• CarrotsHaveEars@lemmy.ml
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      49 minutes ago

      Disney is the ugliest offender. They demand their movies in non-standard encryption/decryption scheme that a browser does not support. We paid users can’t even watch in 480p without a Windows/Mac OS client.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Completely relatable. The prices keep going up with more and more restrictions while being enshittified with ads, tiered service, and paying twice to watch something - the streaming service fee and then a rental fee on top of that, for a movie that might be a decade or more old.

    Arr…fuck that.

    This is exactly why people fled cable. It was completely predictable the streaming services would enshittify just like cable.

    • Bazell@lemmy.zip
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      4 hours ago

      The root of a huge percentage of humanity problems can be described by 1 single word - greed.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    8 hours ago

    The new one is: This streaming service is owned by one the most evil people on the planet, and it comes included with my phone plan, but I’m just going to pirate everything anyway, just because Fuck Them.

  • slaacaa@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Wife and I live in Germany, but still have some streaming services from our home country in Eastern Europe.

    We started a Scream movie marathon on the weekend to catch up on the series, before we watch the newest one in cinema.

    We watched the first 2, and half of the 3rd on 28th February Saturday on one of the streaming platforms (SkyShowtime). The next morning (1st of March), the movies were not available anymore.

    We finished 3 and watched 4 on Amazon Prime, but within that we had to start a separate subscription for horror movies.

    5 was only available in German with no subtitles, so I had to search for another source. Ended up creating a Paramount+ account, downloaded the app, and watched the movie there.

    Then back to Amazon Prime, where finished the 6th Scream movie, before heading to the local cinema.

    This was the last straw, we decided to go back to sail the seas after a decade of streaming service subscription. Next weekend I will take some time to figure out the setup we need to make this happen safely, as a lot has changed since I left it behind.

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zip
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    13 hours ago

    “The content isn’t available in your region”

    You have the content. I want to watch the content. But nooooo, I have to turn my VPN on and pretend I’m somewhere else, and you know I’m not really there because I can’t magically materialize half-way across the world in 1 minute.
    So what’s the point? Just let me watch the damn content.

    I’m sure these region locks make a lot of sense for the suits when it comes to paying royalties and whatnot but as a consumer it’s infuriating. Archaic ass bullshit.

  • presoak@lazysoci.al
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    10 hours ago

    Or

    Here is everything the human race made so far. All the movies, music, books etc. Download whatever you want.

    Yes, pirate is better

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      10 hours ago

      Yes, pirate is better

      Went to visit the parents. Still got the official Pirate Bay sticker on my old bedroom door. Dat nostalgia.

  • MattR@feddit.org
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    13 hours ago

    In instances where there is no legal way to watch something piracy hurts nobody as the company would not have made money from me anyway. It doesn’t even hurt the artists, the refusal of the distributer to offer content worldwide is the real scandal that everyone in the creative industry should tackle.

    • afromustache@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I mean I’d say it helps the artists as they unironically get exposure from people they otherwise wouldn’t have.

  • archonet@lemy.lol
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    19 hours ago

    the fact that Gabe said “piracy is a service problem” fifteen fucking years ago, and none of these fuckwits in content distribution have learned this at all is a source of continuous astonishment to me.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      The recording industry did.

      Who pirates music anymore. Everyone has one of the streaming services for it, because they all have functionally all of the music. There’s no exclusive releases on one platform or another.

      Well, maybe there is, I haven’t looked in a while. Maybe they’re enshitifying that too.

      Somehow the TV/movie shit heads can’t figure the same thing out.

      • Everyone has one of the streaming services

        Yeah, I use Navidrome server. You can even host it on your phone in Termux (assumes Android). And I mean, in the easiest damn way possible.
        apt install navidrome, and run navidrome. Though I recommend checking out the config options.
        At least the Address option, Android has no firewall.

      • archonet@lemy.lol
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        47 minutes ago

        I assure you, the enshittification of music streaming services is already here. Even before Spotify went completely to shit there were some things that just couldn’t be found on the platform, and others still that I used to listen to suddenly becoming unavailable.

        I, and a lot of other people, pirate music now because (among other reasons) having a hard drive full of MP3s or FLACs is something no corporation can arbitrarily decide to take away from you at any time.

    • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Yeah, I agree it still is. Like I am not going to subscribe for $10+ a month for a single show on a single streaming service. I need at least 3 for about $6 for it to even seem reasonable at a minimum. Like if the more streaming services were more like Movies Anywhere, I would love that. Like this service works better for me, I will give them my money type shit.

    • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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      18 hours ago

      I havent pirated a single game since i installed steam 20 years ago

      There was a short period of time where netflix was good enough so i didnt pirate movies or tv shows either

      It’s 100% a service problem

      • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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        18 hours ago

        Same story here.

        Loved Netflix at first. I used to pirate a lot of tb shows and movies and then completely stopped once Netflix became decent.

        Then they turned to shit and I’m back to pirating.

        But not only that, I’m actually PAYING to pirate content because its a service that just combines all content from Netflix, Disney, apple, etc into one singular app that you can stream from any android device with the app.

        It can have pretty shit quality sometimes, but at least I can watch it.

        I will pay for shit if it’s easy access.

        Fuck Netflix, Amazon, apple, Disney, etc. greedy fucks.

        • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works
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          12 hours ago

          The funny thing is, i actually have legit access to some paid streaming services. But because i refuse to download their app or connect my tv to the internet, i’m limited to 720p in the browser…

          So i just pirate the shit anyway

          • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Not OP but I use IPTV. Roughly $150 for 6 months. I have over 9000 live channels and access to roughly 52000 movies, including movies that hit theatres maybe a couple weeks later.

      • brsrklf@jlai.lu
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        13 hours ago

        The only games I pirate are those that either :

        _ are completely abandoned by their publishers and literally unavailable through other means

        _ are stuff I already bought long ago and this is the most convenient way to get them to run (I have occasionally bought games again if it was cheap and convenient)

        _ have turned to such shitty business models I don’t want to give a cent to the publishers (and I almost don’t even do that one anymore since usually they’ve found a dozen more ways to turn the game to shit anyway).

        So yeah. Totally agree with the service problem.

        • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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          13 hours ago

          There is a lot of SEGA product that I would buy, if it was DRM-free. Shin Megami Tensei, Sonic Origins, and more. I don’t let DRM and rootkits onto my PC, so I either pirate that stuff or just engage with someone else’s product. Either way, SEGA has lost hundreds of dollars.

      • imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 hours ago

        Same for me with Steam. I used to pirate everything gaming and only once I got Steam and a steady job, pirating stopped.

        As for media, nop. Pirating never really stopped. When using Netflix is much more annoying than using myflixerz.to, you wont be coming back to pay for a service that is fundamentally crap.

      • archonet@lemy.lol
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        The last game I pirated was Driver: San Francisco a couple years ago, because you couldn’t (still can’t? maybe?) buy it anywhere except for like, second-hand physical media, and I am not going through that hassle. I can’t even remember the game I last pirated before that (Probably Sims 4, because fuck EA and fuck that laundry list of DLC – but I can’t be sure).

        Music, movies, and TV shows, though? Oh yeah, baby, that’s a weekly activity now. Netflix I dumped many years ago when the fracturing of content to twenty different streaming services happened, and Spotify I dumped just this last year for a few different reasons (the CEO donating to AI weapons programs, introducing a fuckass AI DJ, ICE ads, getting fed up with songs I either can’t find or can find but aren’t available in my region, or could listen to and enjoyed and then having them suddenly become unavailable, etc…)

        I’m sure, someday, Steam will enshittify. Probably shortly after Gabe dies – and it will be a dark day for me and millions of gamers worldwide. But for now, I’m more than happy to let Gabe empty my wallet with sales and convenience, because the gettin’s been good for a couple decades and will likely remain so for another couple. I can’t say the same for music, movies, and TV; I don’t know if I’ll ever end up paying for them again unless the distributors involved sort their shit out.

        • PatrickYaa@feddit.org
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          15 hours ago

          At least, Steam has some pretty good followers should they enshittify. Gog, humblebundle and epic are all poised to take over should steam shit the bed.

          They aren’t quite there yet, but at least you don’t need a subscription for any of them and can just add them to a unifying launcher like heroic etc.

          • brsrklf@jlai.lu
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            13 hours ago

            I get stuff on Gog sometimes. They do some things right (no need for a client, no DRM stance, good compatibility support, chasing down lost rights for old games).

            But unfortunately they can never get more than scraps from the big publishers because those will never agree to release their newer games without DRM.

            And let’s be clear, I wouldn’t want them to go back on this, but that will make it hard for them to compete.

            Interestingly, at the beginning everything on Humble was offering DRM-free options too. And then after a while they gave us some bullshit about their policy not being “DRM-free” but “DRM-agnostic”, which means, publisher can choose whether to use no DRM, or DRMs. Such a strong policy, thank you Humble.

          • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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            13 hours ago

            I think a bronze lining to WW3 or a 2nd American Civil War, is that DRM-free and telemetry-free media would become very popular. Troops need their entertainment without comms, and civvies might have constant internet shortages. Thus, the markets would have to adapt to that reality.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      18 hours ago

      In the grand scheme of things, they don’t really care about piracy.

      Yes, they could greatly reduce piracy by making their service affordable, available, and convenient … but they would lose more profits from doing that than they currently do from piracy. They know enshittifying their service will result in increased piracy … but they also know that it will result in extracting increased money from the people who do pay. And, overall, their profits are still higher despite the higher piracy levels.

      (Heck, in some ways piracy has been shown to be overall beneficial. To some degree, it’s free advertising, helping media spread through word of mouth. And maybe while they missed out on a media sale or subscription, they still end up making money from that pirate with a merchandise sale or something.)

    • Bazell@lemmy.zip
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      4 hours ago

      I either pay a service for not having ads or I do not pay it and watch them for free on other platforms in exchange for the content.

  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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    15 hours ago

    Okay I gotta disagree partially on the third panel. I’d much rather have the option of purchasing individual movies or shows than having a subscription. Like, imagine we had Steam but instead of games, it was shows and movies? That’d be great. Imagine the sales! PatientWatchers amirite?

    Unfortunately it’s rarely possible to actually purchase, and definitely not without any DRM. So the third panel should really say “This show is not available for purchase” or only mention renting or specify that it’s with loads of DRM or whatever.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      “purchasing” media you mean.

      Unless they let you download the file without DRM, you’re just renting the video with extra steps. We have seen many times that “purchased” videos from digital vendors gets revoked and the “purchase” is gone.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Except after you rent/buy the video, you can only watch it as long as you pay for the subscription service you bought it from.

      • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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        13 hours ago

        That’s not what buying means or at least not the “buying” I am talking about. I mean I give some amount of money and I receive a download of the purchased material, free of DRM. There is no subscription involved. Like Steam (with no DRM) or GoG, but for movies and shows instead of games.

        • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          Music went through this many years ago.

          iTunes would have drm’d music files. Amazon too, I think.

          Then at some point it all became sane and I could buy an MP3 and download it.

      • imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        12 hours ago

        If it is anything like Steam, then you keep this media available to redownload as long as you wan. Same as Steam games that got delisted are still downloadable and playable.

        • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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          9 hours ago

          Most streaming services are nothing like Steam. “Your” stuff can disappear with no notice and no ability to watch it even if you have it “downloaded” due to layers of DRM.

    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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      13 hours ago

      I too, want to own my digital stuff. My physical shelves can be better used as soda racks and storing food.