What I do for music is that I switch continuously between platforms and take up on the 3month promo offers.
It's a bit of a chore, but I really don't feel like paying for a streming service I only use when driving the car.
Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
221–230 of 641 posts
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#222There's just more content that I want to watch than I have time, or attention, to watch. I only subscribe to Netflix and Disney+; and Disney+ is because I have young children. (I also subscribe to YouTube music, but I consider that a different form of entertainment. And I subscribe to Amazon, but that's for free shipping.)
Most of the time, if I want to watch something that's not part of one of these existing subscriptions, I can rent it for a small fee. I only rent 2-4 times a year. If I think the kids will want to re-watch it, I buy the Bluray. I only buy a few a year.
So, would I go back to piracy? Well... I have to really want to watch it, it has to be missing from my streaming and rental services, and I have to "not care enough to rewatch" to not buy the Bluray. The last thing I pirated, I reminded myself that I've watched it enough to justify buying it outright.
IMO: What we need is copyright reform along with piracy. Copyright should only be protected if an asset is available online instantly at a fair price. Otherwise, if the asset isn't available at a fair price, piracy should be 100% legal.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Prime account, but I'll soon be cancelling it I feel. The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. Prime video is quite unique, but I'm very much past them putting pre-roll ads on the content I want to watch. It's universally an advert for their own craptastic, homegrown version of an existing well-defined format. If I was interested in watching Law & Order I can start fro…
yeah, I canceled Prime a few years ago. I reasoned that if I needed the product fast then it would be faster to physically go to target or walmart. And if I didn't need it fast, then the default shipping would be fine. Their add-on services all felt lackluster too. Most of the prime video content is not well-rated.
What do they charge in the US? It costs me 3 EUR / month here in NL which is worth it. Amazon regularly either undercut or price-match other stores and for 36 EUR a year I get enough entertainment from Prime alone.
Netflix is 15 EUR / month and I honestly just keep it for the kids + my wife..
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
Auto-expiring temporary credit card numbers can help automate cancellations after N months, but figuring what shows are on what services and signing up for them as needed is still a major chore.
The Playpilot app helps to get an overview over where (on what streaming services) a movie or show is available.
We use JustWatch[0]. It's good for keeping a "want to watch" list and also tells you which of your services has which films at any one time.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#225I'm not going to speak about my personal practices, but I find the current landscape of streaming services unusable and unsustainable from a customer perspective. I share a Netflix and Prime account with my parents, and support for that is soon going to end. I don't feel like either of those services provide enough value to me to consider paying for them entirely by myself. The content is mediocre at best, finding an…
I have a Prime account, but I'll soon be cancelling it I feel. The same products can had on eBay for less money with no shipping charges added. Prime video is quite unique, but I'm very much past them putting pre-roll ads on the content I want to watch. It's universally an advert for their own craptastic, homegrown version of an existing well-defined format. If I was interested in watching Law & Order I can start fro…
Far be it from me to shill for Amazon, but I find that I can't go without 2-day shipping.
Ebay is fine I guess, but I'd lose my mind if I had to wait a week for something. That makes the $140/yr worth it to me.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#226I see no moral problem with file sharing. Personally it's rarely worth the hassle, though I occasionally convert a youtube video to and mp3 for niche songs I can't find on spotify. I'd say it depends on how you value your time and how difficult it is to find what you want. "Piracy" is the legitimate competitor of streaming services. It seems like we have had a period where streaming offered a better product, but havi…
Well interestingly enough, it really is developers that can make a great piracy user experience. Why don’t we?
It already exists, its called Plex + Plexshare.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#227I had an account for an unnamed streaming service and I really valued contributing to the production of the content with my small contribution. Then I moved from one country to another. After the move I have a credit card issued by a bank in the country I moved to and said streaming service will not accept it as payment. I can't find a way to actually pay them money. It seems the only way to get access is through some bundles with ISPs which sadly do not fit my situation. I find this extraordinarily stupid and I'm not even sure I would call it greedy. It's just counterproductive. I want to give them money, they just seem to have come to the conclusion that money is not fungible, the source matters.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#228No, I'm just cutting out my consumption. I have a simple philosophy - if I don't want to pay for it I'm cool with not having it. I have prime, will probably be getting rid of that soon, at which point I'll only have Youtube Music/Premium.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
this sounds economical but also a major chore
Not at all. I do the same thing, and the key is to cancel the subscription immediately upon signing up. You keep the one month you've already paid for, and don't need to worry about recurring cost.
I hear, it’s doable and it works but very few people do it because it takes patience and care. Most of these services use dark patterns to lure users into not doing that. If a larger percentage of users did it streaming services would quickly change policies.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?
#230I pirated a lot when I was younger and couldn't afford it. It's a headache I don't need anymore - worrying about VPNs or seedboxes, torrent sites moving to different domains or being shut down, maintaining ratios, letters from your ISP... Nowadays entertainment is quite accessible through subscriptions and I just wait for decent sales on the games I want to play.
That’s one of the reasons I kind of gave up on, but it is 2023. I wonder how streamlined piracy has gotten.
Incredibly streamlined. plexshare subreddit.