578

Amazon's Prime Video will start serving ads on January 29 unless you pay extra (www.engadget.com)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by DeadNinja@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

78 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] bighatchester@lemmy.world 131 points 10 months ago

It's just cable tv all over again. Pay for 8 services to get a handful of shows you want to watch with the other 90% not being touched , now with ads creeping back in too .

[-] Gloria@sh.itjust.works 35 points 10 months ago

And yet, people will fall for it again and again

[-] snooggums@kbin.social 29 points 10 months ago

People that don't pirate won't have a choice.

[-] Yglorba@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 10 months ago

While I'm all for piracy (obviously), there's always a choice. Decades ago when cable was going through this, TV was at the center of culture and absolutely everyone watched it.

That's just not true anymore. Even aside from piracy, they have to compete for people's time and attention with videogames, social media, and all sorts of other internet-based entertainment. I suspect a lot of the executives making these decisions don't realize this - they think it's still 20 years ago when having some of your biggest shows on your channel guaranteed a big audience. If they squeeze too hard people will just spend their time with other sorts of entertainment.

I think that the publishing industry is a good comparison - look at where it is now. It still produces stuff but its cultural relevance is a pale shadow of what it once was and its margins are razor-thin because few people are going to pay a premium even for a bestseller. I think that that's the long-term fate of TV and movies, especially as the generation that was weened on them dies off and a new generation that watched much less growing up comes of age.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] ares35@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago

at least you can choose to pay for one streamer at a time, binge, switch, repeat.

(for now, anyway.. until they all quit the full season drops and/or start putting their catalog on a rotation like the 'disney vault' was to home video).

[-] snooggums@kbin.social 20 points 10 months ago

Or only offer annual contracts with early cancellation fees.

[-] ares35@kbin.social 13 points 10 months ago

they'd go a 'no refunds' policy first, which they'd totally get away with in the u.s.

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 10 months ago

Yeah, this is what is next. Another thing might be to split up one service into subcategories, like family, sci-fi, cinema or whatever and then charging for each individually. Obviously ending up more expensive if you get them all than what it is now.

[-] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

yarrr

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 89 points 10 months ago

They already fucking do.

They just pretend pre-roll trailers aren't ads.

[-] ted@sh.itjust.works 30 points 10 months ago

(Not trying to defend/excuse fking Amazon lol) They're easy to skip, though. I imagine these will not be skippable.

Also, people have paid to have Plex play them trailers for years, as it gives a cinematic experience.

It's not for me, an ad's an ad.

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

As far as I'm concerned skippable ads are the same thing as any other ad. I use auto play for a reason and it's because I don't want to fuck with the remote every episode.

[-] kumatomic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 10 months ago

If anything they are worse because they make you become aware enough of the ad to make the connection to physically push a button skip it. When HBO Minimum Quality added them I dropped it. When Paramount (We can't build a functional app) + and Disney Pus (Not a typo) added them I finally built a media server and rejoined the high seas after 20 years. I'll never go back.

[-] IndefiniteBen@leminal.space 16 points 10 months ago

When I had Plex play trailers, it was only ever before movies, with trailers for movies. Seeing it every time you watch an episode of a show is too much.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago

Wish the overly aggressive product placement were skippable, e.g. in Reacher:

I am down for hyper on-brand, clearly denoted, clever/humorous sponsored segments. StyroPyro was able to advertise a desk this way. So well integrated, honest, and relevant, I didn’t skip even though I don’t need a chemical-resistant adjustable standing desk.

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 11 points 10 months ago

Goddddddddd this and HBO. I'm already on your fuckin platform, show me the show. If you REALLY need to push whatever new BS cash grab you've got, put it in a new releases section.

[-] loki_d20@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Those can be skipped. New ones will probably be similar but not skippable.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] crsu@lemmy.world 44 points 10 months ago

Time to get a library card and read some books

[-] sebinspace@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

My library even has audiobooks, fuck you audible!

[-] crsu@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

I'll up the ante and say fuck you amazon you baldy piss jug lex luthor motherfucker

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] chitak166@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

You can stream pretty much anything for free here: https://fmoviesz.to/

Make sure you have Adnauseam or uBlock Origin installed.

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Cornpop@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago

This might be the last straw for me to cancel prime.

[-] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

Their timing is incredibly stupid. If they had rolled this out in like October, people would've stuck it out for prime shipping on Christmas purchases, and then most people would've forgotten about it because nobody launches prime video because it's fucking garbage. This timing is probably gonna push the most people possible to cancel because we already bought shit, we're looking to cut costs, and people will have a "new year new me" attitude to change habits. The next dumbass move will be to split prime video off to be a separate subscription from prime shipping, and then they'll raise prices on both until shutting down video when nobody wants it, and then they'll introduce a cheaper prime shipping tier (current prime price) that is a required subscription to order anything from amazon. They will make the product shittier and shittier until the entire brand collapses like the hollow shell of its former self that it is.

[-] RalphFurley@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

Canceled Prime and Kindle Unlimited, I'm off the Amazon pill

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

It was for me.

I am just going to pirate their content from now on.

[-] chitak166@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Honestly, everyone subscribing to streaming services gets exactly what they deserve.

You can stream anything for free here: https://fmoviesz.to/

Yet you still choose to waste your money so people richer than you can be even richer.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 34 points 10 months ago

Ya know, I barely shop on Amazon anymore, I should go ahead and cancel that...

[-] kubica@kbin.social 30 points 10 months ago

(or unless you stop paying at all)

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Vladkar@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The only Prime show I can even think of is The Boys, which is worth a month subscription once a year or so whenever a new season drops. With so much competition and so little content, you'd think these streaming services would start offering better incentives for long-term subscriptions. Instead, they keep raising rates. Baffling.

[-] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

Agreed. The concession for prime video being so shitty was that it was thrown in with prime shipping. People wanted fast, free delivery and what got them to pull the trigger on paying for that was a streaming service as a bonus. Now the shitty streaming service getting even shittier is making people wonder how much they really care about prime shipping. That's an uno reverse card if ever I've seen one.

[-] xpinchx@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago

There's the next one on the chopping block. It's kind of great and freeing cancelling all these subscriptions. Just one $5 payment per month to newsgroup ninja and i got everything. I've been holding on to prime and Netflix for convenience but honestly fuck them.

[-] mrfriki@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

Unless you pay extra… or unsubscribe.

[-] Karlos_Cantana@kbin.social 19 points 10 months ago

Is there even anything worth watching on Prime? I haven't even looked at it in years.

[-] hightrix@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago

The Expanse is one of the best sci-fi shows of all time. I highly recommend it.

[-] loki_d20@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Tastes aside...

Reacher.
Bosch.
Invincible.
Legend of Vox Machina.
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Upload.
The Expanse.
Vikings.
The Man in the High Castle.
Good Omens.
The Rings of Power.
Wheel of Time.
Hanna.
Outer Range.
The Outlaws.
Jack Ryan.
The Consultant.
The Kids in the Hall.

There's a lot there I don't watch. I know there's Fleabag but haven't watched it.

Currently I'm mostly watching Korean stuff on Netflix as most English releases are pretty meh compared to Invincible and Reacher on Prime.

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago

Not with ads there isn't.

[-] lobut@lemmy.ca 11 points 10 months ago

I quite like Reacher, most people like The Boys, I've heard good things about Good Omens.

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Things to do today:

Pay mortgage - done
Pay electric bill - done
Cancel Amazon - and done

[-] FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Get a VPN after canceling Amazon and download whatever you want. Mullvad is much cheaper than prime video.

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] IndefiniteBen@leminal.space 11 points 10 months ago

It already does this. I frequently get ads for other shows when starting a show on Prime video. I can barely accept the existing ads.

[-] ares35@kbin.social 9 points 10 months ago

so.... a $3 a month increase to prime.

one that will likely net amazon more profit when you don't give-in and pay the extra (ads being more profitable than subs, as netflix has realized).

[-] siravious@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Welp… this isn’t very strategically sound. Within the same service, they want to motivate me to consolidate shipping to Amazon delivery day or no rush. Guess who’s not using those methods anymore? Fuck you amazon, gonna cost you multiples of that $3 in shipping you greedy fucks.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] psychothumbs@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

This will cause me to torrent the Amazon shows I want to watch even though I'll likely still have access to an Amazon account to watch them on.

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

They effed up back in the day by not giving me a client for my phone or my roku. Wanted me to buy their hardware. I already have prime, couldn't even tell you two movies/shows that debuted on it.