Comment on Netflix Windows app is set to remove its downloads feature, while introducing ads
OpenStars@discuss.online 5 months ago
“While downloads will no longer be supported, you can continue to watch TV shows and movies offline on a supported mobile device,” the Netflix document says
So essentially Windows devices are no longer “supported” wrt this particular feature.
It essentially means the Windows app will be little more than a wrapper for the Netflix website.
It’s possible that the move means Netflix can save some money on licensing, which may cost extra if downloads are included – enabling users to take shows and movies around with them and watch them without an internet connection.
So once again everything devolves down to licensing - i.e. it sounds like they were pressured into this hard choice to leave those users in the cold, which they did. Probably bc the user base of Windows phones is so tiny?
Though that is one of the main advantages of Netflix these days, as opposed to e.g. piracy.
TLDR: Ultimately it is yet more enshittification, and while due to licensing rather than Netflix, still it is Netflix users (on Windows phones) who will bear the burden.
My advice would be to disable automatic updates and coast for a long while on the current app version, though that can be easier said than done due to multiple locations of automatic update settings. I have zero experience ever with Windows phones, but good luck if you want to try it!:-|
If I had to guess, it might be because the people that pirate Netflix shows may be doing it from the Windows app using the download feature. After all, you have full access to the file system on Windows.
Meanwhile, iPhones have always been locked down to prevent the user from accessing the file system, and Android in the last couple versions has locked its file system down too, while Google continues to become increasingly fierce in trying to detect and block anybody with a rooted device.
Android in the last couple versions has locked its file system down too
Really!? I’m a bit behind, but somehow this surprises me. I mean, not the intention, bc Google’s motto these days is “definitely be evil”, but that it had gotten this far this fast.
Anyway at a guess all you’d have to do is download whatever you want, then root, profit, then turn off root and it wouldn’t even know? Plus the tons of ways that you can do things without even needing root access these days, and I haven’t even mentioned yet a custom ROM. And ofc piracy, where someone else obtains the video files, e.g. ripping from a physical medium. So they will most definitely lose that flight. And in the meantime, the most honest customers are the ones who suffer.
Overall I just chalked this up to: anyone who uses Windows phones (or iOS) basically is at the mercy of profit-seeking behaviors. You will own nothing, and like it - or else!:-(
Thanks for sharing!
Oh wow, so much going on there.
What if a malicious app decides to place child pornography or a crypto mining whatever onto your device - but since its space is “private”, can unethical people now legally do that, and simply blame that Google wouldn’t let them see into the space, hence they “did not know that it was there”? This would seem to open the door to so very many problematic issues…
On the other hand this seems related solely to “external” storage - I haven’t used external storage on an Android for… actually I’ve never used it iirc. For this Netflix case, would they disallow downloading onto your device unless you have an external SIM? Also, if you used external storage, then how da fuq could they control you popping that external storage into some other device entirely, like a rooted device with a custom ROM!? It would have made so much more sense for internal storage… or possibly I am missing something there.
In any case, that sucks that Google seems more and more to be buying into the “walled garden” philosophy - you know, “for your convenience”, aka selling YOU as the product to the investor class.:-(
A quick search seems to suggest there is no known way around this, except to use an older Android OS:-(. I would hope that this would absolutely wake people up to realize why Google cannot be trusted - as if what happened to searching wasn’t enough on its own.
while Google continues to become increasingly fierce in trying to detect and block anybody with a rooted device
While that’s true, I don’t think that anyone is able to tell at this time whether such efforts will ever become effective. Atm, we have things like GApps, so this is a non-issue.
Infuse let’s you download shows off your Jellyfin server and watch offline
Let’s not pretend that an “average” mobile user is capable of doing that?
Which is why we need to help one another to get there:-).
If we’re talking about mobile, the Jellyfin app lets you download to the device already.
If we’re talking about laptops, as far as I’m aware, the Jellyfin desktop app doesn’t have a download feature.
Is Windows mobile still a thing? I thought they meant the app in the windows store ( desktop/laptop).
Last time I saw somebody use a windows phone was 10 years afk :/
Looks like the last release was 2020, so yeah they almost certainly meant laptops.
Chronographs@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
If there’s still downloads available on mobile it’s probably not licensing. Iirc the downloads were only available in shit quality anyways so as always, pirating is a better experience.
deweydecibel@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Only if the people that pirate the shows are able to obtain those higher quality downloads.
As these platforms become increasingly hostile to users, they’re going to be well aware of the subsequent increase in piracy, and implement even more methods of preventing their content from being pirated.
It will always be impossible to stop piracy completely, but you can make it increasingly difficult to obtain best quality.
Chronographs@lemmy.zip 5 months ago
Sure in theory but for all their posturing and obnoxious DRM methods it hasn’t seemed to work at all.
OpenStars@discuss.online 5 months ago
I am not certain I know what you mean.
The fact that downloading is still available on Windows is purely bc the update hasn’t rolled out yet.
They think (unproven) that this radical change might be due to the cheaper licensing options if they remove the ability to download. A cost-benefit analysis where Windows users will either take it and like it or else who cares about Windows mobile users anyway if they leave. Either way, a victory for licensing companies, or they’ll spin it that way regardless.
My worry is that it will embolden them to go still yet further, making it harder on both pirates and paying customers just bc they can get away with doing so.:-(
ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works 5 months ago
They’re talking about the fact that Netflix isn’t removing the feature from their Android/iOS apps
QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 5 months ago
This is part of why I like AppleTV+ so much. I watched two episodes of Slow Horses in 1080p HDR on my iPhone while in an airplane. It was fantastic.