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But what if I want a faster horse?

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Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#271

Post by ryandrake »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #242

All of the examples listed have something in common: they are services for accessing content you don't own. So it is in the provider's interest to find ways to satisfy you with less and/or cheaper content. The Netflix changes aren't attempts to make their product better. They are attempts to save money by obscuring the amount and/or quality of available content. By contrast, if you buy BluRays from one company and Bl…

> It is therefore in the provider's interest to make you satisfied with less and/or cheaper content

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd think that all these "content companies" are colluding in a mass "Taste Removal" campaign, deliberately getting users used to bland, vanilla, generic "content" so they can one day just shove AI slop at us all day and only people who were alive in the 90s would remember when movies and TV were great. The rest happily will watch Ow, My Balls and ads for Carl's Jr.

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#272

Post by dcrazy »

donatj wrote: post #207
setgree wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Shoving content into the faces of an indiscriminating userbase" maximizes eyeball time which maximizes ad dollars. Netflix's financials are a bit more opaque but I think that's the key driver of the carcinisation story here, the thing for which "what the median user wants" is ultimately a proxy. Likewise, all social media converges on one model. Strava, which started out a weirder platform for serious athletes, is n…

> "Shoving content into the faces of an indiscriminating userbase" maximizes eyeball time which maximizes ad dollars I mean that's not really the case for paid services without ads like Netflix. They lose money the more you watch. Ideally you'd continue to pay for the subscription but never watch anything.

Netflix’s ad-supported tier makes so much more money per user than their ad-free tier that they had to raise the price of the ad-free tier to make it competitive on ARPU.

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#274

Post by WorldPeas »

ryandrake wrote: post #264
WorldPeas wrote: post #247

So many of the burrs on my experience with anything are that I still expect the paradigm I had with my discman as a kid to the nth degree, back then I would load my favorite songs onto a disc, then play them, or play an album on repeat. I-tunes lets me do this still, but it's trying to push more of its streaming features on me like when I search my library, it defaults to searching Apple's network music volume, that…

Yea, iTunes (renamed Apple Music) is getting bad. The only thing I care about is what I've cared about since 2000: Playing a bunch of MP3 files in my collection. That functionality is now relegated to "third tab from the left," shoved aside behind a glass case like a relic from a former era.

Worse yet it's the only effective way to sync music to the iphone over a wired cable. I can tell they've abandoned their USB sync software because of how annoying the dialogs are when you plug your phone in and don't authenticate to start it, additionally that thay've (likely intentionally to push I-cloud) never added automatic usb photo sync from phone to computer. This probably all originated from when Apple shifted their convergence model from all around the desktop to all around the phone¹

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9_Vh9h3Ohw

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#275

Post by tuesdaynight »

hedora wrote: post #235

I don't understand the draw of Spotify. There's no network effect that I can see (even if it is built into your car, the other services have good experiences in your car too), everyone complains about it, they pay less per stream to artists than their competitors, and their library isn't any bigger than the competition. (It was smaller the last time I compared.) On top of that, their recommendation algorithms are (we…

I have used Tidal, Deezer and Amazon Music in the past, but I've always went back to Spotify. I prefer the UX, but not only that, the recommendations are WAY better for me than other streaming services. However, my music taste is very eclectic, so maybe that helps a lot to recommend something within my taste.

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#276

Post by bloppe »

al_borland wrote: post #240
dswalter wrote: post #184

There's a fundamental reality that shapes both Netflix and Spotify's trajectory: content licensing. 2012 Netflix had access to vastly more of everyone else's library, so it was closer to an indexed search of what was available that one could watch and then getting that video onto your screen. Over time, other companies understood that they were underpricing their content and Netflix was reaping the benefits. Once ext…

Apple Music still offers library management, with their entire catalog to choose from. They try to play all sides, with algorithmic playback, radio, add to library, and playlists. Adding to library and playlists do seem to be core features, but I’m curious how many people put in the effort when it’s not explicitly required.

Is that different from Spotify? Am I using Spotify wrong? I mostly just curate and listen to my own playlists

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#277

Post by bluetidepro »

furyg3 wrote: post #9

The TikTok-ification of advertising supported platforms is terrible, but makes sense to me. LinkedIn pivoted from making money on subscriptions and fees for job postings to ads, which mean the leading drivers are 'engagement' e.g. time you spend doom scrolling on their platform. This will end in disaster for the platform as a place to find jobs or employees. Netflix I understand much less. They make money from subscr…

Think of it this way, the less time they spend actually WATCHING content, the longer they will pay their monthly service because they have this massive "watch list" that they never actually get through. They just keep paying month after month never getting through a backlog that they inspire to watch. I don't agree with it, but it makes sense to me. If you can never feel satisfied, you will pay over and over again chasing that satisfaction of watching "everything."

Many people will pay Netflix for years hardly watching content for months just because the convenience factor of not having to subscribe/unsubscribe when they know a new season of X will be out in the next year. It's wild to me, but people are lazy. So again, the more you keep them from actually watching the content and realizing they are "done", the longer they likely just keep their subscription active. Get them to add as much potential content they want to watch to a never ending backlog watch list.

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#278

Post by dcrazy »

eadmund wrote: post #266

> YouTube. YouTube: Once a video catalog with social discovery. Now? TikTok. I hate YouTube Shorts with a passion. They are low-effort engagement bait. They cannot be disabled. Even worse, my Google TV will not play them when my phone is connected to it, and my phone will not play them when it is connected to my TV. Both devices can play them fine, they just don’t want to play them when they are connected. There can…

Many channels seem to use Shorts as a vehicle to get you to their long-form content. I don’t mind that as a discovery mechanism; it’s introduced me to some fun stuff. Other channels make Shorts-specific content, which I really dislike.

Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#279

Post by draw_down »

Taek wrote: post #31

The root problem seems to be monopoly and fragmentation. When Ford was working on a car, people who wanted a faster horse could go to the horse store. There were reasonable alternatives to Ford's new method of transportation. But here, you can't recreate Spotify from 2015. You'll never get the rights to play the music for users. Same with Netflix, you'll never get the rights to show the movies. Same thing with Twitte…

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Re: But what if I want a faster horse?

#280

Post by WorldPeas »

jerf wrote: post #163

Sometimes you just have to do it yourself. I'm lucky enough to have had a CD collection before music streaming is a thing. Now my phone has enough capacity (since I still use phones that can take SD cards) to casually carry my entire collection around. I can play it in any order I want. I've even still got a streaming service I can do exploring on, since YouTube bundles one with Premium. I find it's a good thing I ha…

> I still use phones that use SD cards

I can't tell you how much I miss removable storage

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