im the type of person that typically wont pay money to a subscription service every month just to get the same experience an ad blocker gives me and not much more, so this just SERIOUSLY devalued...
im the type of person that typically wont pay money to a subscription service every month just to get the same experience an ad blocker gives me and not much more, so this just SERIOUSLY devalued my prime sub. i doubt my wife will stop paying for prime but we definitely wont be giving their media apps traffic or ad revenue now thanks to this. i will not give someone money for the "pleasure" of being advertised to. my time has value, and i set the price.
just a little more content being thrown in the torrent pile now. oh well!
I did manage to break my decade long prime sun this year. I haven’t really missed it other than a few things where we needed it in a hurry, but couldn’t find locally (easily, anyways). Definitely...
I did manage to break my decade long prime sun this year. I haven’t really missed it other than a few things where we needed it in a hurry, but couldn’t find locally (easily, anyways). Definitely ordered less from Amazon as well, which is a plus.
I'm strongly considering dropping my very long-running membership as well as I've already been actively seeking alternative sources for most of my purchases (though that's sadly surprisingly hard...
I'm strongly considering dropping my very long-running membership as well as I've already been actively seeking alternative sources for most of my purchases (though that's sadly surprisingly hard for some items). I moved a while back to a more rural area and even prime shipments take a week to get, there's hardly anything that will arrive in < 5 days here, so I'm at a loss to see the value anymore -- it's mostly momentum keeping me from cancelling at this point. Worse, they actually ship in two days, they just don't get around to packaging it and handing it off to USPS for 3 or 4 days, sometimes a week.
I complained to them once when I was calling about something else and for the next month or so everything started showing up within two days again but gradually went back to a week+ again over the following few months.
EDIT: Looking through my order history, I'm seeing 7 to 9 days as the typical time it takes to receive my PRIME orders.
For me it helps that even when I had access to prime, prime delivery was never all that fast in Portugal. I've enjoyed some Amazon series (I definitely like them better than Disney), but the way...
For me it helps that even when I had access to prime, prime delivery was never all that fast in Portugal. I've enjoyed some Amazon series (I definitely like them better than Disney), but the way Amazon and subsidiaries keep doing their best to make me despise them makes paying for their service personally unjustifiable.
I've had a prime subscription probably for a decade. I feel like the value has been getting worse and worse over the years. The shipping has become more inconsistent than it used to be, and prices...
I've had a prime subscription probably for a decade. I feel like the value has been getting worse and worse over the years. The shipping has become more inconsistent than it used to be, and prices of things I'd normally get cheaoer than at brick and mortar stores have skyrocketed. This was the straw that broke the camels back, we cancelled our prime membership yesterday.
Funny thing is, if they didn't make a greedy money grab at the ad infused prime video, I probably wouldn't have even thought about my subscription and would have continued to pay it. Now I'll be using Amazon much less.
I swear, in most company's eyes, we only exist to be advertised to. I hate it.
I'll be honest, I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to start serving ads along with their own (i.e., not Freevee) content. I might just be a bit cynical, but it always seemed a bit...
I'll be honest, I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to start serving ads along with their own (i.e., not Freevee) content. I might just be a bit cynical, but it always seemed a bit "too-good-to-be-true" that hours of content (and popular content at that) would be available with a base Prime subscription. It always seemed like a loss-leader to me to bring new customers to Prime.
That said, I'm sure Prime video has been great at getting people to shop on Amazon. It's always been my understanding that everything they do (in re UX) is to keep you on their website, thus making it a one-stop-shop for "essentials" and entertainment.
Quite frankly, I fully expect Amazon to turn X-Ray into a sort-of shopping assistant, like "click here to buy Crowley's glasses!" This is anecdotal, but they already seem to do that with merchandise -- I think I noticed that watching The Boys. And now that I think about, I'm a little surprised there isn't more product placement in the media itself... though that would be a bit ironic in shows like Upload and The Boys.
Same here. I am not at all surprised about this change. "No ads at incredibly low prices" was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, not enough people care about this change and others will see this...
Same here. I am not at all surprised about this change. "No ads at incredibly low prices" was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, not enough people care about this change and others will see this and follow in Amazon's footsteps. Before you know it, we will all be paying for cable again.
Honestly the X Ray stuff is why I stopped using Prime Video years back. When I tried having it up on a monitor, half the time I switched applications or moved the mouse it would cover the show...
Honestly the X Ray stuff is why I stopped using Prime Video years back.
When I tried having it up on a monitor, half the time I switched applications or moved the mouse it would cover the show with that stupid gray screen with meta information.
I ended up making some uBlock Origin scripts to block the X Ray stuff, but those were annoying the few times I wanted to interact with the screen. I just decided to get my videos through a less obtrusive channel and kill the subscription.
Its always been really buggy for me and for a really long time the "X" to leave X-Ray was right over the "X" to leave the video and they looked identical. The ambiguity made me uncomfortable and...
Its always been really buggy for me and for a really long time the "X" to leave X-Ray was right over the "X" to leave the video and they looked identical. The ambiguity made me uncomfortable and half the time I would close out of the video.
But I'll usually hide it unless I'm trying to remember an actor I can barely recall. It destroys the immersion for me like when you're engrossed in some dramatic moment and then you accidentally jiggle your mouse and it's like "oh here's 5 actors that were on screen a scene ago".
In India they were already providing video content with ads. Amazon Prime Video had ad-free experience (not including ads from their own shows) for Amazon Prime members. In addition to that, main...
In India they were already providing video content with ads.
Amazon Prime Video had ad-free experience (not including ads from their own shows) for Amazon Prime members.
In addition to that, main Amazon app has a MiniTV section that offers ad supported (every. 5 minutes) video content for everyone - anyone with Amazon account. It has variety of original shows, plus Korean local dubs and Hollywood movies. Funnily they have added MiniTV content with ads in the Prime Video app also. Doesn't matter if you've prime membership MiniTV shows will have ads.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced plans to start incorporating ads into movies and TV shows streamed from its Prime Video service, and now the company has revealed a specific date when you’ll start seeing them: it’s January 29th. “This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” the company said in an email to customers about the pending shift to “limited advertisements.”
I probably won't cancel my Prime membership like I have with every other streaming service, just because I use their shipping so much. But now I'll happily pirate their content!
I probably won't cancel my Prime membership like I have with every other streaming service, just because I use their shipping so much. But now I'll happily pirate their content!
I used to have prime, but I cancelled it due to the ever-increasing price and the collapsing quality of goods on Amazon. The whole site has degenerated into a morass of scam products and fake...
I used to have prime, but I cancelled it due to the ever-increasing price and the collapsing quality of goods on Amazon. The whole site has degenerated into a morass of scam products and fake reviews. It's fully caught up in the cycle of enshittification.
The sad part is, there’s no real alternative. Amazon was an alternative to Wal-mart, itself a similar behemoth. A more agressive entrepreneur than I would build a platform that credibly rates...
The sad part is, there’s no real alternative. Amazon was an alternative to Wal-mart, itself a similar behemoth.
A more agressive entrepreneur than I would build a platform that credibly rates amazon products. I mean we kinda have that with wirecutter, consumer reports, and rtings, but they don’t always match my preferences, and also don’t cover a lot of things. And consumer reports, oh my how they have not adapted.
There's always Fakespot, which helps weed out products with obviously inauthentic reviews. TBH, I wouldn't shop at Amazon or maintain a Prime membership if I had any reasonable alternatives within...
There's always Fakespot, which helps weed out products with obviously inauthentic reviews. TBH, I wouldn't shop at Amazon or maintain a Prime membership if I had any reasonable alternatives within 50 miles (and no, I won't shop at Walmart) - their products and search are getting worse by the day.
Consumer Reports' model is never going to be able to keep up with the flood of imported products deceptively brand-named or quickly modified.
There often are not alternatives, but there usually are. Even if those alternatives are Walmart and other big box retailers. I'm at the point where I would rather order from Walmart's website than...
There often are not alternatives, but there usually are. Even if those alternatives are Walmart and other big box retailers. I'm at the point where I would rather order from Walmart's website than Amazon. They may not carry the best products, but at least I know I won't be ordering a complete scam product. They sell a lot of cheap stuff, but you at least know what you're getting.
The big reason I dropped prime was precisely so that I wouldn't feel locked-in to the "free shipping," ie, pre-paid shipping, you get with Amazon prime. I also got fed up with Prime continuously failing to live up to the promised benefits, like the 2-day shipping. They claim they offer 2-day shipping for free on prime, but it's a scam. What they actually offer is 2-day shipping once it leaves their warehouse. So legally according to the terms and conditions, they can fart around for a week waiting to get your order out, send it out via two day shipping, and then claim that as a successful 2-day fulfillment.
There are alternatives out there, but you do have to search for them. And it's never going to be as convenient as the zero-thought "click the buy button" instant gratification model that Amazon designs its site around. But that is the biggest reason I quite prime. Prime is basically a psychological trick, a way of inducing the sunk-cost fallacy in their customers. By the time you've already paid the $140/year, you've already literally invested in Amazon. Then psychologically, you feel locked in even if there's a better deal elsewhere.
Finally, you can get the biggest benefit of prime, the "free" "2-day" shipping, just by planning your Amazon orders carefully. I do still occasionally order from Amazon, but I'll group my orders so I can make sure to buy enough to get the free shipping. This doesn't help for things I need right away. But if you need something right away, you shouldn't be ordering from Amazon. Their purported 2-day shipping is a scam, and often you can end up with delivery times as delivery was for the old-school catalog services like the old JC Penny catalogs.
I actually don't feel this way. I always look to see if I can get the item cheaper somewhere else. But it's rare that I can in many categories. Some things, like food and personal hygiene...
Then psychologically, you feel locked in even if there's a better deal elsewhere.
I actually don't feel this way. I always look to see if I can get the item cheaper somewhere else. But it's rare that I can in many categories. Some things, like food and personal hygiene products, are often cheaper in stores than on Amazon. But need something technology-related? Kitchen gadget? A specific tool? It's rare that I find those things cheaper somewhere else.
They claim they offer 2-day shipping for free on prime, but it's a scam.
I wonder if this is area-specific. It's pretty rare that I don't get my stuff in 2 days, or even the next day. But I also have several Amazon warehouses in my city.
If other stores want to become more prolific, they should become more like Costco. I'll buy something there before anywhere else (including Amazon) since I know that they've done due diligence on the quality, they have no-hassle returns, and the price is usually the best (or at least close to it) as well.
There has always been alternatives. There are thousands of independent stores online. You don’t need to be financially dependent on behemoths for everything when there is a vibrant community...
There has always been alternatives. There are thousands of independent stores online. You don’t need to be financially dependent on behemoths for everything when there is a vibrant community circulating right under your nose.
But that's where Prime shipping costs outcompete purchases from individual vendors. The small inventories and selections, the long waits, the poor online product catalogs... I'd love to patronize...
But that's where Prime shipping costs outcompete purchases from individual vendors. The small inventories and selections, the long waits, the poor online product catalogs... I'd love to patronize other outlets for small purchases, but if it costs $7 to ship a $5 bottle of soy sauce from one store, $15 to ship a $10 bag of specialty seed starting medium, and $10 to ship a $3 cat toy, when I could get everything in a single box for a yearly flat rate, that's hard to argue with.
***I'll concede that the whole edifice of click-and-ship is probably unsustainable.
I don't know how you are getting single-box Amazon shipments. Right now pretty much every time I have made an order with Amazon and did not opt for the slower "amazon day" shipping method I have...
I don't know how you are getting single-box Amazon shipments. Right now pretty much every time I have made an order with Amazon and did not opt for the slower "amazon day" shipping method I have received more than one box, and frequently there's just one single item in each box.
I'm not really arguing for alternatives being better - merely that there are many alternatives that you can choose. There are also many reasons to choose those alternatives, but I won't go into them right now for the sake of brevity.
Shipping costs can usually be improved upon by simply waiting until you need more than one thing and ordering them together. Don't just order soy sauce; throw it in with other grocery/pantry essentials you need. Don't just buy the seed starting medium, buy other gardening supplies you might need - or buy more than you immediately need so you won't have to place another order. And of course you can just get some of the stuff locally; your cat probably doesn't care that you special-ordered their toy.
Where we can, we do opt to put together a week's worth of items in a single Amazon Day delivery box. But we need oddments often enough that Prime shipping is still a net win. [Yes, we really did...
Where we can, we do opt to put together a week's worth of items in a single Amazon Day delivery box. But we need oddments often enough that Prime shipping is still a net win. [Yes, we really did need that 4 TB hard drive and 1500 VA UPS all of a sudden... that kind of thing.]
And yes, I do order 3 months worth of muesli or seasonings, etc. at a time, within reason for storage space and budget. The cat toy was a poor example - of course I can get that locally. I just couldn't recall the specifics of the Subaru accessory part that my spouse found a generic $3 version of on Amazon.
And again, we're > 100 miles from the nearest city with a population > 50,000. There are a significant number of necessary items, from clothing to tools to foods, which are drastically (like 2 - 3x) more expensive locally, or in very limited selection, if available at all.
I would love to buy local or alternative for everything, but practicality and cost have to remain considerations.
*Admittedly, I could get some of these things from Target's online store, at very modestly greater cost than Amazon, but their shopping experience is worse, and I've gotten damaged items more often with more effort for returns.
If you already group things together when you buy from Amazon, are you really getting value for money on the smaller urgent things you buy from Amazon to make the subscription worth it? My...
If you already group things together when you buy from Amazon, are you really getting value for money on the smaller urgent things you buy from Amazon to make the subscription worth it?
My understanding is they have a “spend X or more, free shipping” option for people regardless of subscription, and at the same time smaller orders just attract a shipping fee. Admittedly I could be wrong, as I try to avoid Amazon in principle (and I’m sure eBay isn’t much better, but at least if eBay’s CEO is another billionaire, I don’t know their reputation for dumb dick-slinging space contest affairs)
Subscribe and Save for canned cat food alone pays for itself. Local prices are grossly inflated for decent quality brands. I'm also not going to make some poor mail carrier haul more than a...
Subscribe and Save for canned cat food alone pays for itself. Local prices are grossly inflated for decent quality brands. I'm also not going to make some poor mail carrier haul more than a month's worth of cans to my door.
Not to harp on the subject, but I'd like to recommend Chewy for pet stuff. I started using them when there was a shortage locally of the cat food we use and have been extremely happy with them....
Not to harp on the subject, but I'd like to recommend Chewy for pet stuff. I started using them when there was a shortage locally of the cat food we use and have been extremely happy with them. Nothing we get is anywhere close to expired and their returns policy is great even for cat toys.
If you can work out an order to be over $60 they have free shipping, and they do have a subscription plan which comes with a discount.
One huge benefit for me is that subscription items don't randomly stop being available like they do on Amazon. I don't even think I have anything left on Amazon subscription, the last product stopped being available for purchase at all a couple of months ago.
I appreciate the recommendation. Perhaps it's pandemic/supply chain-related, but the last couple of times I've shopped on Chewy, they were out of or had limited flavors of the brands I get. The...
I appreciate the recommendation. Perhaps it's pandemic/supply chain-related, but the last couple of times I've shopped on Chewy, they were out of or had limited flavors of the brands I get. The one time I ordered, I received a bunch of dented cans and they gave me a hard time on the refund. Maybe it's time to give them another chance.
That's really unfortunate, I'm sorry to hear it. I have gotten a couple of things that were squished because they were packaged with a big bag of litter, but it didn't hurt anything but the...
That's really unfortunate, I'm sorry to hear it. I have gotten a couple of things that were squished because they were packaged with a big bag of litter, but it didn't hurt anything but the packaging. At least they didn't put lightbulbs in an envelope like an Amazon shipment I got a while back.
The trouble with independent stores (Shopify etc) is they don't have any marketplace guarantees. If I buy a bad widget from Joe's Online Store, I may be dependent on my credit card or PayPal to...
The trouble with independent stores (Shopify etc) is they don't have any marketplace guarantees. If I buy a bad widget from Joe's Online Store, I may be dependent on my credit card or PayPal to get a refund. If I buy a bad product on Amazon from Joe's Amazon Storefront, there's a baseline guarantee that I'll have access to Amazon's customer service.
There are other marketplaces to shop at if you want that kind of thing. Even Aliexpress has it. In my experience that kind of thing isn't quite as important as people tend to think it is. Of all...
There are other marketplaces to shop at if you want that kind of thing. Even Aliexpress has it.
In my experience that kind of thing isn't quite as important as people tend to think it is. Of all the times I have dealt with independant stores I think I've only had to do a credit card chargeback once. From the perspective of someone who has worked on online stores before, I can tell you that too many chargebacks can result in you losing your credit card merchant account, so merchants are very motivated to avoid that happening.
It's certainly not great, but I haven't found any better options. The experience at brick and mortar stores is absolutely terrible, and it's far from a guarantee that I'm going to find what I'm...
It's certainly not great, but I haven't found any better options. The experience at brick and mortar stores is absolutely terrible, and it's far from a guarantee that I'm going to find what I'm looking for anyway.
Yeah. Sometimes I go to Best Buy or Target or wherever as a replacement to Amazon and it just doesn’t make any sense. Recently each store tried to sell me a 20 ft USB 3 cable for $60 (and those...
Yeah. Sometimes I go to Best Buy or Target or wherever as a replacement to Amazon and it just doesn’t make any sense. Recently each store tried to sell me a 20 ft USB 3 cable for $60 (and those were the cheap options). Amazon had many $20 cables that met my requirements, which seemed like the price I expected.
But I’m lucky to have a good local chain I use for computer components. It’s a bit of a drive but has absolutely been worth it for when I build computers. The prices are always comparable to Amazon/NewEgg. The selection is good. And being able to return a component right away is a huge perk.
See, that's exactly the experience I'd like to have. Prices comparable to what I can get online, good selection, items actually being in stock and easy returns if something doesn't work out. I...
See, that's exactly the experience I'd like to have. Prices comparable to what I can get online, good selection, items actually being in stock and easy returns if something doesn't work out. I don't have anywhere like that near me, and I live in a pretty tech-heavy area.
I did the same, and then restarted it within a year, because their pharmacy is actually decent compared to the one physically near me and their Prime discounts for the medications I'm on make it...
I did the same, and then restarted it within a year, because their pharmacy is actually decent compared to the one physically near me and their Prime discounts for the medications I'm on make it financially worth it. I'm still grumpy about it.
Check out Cost Plus Drugs for pharmacy. It's similar to Amazon's model, but at least for my prescription, is less expensive. I also didn't like the idea of Amazon being involved in my healthcare.
Check out Cost Plus Drugs for pharmacy. It's similar to Amazon's model, but at least for my prescription, is less expensive. I also didn't like the idea of Amazon being involved in my healthcare.
I know this isn't related to the pharmacy, per se, but I wanted to hop on this comment to let people know about RequestATest.com. They took a $250 bill for a UDS for my ADHD meds screen all the...
I know this isn't related to the pharmacy, per se, but I wanted to hop on this comment to let people know about RequestATest.com. They took a $250 bill for a UDS for my ADHD meds screen all the way down to $55. I mean holy shit. They knocked off basically 80% of the bill. For me having to get this test every 3 months, you can see how big a deal that is. Especially since I'm not currently employed.
With a lot more enshittification still to come. Historically that opens up opportunities for competition, but the barrier to entry is pretty high in most of the markets serviced by the big...
With a lot more enshittification still to come. Historically that opens up opportunities for competition, but the barrier to entry is pretty high in most of the markets serviced by the big enshittifying platforms.
It's good to see the EU's ever escalating regulation of the big online companies, I hope other countries continue to follow suit.
I'm personally a big fan of and long time subscriber of Nebula. It's a creator-owned platform, privately run, and doesn't take venture capital. It's certainly not 100% proof against...
I'm personally a big fan of and long time subscriber of Nebula. It's a creator-owned platform, privately run, and doesn't take venture capital. It's certainly not 100% proof against enshittification, but it is much more resistant against it than other corporate arrangements.
I order quite a bit on Amazon but never found Prime to be worth it for shipping. I mean, I already get free shipping, I’m not willing to pay a subscription just to get it a day earlier.
I order quite a bit on Amazon but never found Prime to be worth it for shipping. I mean, I already get free shipping, I’m not willing to pay a subscription just to get it a day earlier.
I think this model would make a lot of sense if we had some kind of technology that allowed streaming services to work on a new kind of internet that didn't require cables, modems, routers, etc....
I think this model would make a lot of sense if we had some kind of technology that allowed streaming services to work on a new kind of internet that didn't require cables, modems, routers, etc. Something that is free and open to everyone, like some kind of, IDK, "over-the-air" television.
Ooh, yeah I like that idea! Ad-supported content just broadcast freely into the air for anyone to pick up if they have the equipment to receive the signals. That way, you can access it anonymously...
Ooh, yeah I like that idea! Ad-supported content just broadcast freely into the air for anyone to pick up if they have the equipment to receive the signals. That way, you can access it anonymously without needing an account or being tracked by the broadcaster.
Maybe we could even have variety by having several competing “channels” that people can switch to at will, and get different content whenever they want!
Just wait for the ad-free tier to be announced for only a few bucks more! Money hungry billion dollar companies wanting to have the best of both worlds, ad rev AND sub fees. Pure scum.
Just wait for the ad-free tier to be announced for only a few bucks more! Money hungry billion dollar companies wanting to have the best of both worlds, ad rev AND sub fees. Pure scum.
I wanted to pay for Prime once to be able to see Grand Tour (all of it, idealy in one month) and then unsubscribe. I was delaying it until I have free time to actually watch it in one month. My...
I wanted to pay for Prime once to be able to see Grand Tour (all of it, idealy in one month) and then unsubscribe. I was delaying it until I have free time to actually watch it in one month. My wait is finally over! I will not need free time to watch it as I'm not subscribing ever!
I won't cancel Prime since I got a great deal, 3€/month without Prime shipping (since we don't have it here), and the goodies I get from Prime Gaming for League of Legends and Warframe are worth...
I won't cancel Prime since I got a great deal, 3€/month without Prime shipping (since we don't have it here), and the goodies I get from Prime Gaming for League of Legends and Warframe are worth triple or 4x the price that I pay.
But I'm glad I finished The Vampire Diaries so I can never touch Prime Video again.
Little birdy that with the downsizing of Twitch Prime division (-80% employee cut), they're going to be cutting free drops and content such as League capsules and other in-game drops. They're...
Little birdy that with the downsizing of Twitch Prime division (-80% employee cut), they're going to be cutting free drops and content such as League capsules and other in-game drops.
They're likely going to keep free games though, so you'll have to decide if it's worth it for the games and not much else.
Are the freebies that you get for LoL/Warframe/etc the kinds of things you’d usually spend money on anyway if you didn’t have prime? I found back when I played LoL, I’d only ever want one skin per...
Are the freebies that you get for LoL/Warframe/etc the kinds of things you’d usually spend money on anyway if you didn’t have prime? I found back when I played LoL, I’d only ever want one skin per champion, because I can only ever use one at a time in game anyway, so newer releases just didn’t take my fancy
I only spend money on Brand and Galio, but I do play a lot of ARAM so I enjoy having a random skin to play with every month. I certainly wouldn't buy even 10% of the content I have, but I do enjoy it.
I only spend money on Brand and Galio, but I do play a lot of ARAM so I enjoy having a random skin to play with every month.
I certainly wouldn't buy even 10% of the content I have, but I do enjoy it.
If you haven't already started piracy, now's a good time :) Check out stremio with a debrid service. Closest thing to a normal streaming experience but 1/10th the cost and 100x the options!
If you haven't already started piracy, now's a good time :)
Check out stremio with a debrid service. Closest thing to a normal streaming experience but 1/10th the cost and 100x the options!
After properly auditing what we've watched this year: Disney+ and Amazon are definitely canceled and Netflix is out the second my wife's background shows get dropped. Hell, the only things...
After properly auditing what we've watched this year: Disney+ and Amazon are definitely canceled and Netflix is out the second my wife's background shows get dropped. Hell, the only things remotely justifying the cost is YouTube Premium with almost 1900hrs watched this year.
Curious if this stremio service let's you download the video or does it just stream the file from seeders?
Been building up a little media server and I'd happily spend a few bucks for a reliable source.
Plex is probably still your best bet for local storage, but Stremio is a very low-friction method of streaming with the Torrentio add-on and a cheap debrid service.
Plex is probably still your best bet for local storage, but Stremio is a very low-friction method of streaming with the Torrentio add-on and a cheap debrid service.
Jellyfin will also happily do hardware transcoding on just about any platform, without needing to pay for the privilege, and you don't get Plex trying to shove its streaming service in your face.
Jellyfin will also happily do hardware transcoding on just about any platform, without needing to pay for the privilege, and you don't get Plex trying to shove its streaming service in your face.
Usenet is what you want, especially if you have a media server already up. It takes a bit of set up but once it's running nothing beats Sonarr/Radarr. Overall I pay around 40 bucks a year for...
Usenet is what you want, especially if you have a media server already up. It takes a bit of set up but once it's running nothing beats Sonarr/Radarr.
Overall I pay around 40 bucks a year for providers and indexers.
Depends on the trackers. I heard DrunkenSlug is good for German dubbed content but I can't verify at the time. Most of the time, don't count on it though.
Depends on the trackers. I heard DrunkenSlug is good for German dubbed content but I can't verify at the time. Most of the time, don't count on it though.
How does this work? I'm having a hard time figuring it out on their website, but does this in a way give you access to Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, etc., all in one place at a lower price than to...
Check out stremio
How does this work? I'm having a hard time figuring it out on their website, but does this in a way give you access to Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, etc., all in one place at a lower price than to pay for each of them individually?
For those interested but confused where to start. Search for "torrentio stremio" and start there. Don't want to link directly since piracy, but there are lots of good guided and once it's setup on...
For those interested but confused where to start. Search for "torrentio stremio" and start there.
Don't want to link directly since piracy, but there are lots of good guided and once it's setup on an account it's done forever.
I'd say it's a 7/10 experience. When it works well (mostly for popular/new stuff) it works really well and I might as well be watching Netflix. For other, more obscure stuff which I might have trouble finding a copy of anyway it struggles with the initial download or simply won't play the file at all.
Ocassionally sub timings are off or we get a torrent thag sucks and we need to change source. But it's mostly fine.
Definitely recommend picking up a debrid service as well, I use RealDebrid but I don't know if its the best one. Its basically a good way to make sure you're getting quality links and hopefully...
Definitely recommend picking up a debrid service as well, I use RealDebrid but I don't know if its the best one. Its basically a good way to make sure you're getting quality links and hopefully not needing a separate VPN. It does cost money, but its so cheap its basically free.
Yeah I have this setup, that wasn't clear in my post. I think I'm using AllDebrid and except one period of downtime for a couple days when they got DDOS'd it's been fine and like you say,...
Yeah I have this setup, that wasn't clear in my post. I think I'm using AllDebrid and except one period of downtime for a couple days when they got DDOS'd it's been fine and like you say, basically free.
I had a month-to-month prime subscription that I canceled today because of this. They allow either not renewing next period, or canceling immediately and getting a refund. I'm in the US, but I...
I had a month-to-month prime subscription that I canceled today because of this. They allow either not renewing next period, or canceling immediately and getting a refund. I'm in the US, but I would guess that you'll be able to get a refund too.
im the type of person that typically wont pay money to a subscription service every month just to get the same experience an ad blocker gives me and not much more, so this just SERIOUSLY devalued my prime sub. i doubt my wife will stop paying for prime but we definitely wont be giving their media apps traffic or ad revenue now thanks to this. i will not give someone money for the "pleasure" of being advertised to. my time has value, and i set the price.
just a little more content being thrown in the torrent pile now. oh well!
I did manage to break my decade long prime sun this year. I haven’t really missed it other than a few things where we needed it in a hurry, but couldn’t find locally (easily, anyways). Definitely ordered less from Amazon as well, which is a plus.
I'm strongly considering dropping my very long-running membership as well as I've already been actively seeking alternative sources for most of my purchases (though that's sadly surprisingly hard for some items). I moved a while back to a more rural area and even prime shipments take a week to get, there's hardly anything that will arrive in < 5 days here, so I'm at a loss to see the value anymore -- it's mostly momentum keeping me from cancelling at this point. Worse, they actually ship in two days, they just don't get around to packaging it and handing it off to USPS for 3 or 4 days, sometimes a week.
I complained to them once when I was calling about something else and for the next month or so everything started showing up within two days again but gradually went back to a week+ again over the following few months.
EDIT: Looking through my order history, I'm seeing 7 to 9 days as the typical time it takes to receive my PRIME orders.
For me it helps that even when I had access to prime, prime delivery was never all that fast in Portugal. I've enjoyed some Amazon series (I definitely like them better than Disney), but the way Amazon and subsidiaries keep doing their best to make me despise them makes paying for their service personally unjustifiable.
I dropped mine several years ago. I reapportioned the "Amazon Prime" funds to an annual national parks pass. I haven't missed it at all.
I've had a prime subscription probably for a decade. I feel like the value has been getting worse and worse over the years. The shipping has become more inconsistent than it used to be, and prices of things I'd normally get cheaoer than at brick and mortar stores have skyrocketed. This was the straw that broke the camels back, we cancelled our prime membership yesterday.
Funny thing is, if they didn't make a greedy money grab at the ad infused prime video, I probably wouldn't have even thought about my subscription and would have continued to pay it. Now I'll be using Amazon much less.
I swear, in most company's eyes, we only exist to be advertised to. I hate it.
I'll be honest, I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to start serving ads along with their own (i.e., not Freevee) content. I might just be a bit cynical, but it always seemed a bit "too-good-to-be-true" that hours of content (and popular content at that) would be available with a base Prime subscription. It always seemed like a loss-leader to me to bring new customers to Prime.
That said, I'm sure Prime video has been great at getting people to shop on Amazon. It's always been my understanding that everything they do (in re UX) is to keep you on their website, thus making it a one-stop-shop for "essentials" and entertainment.
Quite frankly, I fully expect Amazon to turn X-Ray into a sort-of shopping assistant, like "click here to buy Crowley's glasses!" This is anecdotal, but they already seem to do that with merchandise -- I think I noticed that watching The Boys. And now that I think about, I'm a little surprised there isn't more product placement in the media itself... though that would be a bit ironic in shows like Upload and The Boys.
Same here. I am not at all surprised about this change. "No ads at incredibly low prices" was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, not enough people care about this change and others will see this and follow in Amazon's footsteps. Before you know it, we will all be paying for cable again.
Honestly the X Ray stuff is why I stopped using Prime Video years back.
When I tried having it up on a monitor, half the time I switched applications or moved the mouse it would cover the show with that stupid gray screen with meta information.
I ended up making some uBlock Origin scripts to block the X Ray stuff, but those were annoying the few times I wanted to interact with the screen. I just decided to get my videos through a less obtrusive channel and kill the subscription.
Its always been really buggy for me and for a really long time the "X" to leave X-Ray was right over the "X" to leave the video and they looked identical. The ambiguity made me uncomfortable and half the time I would close out of the video.
But I'll usually hide it unless I'm trying to remember an actor I can barely recall. It destroys the immersion for me like when you're engrossed in some dramatic moment and then you accidentally jiggle your mouse and it's like "oh here's 5 actors that were on screen a scene ago".
In India they were already providing video content with ads.
Amazon Prime Video had ad-free experience (not including ads from their own shows) for Amazon Prime members.
In addition to that, main Amazon app has a MiniTV section that offers ad supported (every. 5 minutes) video content for everyone - anyone with Amazon account. It has variety of original shows, plus Korean local dubs and Hollywood movies. Funnily they have added MiniTV content with ads in the Prime Video app also. Doesn't matter if you've prime membership MiniTV shows will have ads.
To be fair, they've already raised the price of Prime itself multiple times over the years.
Adjusting for inflation, the price of Prime, at least in the US, has stayed pretty steady ever since its inception.
Ah that's a good point, I forgot to check for that. You are correct, it's marginally costlier here but really not by a lot.
I probably won't cancel my Prime membership like I have with every other streaming service, just because I use their shipping so much. But now I'll happily pirate their content!
I used to have prime, but I cancelled it due to the ever-increasing price and the collapsing quality of goods on Amazon. The whole site has degenerated into a morass of scam products and fake reviews. It's fully caught up in the cycle of enshittification.
The sad part is, there’s no real alternative. Amazon was an alternative to Wal-mart, itself a similar behemoth.
A more agressive entrepreneur than I would build a platform that credibly rates amazon products. I mean we kinda have that with wirecutter, consumer reports, and rtings, but they don’t always match my preferences, and also don’t cover a lot of things. And consumer reports, oh my how they have not adapted.
There's always Fakespot, which helps weed out products with obviously inauthentic reviews. TBH, I wouldn't shop at Amazon or maintain a Prime membership if I had any reasonable alternatives within 50 miles (and no, I won't shop at Walmart) - their products and search are getting worse by the day.
Consumer Reports' model is never going to be able to keep up with the flood of imported products deceptively brand-named or quickly modified.
There often are not alternatives, but there usually are. Even if those alternatives are Walmart and other big box retailers. I'm at the point where I would rather order from Walmart's website than Amazon. They may not carry the best products, but at least I know I won't be ordering a complete scam product. They sell a lot of cheap stuff, but you at least know what you're getting.
The big reason I dropped prime was precisely so that I wouldn't feel locked-in to the "free shipping," ie, pre-paid shipping, you get with Amazon prime. I also got fed up with Prime continuously failing to live up to the promised benefits, like the 2-day shipping. They claim they offer 2-day shipping for free on prime, but it's a scam. What they actually offer is 2-day shipping once it leaves their warehouse. So legally according to the terms and conditions, they can fart around for a week waiting to get your order out, send it out via two day shipping, and then claim that as a successful 2-day fulfillment.
There are alternatives out there, but you do have to search for them. And it's never going to be as convenient as the zero-thought "click the buy button" instant gratification model that Amazon designs its site around. But that is the biggest reason I quite prime. Prime is basically a psychological trick, a way of inducing the sunk-cost fallacy in their customers. By the time you've already paid the $140/year, you've already literally invested in Amazon. Then psychologically, you feel locked in even if there's a better deal elsewhere.
Finally, you can get the biggest benefit of prime, the "free" "2-day" shipping, just by planning your Amazon orders carefully. I do still occasionally order from Amazon, but I'll group my orders so I can make sure to buy enough to get the free shipping. This doesn't help for things I need right away. But if you need something right away, you shouldn't be ordering from Amazon. Their purported 2-day shipping is a scam, and often you can end up with delivery times as delivery was for the old-school catalog services like the old JC Penny catalogs.
I actually don't feel this way. I always look to see if I can get the item cheaper somewhere else. But it's rare that I can in many categories. Some things, like food and personal hygiene products, are often cheaper in stores than on Amazon. But need something technology-related? Kitchen gadget? A specific tool? It's rare that I find those things cheaper somewhere else.
I wonder if this is area-specific. It's pretty rare that I don't get my stuff in 2 days, or even the next day. But I also have several Amazon warehouses in my city.
If other stores want to become more prolific, they should become more like Costco. I'll buy something there before anywhere else (including Amazon) since I know that they've done due diligence on the quality, they have no-hassle returns, and the price is usually the best (or at least close to it) as well.
There has always been alternatives. There are thousands of independent stores online. You don’t need to be financially dependent on behemoths for everything when there is a vibrant community circulating right under your nose.
But that's where Prime shipping costs outcompete purchases from individual vendors. The small inventories and selections, the long waits, the poor online product catalogs... I'd love to patronize other outlets for small purchases, but if it costs $7 to ship a $5 bottle of soy sauce from one store, $15 to ship a $10 bag of specialty seed starting medium, and $10 to ship a $3 cat toy, when I could get everything in a single box for a yearly flat rate, that's hard to argue with.
***I'll concede that the whole edifice of click-and-ship is probably unsustainable.
I don't know how you are getting single-box Amazon shipments. Right now pretty much every time I have made an order with Amazon and did not opt for the slower "amazon day" shipping method I have received more than one box, and frequently there's just one single item in each box.
I'm not really arguing for alternatives being better - merely that there are many alternatives that you can choose. There are also many reasons to choose those alternatives, but I won't go into them right now for the sake of brevity.
Shipping costs can usually be improved upon by simply waiting until you need more than one thing and ordering them together. Don't just order soy sauce; throw it in with other grocery/pantry essentials you need. Don't just buy the seed starting medium, buy other gardening supplies you might need - or buy more than you immediately need so you won't have to place another order. And of course you can just get some of the stuff locally; your cat probably doesn't care that you special-ordered their toy.
Where we can, we do opt to put together a week's worth of items in a single Amazon Day delivery box. But we need oddments often enough that Prime shipping is still a net win. [Yes, we really did need that 4 TB hard drive and 1500 VA UPS all of a sudden... that kind of thing.]
And yes, I do order 3 months worth of muesli or seasonings, etc. at a time, within reason for storage space and budget. The cat toy was a poor example - of course I can get that locally. I just couldn't recall the specifics of the Subaru accessory part that my spouse found a generic $3 version of on Amazon.
And again, we're > 100 miles from the nearest city with a population > 50,000. There are a significant number of necessary items, from clothing to tools to foods, which are drastically (like 2 - 3x) more expensive locally, or in very limited selection, if available at all.
I would love to buy local or alternative for everything, but practicality and cost have to remain considerations.
*Admittedly, I could get some of these things from Target's online store, at very modestly greater cost than Amazon, but their shopping experience is worse, and I've gotten damaged items more often with more effort for returns.
If you already group things together when you buy from Amazon, are you really getting value for money on the smaller urgent things you buy from Amazon to make the subscription worth it?
My understanding is they have a “spend X or more, free shipping” option for people regardless of subscription, and at the same time smaller orders just attract a shipping fee. Admittedly I could be wrong, as I try to avoid Amazon in principle (and I’m sure eBay isn’t much better, but at least if eBay’s CEO is another billionaire, I don’t know their reputation for dumb dick-slinging space contest affairs)
Subscribe and Save for canned cat food alone pays for itself. Local prices are grossly inflated for decent quality brands. I'm also not going to make some poor mail carrier haul more than a month's worth of cans to my door.
Not to harp on the subject, but I'd like to recommend Chewy for pet stuff. I started using them when there was a shortage locally of the cat food we use and have been extremely happy with them. Nothing we get is anywhere close to expired and their returns policy is great even for cat toys.
If you can work out an order to be over $60 they have free shipping, and they do have a subscription plan which comes with a discount.
One huge benefit for me is that subscription items don't randomly stop being available like they do on Amazon. I don't even think I have anything left on Amazon subscription, the last product stopped being available for purchase at all a couple of months ago.
I appreciate the recommendation. Perhaps it's pandemic/supply chain-related, but the last couple of times I've shopped on Chewy, they were out of or had limited flavors of the brands I get. The one time I ordered, I received a bunch of dented cans and they gave me a hard time on the refund. Maybe it's time to give them another chance.
That's really unfortunate, I'm sorry to hear it. I have gotten a couple of things that were squished because they were packaged with a big bag of litter, but it didn't hurt anything but the packaging. At least they didn't put lightbulbs in an envelope like an Amazon shipment I got a while back.
The trouble with independent stores (Shopify etc) is they don't have any marketplace guarantees. If I buy a bad widget from Joe's Online Store, I may be dependent on my credit card or PayPal to get a refund. If I buy a bad product on Amazon from Joe's Amazon Storefront, there's a baseline guarantee that I'll have access to Amazon's customer service.
There are other marketplaces to shop at if you want that kind of thing. Even Aliexpress has it.
In my experience that kind of thing isn't quite as important as people tend to think it is. Of all the times I have dealt with independant stores I think I've only had to do a credit card chargeback once. From the perspective of someone who has worked on online stores before, I can tell you that too many chargebacks can result in you losing your credit card merchant account, so merchants are very motivated to avoid that happening.
It's certainly not great, but I haven't found any better options. The experience at brick and mortar stores is absolutely terrible, and it's far from a guarantee that I'm going to find what I'm looking for anyway.
Yeah. Sometimes I go to Best Buy or Target or wherever as a replacement to Amazon and it just doesn’t make any sense. Recently each store tried to sell me a 20 ft USB 3 cable for $60 (and those were the cheap options). Amazon had many $20 cables that met my requirements, which seemed like the price I expected.
But I’m lucky to have a good local chain I use for computer components. It’s a bit of a drive but has absolutely been worth it for when I build computers. The prices are always comparable to Amazon/NewEgg. The selection is good. And being able to return a component right away is a huge perk.
There are always alternatives available. For example, for cables, Monoprice is a classic option:
https://www.monoprice.com/category/pages/1
See, that's exactly the experience I'd like to have. Prices comparable to what I can get online, good selection, items actually being in stock and easy returns if something doesn't work out. I don't have anywhere like that near me, and I live in a pretty tech-heavy area.
I did the same, and then restarted it within a year, because their pharmacy is actually decent compared to the one physically near me and their Prime discounts for the medications I'm on make it financially worth it. I'm still grumpy about it.
Check out Cost Plus Drugs for pharmacy. It's similar to Amazon's model, but at least for my prescription, is less expensive. I also didn't like the idea of Amazon being involved in my healthcare.
I know this isn't related to the pharmacy, per se, but I wanted to hop on this comment to let people know about RequestATest.com. They took a $250 bill for a UDS for my ADHD meds screen all the way down to $55. I mean holy shit. They knocked off basically 80% of the bill. For me having to get this test every 3 months, you can see how big a deal that is. Especially since I'm not currently employed.
Did you try the GoodRX app? That's what I usually use. Generally it's far cheaper even then using insurance.
With a lot more enshittification still to come. Historically that opens up opportunities for competition, but the barrier to entry is pretty high in most of the markets serviced by the big enshittifying platforms.
It's good to see the EU's ever escalating regulation of the big online companies, I hope other countries continue to follow suit.
I'm personally a big fan of and long time subscriber of Nebula. It's a creator-owned platform, privately run, and doesn't take venture capital. It's certainly not 100% proof against enshittification, but it is much more resistant against it than other corporate arrangements.
I order quite a bit on Amazon but never found Prime to be worth it for shipping. I mean, I already get free shipping, I’m not willing to pay a subscription just to get it a day earlier.
Everything I've compared over the last year has been more expensive than Amazon for the same product.
Really don't see a way off it yet.
I think this model would make a lot of sense if we had some kind of technology that allowed streaming services to work on a new kind of internet that didn't require cables, modems, routers, etc. Something that is free and open to everyone, like some kind of, IDK, "over-the-air" television.
Ooh, yeah I like that idea! Ad-supported content just broadcast freely into the air for anyone to pick up if they have the equipment to receive the signals. That way, you can access it anonymously without needing an account or being tracked by the broadcaster.
Maybe we could even have variety by having several competing “channels” that people can switch to at will, and get different content whenever they want!
Just wait for the ad-free tier to be announced for only a few bucks more! Money hungry billion dollar companies wanting to have the best of both worlds, ad rev AND sub fees. Pure scum.
I wanted to pay for Prime once to be able to see Grand Tour (all of it, idealy in one month) and then unsubscribe. I was delaying it until I have free time to actually watch it in one month. My wait is finally over! I will not need free time to watch it as I'm not subscribing ever!
I won't cancel Prime since I got a great deal, 3€/month without Prime shipping (since we don't have it here), and the goodies I get from Prime Gaming for League of Legends and Warframe are worth triple or 4x the price that I pay.
But I'm glad I finished The Vampire Diaries so I can never touch Prime Video again.
Little birdy that with the downsizing of Twitch Prime division (-80% employee cut), they're going to be cutting free drops and content such as League capsules and other in-game drops.
They're likely going to keep free games though, so you'll have to decide if it's worth it for the games and not much else.
Ah, it was good while it lasted. Once the League capsule is gone, so is my Prime subscription.
They sent a communication that March will be the last one, IIRC.
Are the freebies that you get for LoL/Warframe/etc the kinds of things you’d usually spend money on anyway if you didn’t have prime? I found back when I played LoL, I’d only ever want one skin per champion, because I can only ever use one at a time in game anyway, so newer releases just didn’t take my fancy
I only spend money on Brand and Galio, but I do play a lot of ARAM so I enjoy having a random skin to play with every month.
I certainly wouldn't buy even 10% of the content I have, but I do enjoy it.
If you haven't already started piracy, now's a good time :)
Check out stremio with a debrid service. Closest thing to a normal streaming experience but 1/10th the cost and 100x the options!
After properly auditing what we've watched this year: Disney+ and Amazon are definitely canceled and Netflix is out the second my wife's background shows get dropped. Hell, the only things remotely justifying the cost is YouTube Premium with almost 1900hrs watched this year.
Curious if this stremio service let's you download the video or does it just stream the file from seeders?
Been building up a little media server and I'd happily spend a few bucks for a reliable source.
Plex is probably still your best bet for local storage, but Stremio is a very low-friction method of streaming with the Torrentio add-on and a cheap debrid service.
I've actually had a much better experience with Jellyfin - not only is it open source, Plex's client apps are TERRIBLE.
Jellyfin will also happily do hardware transcoding on just about any platform, without needing to pay for the privilege, and you don't get Plex trying to shove its streaming service in your face.
Usenet is what you want, especially if you have a media server already up. It takes a bit of set up but once it's running nothing beats Sonarr/Radarr.
Overall I pay around 40 bucks a year for providers and indexers.
Do you know how easy is to find English content dubbed into other languages in Usenet?
Depends on the trackers. I heard DrunkenSlug is good for German dubbed content but I can't verify at the time. Most of the time, don't count on it though.
How does this work? I'm having a hard time figuring it out on their website, but does this in a way give you access to Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, etc., all in one place at a lower price than to pay for each of them individually?
No, it's officially just an aggregator, but most people just use it for piracy.
For those interested but confused where to start. Search for "torrentio stremio" and start there.
Don't want to link directly since piracy, but there are lots of good guided and once it's setup on an account it's done forever.
I'd say it's a 7/10 experience. When it works well (mostly for popular/new stuff) it works really well and I might as well be watching Netflix. For other, more obscure stuff which I might have trouble finding a copy of anyway it struggles with the initial download or simply won't play the file at all.
Ocassionally sub timings are off or we get a torrent thag sucks and we need to change source. But it's mostly fine.
Definitely recommend picking up a debrid service as well, I use RealDebrid but I don't know if its the best one. Its basically a good way to make sure you're getting quality links and hopefully not needing a separate VPN. It does cost money, but its so cheap its basically free.
Yeah I have this setup, that wasn't clear in my post. I think I'm using AllDebrid and except one period of downtime for a couple days when they got DDOS'd it's been fine and like you say, basically free.
Holy smoke! You mean that their costumers get the ads for free? Happy days!
For a minute there i thought Id have to upgrade to get those ads
I'm happy I quit Amazon Prime several years ago.
I had a month-to-month prime subscription that I canceled today because of this. They allow either not renewing next period, or canceling immediately and getting a refund. I'm in the US, but I would guess that you'll be able to get a refund too.
I know for my (US) yearly when I cancelled like a few days into the year I was refunded most of it.
Never done monthly though.
Ooh please let me know if you follow up on this
For all of Amazon’s faults, I’ve never had trouble getting a refund from them. They know you’ll be back.