The moment each show got a pre-reel for another Amazon show this was clearly the path they where taking.
Already cancelled a good 6 months ago.
Amazon Prime Video will start showing ads on January 29th unless you pay extra for ad-free
Submitted 10 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/26/24015595/amazon-prime-video-ads-coming-january-29
Comments
Tosti@feddit.nl 10 months ago
sik0fewl@kbin.social 10 months ago
Yeah, Prime Video already has commercials.
nicetriangle@kbin.social 10 months ago
Yeah I thought that was a pretty obvious attempt to ease people into it. So this news doesn't come as a shock. If anything I'm surprised it took this long.
ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com 10 months ago
“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership,”
The double-speak is relatively subtle, but it’s always interesting to see how much work they put into gaslighting their customers:
- “No action is required from you…” - yes, Amazon hopes we do nothing, but this is double-speak because Amazon unilaterally changed the assumptions underlying agreement, so “no action” is acquiescence to a materially worse reality.
- “…there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership” - yes, because Amazon is now selling our time and attention, but this is double-speak because they are still charging extra even if not in dollars.
trafficnab@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
The enshittification will continue until profit margins improve
geekworking@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Enshitification won’t stop until the frogs realize that they are being boiled to death and jump out of the pot.
cybersandwich@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Or until we get back to 0% interest rates that these companies could get for the past 10 years. The free money dried up!
Plopp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The enshittification will continue until the demand for profit is removed*
Empricorn@feddit.nl 10 months ago
until profit margins improve
Lol
What is this mythical profit margin/amount that companies would be willing to accept? There is no limit to corporate greed…
seth@lemmy.world 10 months ago
When they announced this, it was the last straw for me with Amazon that caused me to finally cancel Prime, which I’ve paid for annually since it was first offered. Things I’ve been complacently shrugging off until now:
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their delivery misses/delays have gotten consistently worse over the past year and a half
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they screwed up my combined music library when they changed Amazon Music, which was working great before the change
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Audible keeps pushing up-sale subscriptions I don’t want, and is inconsistently working with Android Auto now (but was fine until about a year ago)
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Prime Video ads and up-sale “channels”
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book editions (especially textbook editions): they limit the ability to re-sell old editions of textbooks when newer editions are currently in print. Many classes specify old editions because that’s what the curricula and syllabi have built around and the profs can take responsibility for validating the content. This is a serious issue with the number of errors that manage to get past editors for math and science texts, and they publish new editions for cash grabs when no actual new or useful information has been added.
They really don’t have to do much to keep me complacent tbh - just stop breaking things that already work(ish). Find whatever the deliverable requirements were in like 2015 and just return to those.
Three_word_reply@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I am in the exact same boat. The removal of “free” rotating streaming video content and limiting it to only Amazon funded shows with “free with prime” videos being hosted by 3rd party apps (fuck off, freevee) was bad enough but to start showing ads was the final straw
I cancelled my prime today. $150/yr. I can wait a few extra days for the things I need to order
mercator_rejection@programming.dev 10 months ago
I went through this a couple years ago. Decided Jeff Bezos does not need any more money, cancelled prime. Funny this was that most things ship the same as always, get them in like 2 or 3 days.
In fact, most other online retailers offer similar free 2 day shipping to stay competitive and I usually find stuff of Amazon first.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Same.
Should have done it sooner.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I can wait a few extra days for the things I need to order
Amazon’s already provided that. Their delivery went from stellar to shit.
RufusFirefly@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I don’t stream much but being disabled, I can’t get to the store so I do order stuff from Amazon. What I’ve seen in the last few years is an influx of Chinese sellers with tons and tons of garbage and all of the reviews are completely worthless, of course.
Thwompthwomp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This has been my main observation with Amazon over the past few years. It’s just cheap knockoffs that have gamed the system. It’s frustrating to shop there and a dice roll whenever you order something.
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kromem@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I’m getting really tired of all this enshitification.
TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Now corporations start with that bulshit of “oh, that model wasn’t sustainable actually” even though it worked perfectly fine for the last decade and they still get record profits year after year. They keep ripping everything from under us, this gotta stop.
TipRing@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s not enough to make money, they have to make all the money. They have a requirement for perpetual growth.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The only reason I ever had Prime was free shipping, then I realized as soon as I bundled my orders to be over a certain dollar figure I STILL got free shipping, I kicked Prime to the curb.
villainy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
For me it was the “Amazon Day” shipping that bundles up a week’s worth of separate orders into one shipping day. Convenient sure but now I’m not getting 2-day shipping… so what am I paying for again? I’ll just bundle up the orders and shipping my damn self.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah, if I need something next day, I’ll go buy it today. :)
numberfour002@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I cancelled Amazon Prime awhile ago when the customer service took a nose dive and I realized too many of the 3rd party vendors were using Amazon as their defective products outlet.
But I actively and permanently skipped out on an Amazon Prime subscription because they refused to give me a pro-rated refund on the remaining 8-9 months of service after I cancelled. They literally told me that they start with the pro-rated amount, then subtract out the cost of all the “free” movie/show/music rentals as well as all the “free” shipping on orders during the time you’ve had prime, and you only get whatever remains (if anything). Within the first 3 -4 months, I had already accrued enough “free” $5.99 shipping and $3 - $4 rentals that it exceeded the $100 or whatever cost of a prime membership was back in those days, so I got no refund. Bunch of crooks.
No surprise, I’m completely on board with folks kicking Prime to the curb.
braxy29@lemmy.world 10 months ago
wow, wtf. what a scam.
aniki@lemm.ee 10 months ago
You can even get a free week of prime for 2 dollars by just not giving-in which you can then immediately cancel and get ovre and over and over and over again.
morph3ous@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Amazon has been progressively getting worse and worse. I was not a member of Prime for the video. It was a nice perk.
The combination of it Amazon making it hard to search for things to buy, the huge amount of low quality crap for sale with confusing descriptions, and this most recent change of putting in place ads without paying more has led me to cancel my subscription.
They have taken the enshittification too far. Good bye Amazon. Hello Home Depot, Target, et al.
353247532631@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sadly, both Home Depot and Target have “marketplaced” their online stores as well, so you have to sort through the garbage just like Amazon.
Chetzemoka@startrek.website 10 months ago
Select the “available for local pickup” option to weed out all the trash. Even if you’re buying to be shipped.
KISSmyOS@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I’ve pretty much stopped buying stuff online, except from small brick-and-mortar stores who have their own independent online store.
Got_Bent@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I did a review on Amazon yesterday that said I was shocked to receive a quality product because everything on modem Amazon is post war recycled tin toy quality.
They have not approved my review.
mlg@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s like a second golden age of internet piracy, and it’s happening because streaming over saturated itself just like cable lmao
Ultragramps@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
[The cancelled Coyote vs ACME movie](npr.org/…/why-warner-bros-has-shelved-another-fin… might only be available on the high seas, matey. It be my current white whale, yarr.
GluWu@lemm.ee 10 months ago
And it’s better than it ever was. I’ve downloaded more in the last year than I have everything in total from pre2020. I’m stacking 4tb external drives like cards. Back on TPB, a tb was a shit load of data.
chitak166@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The mods removed my comment with a link to a great free streaming site with the reason “don’t link directly to pirated content.”
I don’t see that in the rules, so I guess it’s one of those “mystery” rules they can just make up on the spot.
Anyways, you can find free streaming sites here: rentry.co/megathread-movies-and-tv#streaming
I recommend using fmovies. Make sure you have Adnauseam or uBlock Origin installed.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I don’t see that in the rules
Then you didn’t look too closely. !technology@lemmy.world’s first rule is to follow the lemmy.world rules and links to the mastodon.world rules page. The first server rule there is “No illegal content.”
WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Chitak is Swedish - no laws broken.
UsedAndDenied@lemmy.today 10 months ago
Nobody wants a cease and desist from the MPAA or RIAA. Least of all Lemmy admins with no money for lawyers.
_number8_@lemmy.world 10 months ago
streaming has absolutely no future. if they keep pulling shit like this it’s going to decline even faster. i suppose it’s more about sucking off advertisers than it is pleasing customers, too…if you’re going to fail anyway why can’t you at least make a positive difference in the world?
HiddenLychee@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Are their profits going down?
wagoner@infosec.pub 10 months ago
It will be like the Netflix exodus, the reddit exodus, etc. They’ll make more money. The best you can do is be true to yourself and not participate if you don’t want to.
whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 10 months ago
streaming has absolutely no future.
Streaming isn’t going anywhere, and if anything will likely continue to grow for as cable dies off. It’s just going to consolidate and get shittier (ads) as basically things move back to a model more cable-like. Piracy will probably ramp back to like levels for music in the early 2000’s, but it will remain a niche. Amazon specifically will see blowback for this, but it’s unlikely to move many off of Prime since it’s sort of a tertiary benefit to having a Prime membership, and even if it’s all you got for your Prime membership, it’s still one of the cheapest streaming services.
Zevlen@lemm.ee 10 months ago
We need open source streaming or something… Ya kno?
Ppl should make their own YouTube Amazon / Google companies or else we shall all perish do to advertisements
t0m5k1@lemmy.world 10 months ago
oooh yay more content to collect from torrents. Bye Bye Prime.
cybermass@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
catbaba@lemmus.org 10 months ago
Pirate services are cheaper and have better apps
F_Haxhausen@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Pirate “services”?
Ignisnex@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Servarr Suite. Netflix interface, piracy backend. Operates over Usenet. Can handle movies, tv, music and ebooks. I’ve been told there are viable workarounds for televised sports, specifically F1.
Suavevillain@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah, streaming services are losing the plot. I’m good lol.
ikidd@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I have Prime and have never actually used it. I still watch Amazon shows, but I’ll be fucked if I use their shit interface or expose myself to their datamining to do it. Let alone watch fucking ads.
Piracy is a UX issue.
UselesslyBrisk@infosec.pub 10 months ago
I tried to use their UX. Its bad. And the worst is I fell asleep watching something like Project Bluebook once. And the Prime Reccomendations streamed a SHITLOAD of alien conspiracy content while i slept. It ruined the recs etc. And you cant delete the primary account profile…only the sub-profiles.
Frankly i only go on it to see what I should maybe load into Sonarr/Radarr at this point. fuck em.
CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.world 10 months ago
That’s actually kind of hilarious
intensely_human@lemm.ee 10 months ago
So you absorbed a bunch of alien conspiracy stuff while you were sleeping?
ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I was watching Yellowstone on Prime back in 2021, before they moved it to a premium tier, and the audio was always out of sync when using Prime Video, so I had to adjust the audio sync latency, and remember to switch it back when watching other content.
After a while, I gave up and just watched it on my Plex server instead. I could also use the Watch Together feature to watch it synchronously with friends, a feature not supported by Prime Video.
In my case, the piracy (if you call it that, when I was at the time a Prime member) was absolutely a UX issue, not a price issue.
Dentarthurdent@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Thanks for reminding me to cancel my prime.
Smacks@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Amazon has turned to utter shit these days. They’ve been requiring you to show your ID to get a refund. Getting asked by some Indian dude who I can barely understand a picture of my government issued ID sure doesn’t feel comforting.
Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Jellyfin
evatronic@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I’ve got the next week off, migrating from Plex to Jellyfin is on my todo list, but I really like the pipeline I have set up now for … my sailing habit. arrr
notannpc@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Guess I’ll just start downloading that content too because I’m not paying you more for the same shit. I’d get rid of it altogether if it wasn’t just included as part of prime in general.
ForeGone@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Remember the times when we paid for such a service to get rid of ads? By now I cancelled my prime membership.
profdc9@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If there are commercials, why should someone need an Amazon Prime membership at all? It becomes just like broadcast TV then, and they should just allow anyone to watch to maximize revenue. They have all this AWS infrastructure to deliver video, why not maximize the use of it?
BromSwolligans@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Nice to know I can finally cancel Prime though. The entire value proposition has now gone. Free shipping is hugely conditional (and prices are artificially jacked to cover it in the first place), and now they want to put the worst thing on the internet (ads) into the only component of Prime I still sorta kinda use sometimes. I’d rather keep the $140 a year or whatever.
sailingbythelee@lemmy.world 10 months ago
What a bunch of cunts. FFS, it is never enough. Their return policy sucks now, too. It used to be that if Amazon fucked up your order, they’d refund you and you could keep the product. It made ordering online a relatively risk-free proposition. Now, they won’t refund you until you ship it back, even if it is their fuck up, which really kills the convenience factor. Plus, you get to over-pay for most things. What’s not to love?
madcaesar@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I wish delivery / video was separate because I’d cancel immediately.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Oh look. Another reason for piracy.
BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Cancelled! Bye!
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 10 months ago
fuck this company, the only thing i bought on amazon was filament for.my 3d-printers. now that i zeroed in on a brand, i can just buy it at their online store. goodbye amazon.
paraphrand@lemmy.world 10 months ago
You guys should have the same reaction to all bad software news. It would be consistent.
GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
I don’t use Amazon much anymore anyway, because the products are overwhelmed with cheap, poor quality trash you couldn’t peddle on alibaba and completely worthless, largely faked reviews and ratings. I order once or twice a year some replacement cable or adapter I can’t find anywhere else reasonably quick, but that’s pretty much it, so canceling over this ad bullshit doesn’t really hurt me much.
Next on the list is my Netflix sub, which I largely use just for oldtrek reruns as second screen background noise while I use my computer. I could probably, uh, procure those shows fairly easy, or splurge on a collectors edition and would still save money.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yo ho yo ho.
I don’t understanding how people paying for prime can stand that crappy prime video UI anyway.
echo64@lemmy.world 10 months ago
rizoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
I’m deep into the seven seas but I still use prime because a family member pays for it. Its a decent enough ui and has some live stuff I can throw on to keep kids entertained. However, I’ve already added the shows I watch on prime to my jellyfin server just because this change is going to make me not want to use it anymore.
LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yep. I don’t consider it as a valuable streaming platform. If they removed it from the general prime I would not buy it separately.
fluckx@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Still a better UI than Disney+ too
pineapplelover@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I can understand 1 and 2, although, for 3, even though, most of my (nontechie) friends don’t know how to pirate, they know how to look up grey streaming sites like 123movies, sflix, fmovies, etc
tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I’m a shameless sailor but my wife has it for the free shipping.
Their menus are ass but I really like the actual player ui. Love pausing and seeing who is in the scene.
CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I can’t agree with #1. The interface is that of Amazon’s regular storefront and it often mixes paid media in with the free stuff or has stupid stuff like seasons 2, 4, & 6 being free while 1, 3, & 5 are paid. Maybe it’s different in the TV apps, but the browser version is atrocious.
ArchAengelus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 months ago
The player interface is excellent. Being able to see who the actors are in each scene is one of my favorite UI features.
I agree that finding a thing you want to watch is meh at best. Especially because they mix in rentals, purchasable content, and prime content all in the home interface window.
That said, yo ho matey.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yes, X-ray is a fantastic feature. I have to give them that. The rest of it is trash.
JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They also have a ton of subtitles and audio options. Like a shit ton.
Meanwhile Netflix most times doesn’t even have subtitles in one or more of the official languages where I live. And for sure they could have more, considering where they operate, they just choose not to.
However prime UI sucks for splitting shows between seasons so they get recommended multiple times. It just makes no sense
hesdeadjim@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Poster might be describing how fucking awful Prime arranges shit on a Fire stick. Search taking you to specific episodes rather than to the show. Seasons split up into mini seasons 201, 202, 203, 204. Kids shows are the worst, sometimes the seasons are split into different show listings.
It’s truly impressive how a huge corporation can build the shittiest UI of them all.
aard@kyu.de 10 months ago
When I still was paying for prime (cancelled it last price increase) I was pirating any prime videos as that was easier than dealing with the shitty prime video UI.
Jackthelad@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Not to mention the shockingly bad picture quality.
The 4k stuff isn’t terrible, but anything that’s in HD is bloody awful.
Windshear@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
I originally started paying for prime for the free shipping. Prime video is a perk as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t re-evaluated it in a long time though to see if it’s worth it. I do order a ton of stuff on amazon since I live 160km from the nearest city.
InternetUser2012@midwest.social 10 months ago
I hit the high seas when they wouldn’t let me watch the shit i paid for in high def. Fuck that.
urandom@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s slightly more convenient than sailing, considering it’s attached to my unlimited photo backup
gregorum@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I pay for Amazon prime. The only time I watch Prime Video is every once in a while I wonder: is Stargate: Universe as terrible as I remember? And then I try watching it and remember that it is. 
CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I honestly thought it wasn’t terrible and would have benefitted from fleshing out the rest of the story. It was definitely a huge departure from the styling of SGU and Andromeda but not horrible on its own.
kratoz29@lemm.ee 10 months ago
The UI had a “recent” glow up, it was way worse before.