall we do with an ad filled service? What shall we do with an ad filled service? What shall we do with an ad filled service? Before we go crazy!
Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Before we go crazy!
Cancel our subscription with greatest haste now! Cancel our subscription with greatest haste now! Cancel our subscription with greatest haste now! Before we go crazy!
Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Before we go crazy!
Search for the show on pirate websites! Search for the show on pirate websites! Search for the show on pirate websites! Before we go crazy!
Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Ahoy the season is starting! Before we go crazy!
Aye!
Yo ho ho and a terabyte of NAS!
I have already ramped up on that one on their last ad ramp up.
I can’t stand it.
Good thing adblock didn’t work on the browser version of Prime video last time I used it after getting tired of the ads on the app version!
It’s possible they’re embedding ads now though
Piracy is going to be as popular as ever.
Great news!
I will ramp down my use of amazon prime
I won’t. At least not via TPB.
What do they even have that’s worth watching? It’s mostly garbage unless you’re into critical role. The boys shows? Oh no my poor hard drive space is going to be swamped with prime video mkvs lol
I don’t know. I don’t really even watch anything anymore. I just like being snarky like that.
Hmm, unfortunately I can’t go negative.
Get an RF jammer and block your neighbors’ wifi
Lol.
I guess I could also slash the tires of the Amazon delivery truck when it drops off packages at my neighbor’s house. Then again, I’d prefer to not go to jail.
Hmmm maybe it’s time to solicit that VPN that doesn’t collect logs and is shady enough to accept cash payment…
Breaking news, money making company found a way to make a little more money. This time, it’s annoying to some.
That’s what you do if you pay a giant corpo; you feed a kraken, so it can grow more arms and get greedier.
Deeper into the high seas!
I cancelled prime when they first introduced ads. But the delivery fees without prime, damn. I think I’d pirate shows if I got prime but I’m pretty sure that just makes them think they should invest in fewer shows. And damned if, pre ads, prime didn’t have a lot of my favourites (boys, invincible, end of the expanse etc.)
What a ramble. I’m just torn.
Perhaps the ad-free prime video subscription could be a viable option if prime has a lot of your favourite shows and you are opposed to piracy?
Not judging or telling you what to do. Just thinking out loud.
I would just go with piracy if you don’t want to pay the ad free tier.
My gripe is that i was on an ad free tier. They just changed it so that the tier that was previously add free now had ads.
If they had added an ad free tier below my tier i would probably still be a subscriber.
“you watch ads now, pay more or fuck off” didnt sit well with me so i fucked off
Makes sense.
that would have been a good buisness plan as well, make the normal tier premium, but have an ad free tier under it that restricted the video quality down to 720p or something, and maybe removed signature content/prime originals.
I just went cold turkey because I can’t/won’t watch content with ads, and already felt the cost of our streaming services was too much for what we get out of it.
What I’ve found myself doing is if I do buy from Amazon and it’s below the free shipping amount, I try and buy from a marketplace seller who ships themselves for free. Often this ends up matching the Prime price, but it’s buried further down the result because it doesn’t have Prime shipping. Or I buy the same product via eBay, which is mostly cheaper. But main thing is, I’ve found I just buy less. Like A LOT less. As a family we’d often get 3 or 4 Amazon deliveries a week. That’s not been replaced with orders from other retailers. It’s almost as if having Prime encourages you to buy stuff you maybe don’t need!
just wait until you have like 40-50$ worth of items, a lot of the time they’ll give you free shipping at a certain price point. Plus some items give you free shipping regardless.
That being said, I still have prime myself cause I order /a lot/ of small orders and it’s shared with the house, plus I use the family member feature to give my mom prime as well and we just split the cost. When they do away with that feature is when I cancel my sub, 140-160 a year is not worth it for one person to pay alone, that’s roughly 2.5 orders a month
[When launched] Prime Video with ads was given a “very light ad load,” providing subscribers “gentle entry into advertising that has exceeded customers expectations in terms of what the ad experience would be like." The executive pointed out that Prime Video with ads doesn’t show commercials in the middle of content. That could change next year.
Planned enshittification a la boiling frogs.
So are executives born with an asshole where their mouth belongs or do they surgically put it on when you get the gig?
Humans, being deuterostomes, have an embryological stage where we are just anuses.
Some humans never develop past that.
I’ll just pirate their shit. I’ll pirate it so hard and I’ll do it with both middle fingers in the air. But not literally, I would definitely need both hands to pirate their content.
We still need one person with a membership to download and post it all. Maybe we should start a fund to support their ever increasing membership costs…
The executive pointed out that Prime Video with ads doesn’t show commercials in the middle of content. That could change next year.
So regular TV is designed around the ads.
Cliff hangers before ads are done not only for the story, but to keep you there through the ad to get the outcome to the cliffhanger.
That partially went away with the no ad streaming.
Now that shitty behavior is going to come back.
Now that shitty behavior is going to come back.
Of course not. Streaming sites are far too lazy for that. They’ll just cram the commercial into the middle of the show with no regard for the story. It’s the only way they’ll be able to put ads in the middle of shows not made to have ads.
Ugh, you’re right. Enshittify to the max!
That’s not even true, they interrupted episode 2 of Rings of Power for me.
Light my arse, from the start they’ve interrupted with adverts for their own crap making it barely tolerable. Even on the adfree tier.
Canceled and no intention of ever going back. Measuring your ad load by American standards doesn’t work when your competition is netflix and iPlayer.
Looks like I cancelled at the right time. They seem to forget that we in fact do have a choice at the end of the day. And my choice is to sail the high seas.
Media clowns act like their engagement slop is food or shelter… Guess users haven’t voted with their feet enough on this 100% discretionary expense
