Paying 0.99 per song was how a better user experience? Music piracy was pretty big till Spotify. No service was even close before.
Comment on Amazon Prime Video is able to remove a video from your library after purchase.
fubo@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Remember, streaming only has a business model as long as it has a better user experience than piracy.
dansity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
FlounderBasket@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Being able to easily purchase a single song from a reputable source in the comfort of your home instead of going out to physically buy an entire album and then rip it to your computer was a better user experience, yes. Most users are technologically illiterate, and trying to pirate stuff just lead to them getting viruses.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 8 months ago
Because you were guaranteed that what you were downloading was what it said it was, and was high quality, and would have the correct tagging and album art and all of that.
It’s been shown repeatedly that a large part of piracy isn’t about cost, it’s about convenience. It was easier to pay $0.99 and get what you wanted when you wanted it, than download 8 files off of Napster and hope that one of them was actually a decent bitrate and was the song the title said it was.
Back when eMule was a thing, it was super common to spend an entire day downloading a 700MB video file at 5kb/s, only for it to be Fight Club instead of whatever you thought you were downloading. It’s the same thing with music.
AliasWyvernspur@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s been shown repeatedly that a large part of piracy isn’t about cost, it’s about convenience. It was easier to pay $0.99 and get what you wanted when you wanted it, than download 8 files off of Napster and hope that one of them was actually a decent bitrate and was the song the title said it was.
“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.”
-Gabe Newell
AbidanYre@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Or, with Napster, the person you’re downloading from signs off when you’re 40% done with the download.
fubo@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Kazaa/Gnutella era: it says porn on the filename, but there’s no previews and it turns out to be CSAM. Thanks for the trauma, now I’m gonna run
shred…
dansity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Music piracy was big till spotify apprared. iTunes had a limited selection, music remixes, small band stuff were not available. iTunes only had what Sony and some other music distributors supplied. I understand what you are saying but still, piracy was there and iTunes was not primary source. Spotify came and now music piracy is basically limited to high quality audio albums which is a niche market.
MamboGator@lemmy.world 8 months ago
On top of what’s already been said about technological literacy and security, I’d like to add that I WANT to support the artists who make things I like but the companies selling their works tend to ruin the experience by trying to squeeze every dime out of you.
For the last decade or so, digital storefronts have provided a pretty good experience, but it’s starting to get a lot worse as the old companies go public and become beholden to shareholders, or as new companies enter the arena and split up what was once available all in one place.
AnonTwo@kbin.social 8 months ago
If you have the local MP3 file you can do just about anything you want with it. Use it in just about any device. Transfer it anywhere. And never lose it.
I have Mp3s that are over 20-30 years old and have never needed to get them again.
metaStatic@kbin.social 8 months ago
shitty ad-ridden torrent site
let me introduce you to usenet trackers
Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
That was my first thought too. A seedbox, Sonarr & Radarr and a Usenet site and I’ve got everything I need for $15/month.
orwellianlocksmith@lemmy.world 8 months ago
What is seedbix, sonarr &radarr?
Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
A seedbox is access to a server that someone else runs, and they typically have a policy of not asking too many questions, not keeping too many logs, and offer assistance in keeping things secure. It can be used for any number of things. I use mine to host bit torrent files and to run applications such as Sonarr & Radarr. These are open source apps that manage TV shows and movies.
MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 8 months ago
Meanwhile *arr got off and Netflix & co. are ad-ridden too.
Cyv_@kbin.social 8 months ago
I don't even have to torrent, I have like 3 sites I can just go to, search for content on, and stream video from like a shittier netflix. Adblock keeps them relatively sane, and I sometimes have to try different server sources, but otherwise it works fine.
Weslee@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I cancelled Netflix and prime and went back to piracy a few months ago, it’s been a nice blast from the past
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
In addition to piracy, I’ve also been checking out DVDs from my local library. It’s kinda fun.
Surprised myself because I half expected I’d miss the convenience of Netflix, but I haven’t missed it even a little.
“Was I a good streaming platform?”
“No.”
Peaty@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
The benefit of the library DVD is it takes away the “What will we watch tonight?” conversation. You’re going to watch the DVD.
AliasWyvernspur@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It just switches the question to the library: “What will we borrow tonight?”
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Checking one out is fun, too. It feels like an event vs. just watching anything out of boredom
Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
Shows are harder to come by though
Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
You can also buy used DVDs. Just got a stack of studio Gibili movies for a fraction of the price they cost when they were new. Still haven’t watched all of them, but some I have watched more than once.
epyon22@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
It was nice when you could actually watch almost everything on it. Once everyone else started taking peices of the pie it just feels like cable with more hoops now
DoomsdaySprocket@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Every time I open a streaming service now, the things I want to watch are locked into an extra subscription. I generally end up just walking away rather than watching anything, and when I do dig around and find some thing else that is available on “my tier,” it absolutely wasn’t worth it.
Forget even piracy, I’m just not watching anything anymore. When streaming makes my chore list look more attractive, they’ve definitely fucked up.
freeman@lemmy.pub 8 months ago
The only reason I keep Netflix is kids.
We don’t really watch it otherwise.
Even my in-laws are now pirates using hacked amazon fire sticks that are being hawked around their retirement community.
My mother in law is like “I get every streaming service and channel for 1 dollar a day, isn’t that great”.
I’m all “if it’s simple and works for you yeah, absolutely. “
proudblond@lemmy.world 8 months ago
We’re about to cancel Netflix despite my kids’ protests and start rotating. My husband just wanted to watch the new Castlevania and then we’re cutting and running — for a while at least. It’ll end up on the rotation again at some point.
If streaming services ever make us sign up for more than a month at a time, we’ll be hard-pressed to keep doing it the “right” way.
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I have a mini PC running Linux that connects to my TV via hdmi so we can watch anything!
electrogamerman@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I would change that to:
“Was I a good streaming platform?”
“Yes, during your first year. Then all companies went greedy monkey savage and ruined it”
seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
The thing that sucks is that a lot of new stuff isn’t on physical media at all.
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I’m surprised what is, though. One of the movies I checked out was Knives Out.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It can be: Step #1: download it (🏴☠️) Step #2: burn it Step #3: enjoy owning a more lasting copy for almost free
Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m about ready to do the same.
Weslee@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I bought a raspberry pi, a SATA SSD and usb adaptor, and installed Plex now I’m the new netflix for my family, they send me movies and shows they want to watch and I put them on there, then they connect to my server and watch
It’s been really good
b3an@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Netflix will also be raising prices soon. Again.
Malfeasant@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Netflix recently stopped shipping discs, that was all I kept them around for anymore…
MTLion3@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I’m just always spooked by viruses and shit.
seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org 8 months ago
You can’t get a virus from a video or music file. Viruses have to be executable.
Weslee@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Use yts.mx, if you use any other site, try checking comments first if they have them, if not you can use torrent file viewer to check the download is actually a video file before downloading
Lastly you could try anti virus, but don’t rely on it to do your job for you, they can catch most but not always all viruses