Amazon getting greedy

Dust2dust

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I just got this email today:

Dear Prime member, We are writing to you today about an upcoming change to your Prime Video experience. Starting February 5, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than traditional 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. We will also offer a new ad-free option for an additional $2.99 per month that you can sign up for here.

There's no way I pay an additional $3 per month for prime (even canadian). I already have a hard time justifying the price I already pay. I will probably just not renew at the end of my subscription. :angry:
 

Marc_LFD

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Prime Video kinda sucks as it is already so when I get a free trial it's just for faster delivery and claim free games via Prime Gaming.

I personally don't like doing returns through Amazon as I read they have banned people for it. Last time I did a return must have been 1-2 years ago or more.
 

SylverReZ

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I just got this email today:



There's no way I pay an additional $3 per month for prime (even canadian). I already have a hard time justifying the price I already pay. I will probably just not renew at the end of my subscription. :angry:
Maybe instead host all of your movies onto a Plex server or TV box instead of paying a monthly subscription, saves you a lot.
 
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Dust2dust

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I personally don't like doing returns through Amazon as I read they have banned people for it. Last time I did a return must have been 1-2 years ago or more.
I've been buying from Amazon for more than a decade, and absolutely never returned anything. Only once, I had a somewhat defective item and wanted to return it. It still worked but not to my expectations. I contacted them to return it. They sent me a return label to print out, and expected me to pay for the shipping. I didn't act right away as the shipping cost would have been expensive. A few days later, they refunded my money, and I still had the item here. Decided to not ship it. Screw the seller for shipping me junk.
I've been subscribed to Amazon Prime since 2009. Never once have I watched a single video on Prime Video.
I don't particularly watch it either, to be honest. I mostly have Prime for the shipping convenience, but I don't order that much stuff, so I don't know if it's still worth it. I just find it pretty malicious to suddenly introduce ads for a service that people have subscribed to, understanding that there would be no ads. What they could have done is tell me that at the end of my subscription, they would introduce ads if I renewed with the same tier I had before. Then I could choose to cancel, accept the ads, or pay the additional $3 to be ad-free.
Maybe instead host all of your movies onto a Plex server or TV box instead of paying a monthly subscription, saves you a lot.
As I said above, I can't say I subscribe to Prime for the movies and TV shows. It was just a bonus to me, but now a bonus I will use even less than before. Also, I wasn't aware in this age of streaming, people still downloaded their movies. It's like telling someone to drop Spotify and download the mp3s instead. Sure, but Spotify is much more convenient, especially a cracked version.
 

mrdude

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I actually really agree with you on this one, Plex is proprietary software and they have a subscription, who knows if they suddenly won't get greedy like Amazon.
Plex - I get this force installed on Nvidia Shield TV, however there are many free alternatives that can do the exact same thing for free, example: Jellyfin, Kodi, Emby, Stremio, VLC, Pretty much any NAS or computer. I don't get why people would pay for something that can be done for free. I large Hard drive and download your favourite stuff and it's all on tap, or for streaming just use stremio, Beetv, Filmplus, CinemaHD etc....
 
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tech3475

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Fortunately I only occasionally use Prime Video, mainly The Grand Tour.

It's usually family who watches Prime more than I do and they're used to ads because they still watch live TV....literally they're the only reason I have to mess around with Virgin Media and Sky TV.

Edit:

Thinking about it, I'd rather have them do this than just them raising the base price of Prime, given my usage.

Prime Video kinda sucks as it is already so when I get a free trial it's just for faster delivery and claim free games via Prime Gaming.

I personally don't like doing returns through Amazon as I read they have banned people for it. Last time I did a return must have been 1-2 years ago or more.

I heard from years ago, allegedly, they use some kind of points system to determine bans. In theory it's only excessive returns, these days, I do the odd return here and there and haven't had any issues.....so far.

Plex - I get this force installed on Nvidia Shield TV, however there are many free alternatives that can do the exact same thing for free, example: Jellyfin, Kodi, Emby, Stremio, VLC, Pretty much any NAS or computer. I don't get why people would pay for something that can be done for free. I large Hard drive and download your favourite stuff and it's all on tap, or for streaming just use stremio, Beetv, Filmplus, CinemaHD etc....

The main benefit Plex still has for me is increased device support and I trust it more than exposing Jellyfin to WAN for remote access and Wireguard has its issues.

With Plex I can say go into my parents kitchen, load up Plex on the smart TV and watch stuff (no a Fire stick, etc. isn't an option, they don't want one in there).

Granted I have Plex Lifetime from before they raised the price about a decade ago, certainly wouldn't buy it now.

Several of the alternatives you list are more useful on LAN e.g. Kodi and VLC. Emby also isn't entirely free, being more Plex like from my understanding and having different tiers of subscription.

Also, yeah no **** piracy is cheaper, but not everyone wants to.
 
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hippy dave

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I have had access to prime video as part of my prime sub for a while, but never found a reason to use it tbh, I'll end up just torrenting some TV shows before learning they would have been available on prime. This new ad shit is enough reason to never even wonder if I should be bothering with it again.
 
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Marc_LFD

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I have had access to prime video as part of my prime sub for a while, but never found a reason to use it tbh, I'll end up just torrenting some TV shows before learning they would have been available on prime. This new ad shit is enough reason to never even wonder if I should be bothering with it again.
Coming 2 America had me excited before the movie was released as the trailer looked fun, but the actual movie was pretty mediocre.

That's a sequel that didn't need to exist. :/
 
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The Catboy

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As someone who sued (and won against) Amazon, I can tell you just how greedy they are. They did everything in their power to avoid paying for my worker’s compensation and take accountability for their shit handling of my case. They dragged my entire medical record and history through the courts, they attempted to use the “Trans Broken Arm Syndrome” defense against me, they attempted to use my mental illness and autism in court, they attempted use my known disabilities, and so much more, all to avoid paying me the 2K they were supposed to pay in worker’s compensation. I sued the shit out of them and won, I can’t disclose the amount but they dragged so much into the courts to avoid paying me what they legally owed me. Amazon is a terrible company.
Bonus point, they’ve completely fucked over streamers. My Amazon Prime subscription went from nearly 8$ a sub to less than 3$. My ads went from about 50cents a stream to only a few pennies. I stopped streaming because it was costing me more money to stream.
 

Marc_LFD

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Y'all don't torrent MKV files and watch them in VLC?

Whack...
amazon.com/Planes-Trains-Automobiles-Steve-Martin/dp/B002S30PS4/

I find it funny that there's an option to Buy or Rent when it's essentially the same thing, "Buy" is just a long-term rental. 🤣

If Amazon closes your account or they lose the license, then say goodbye to having access to it. That's why I don't like claiming "free" games for the Amazon Game Launcher. :/

And who knows how long the Epic Game Store will last regardless of always giving free games.
 
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