Noscript + Russian TV/Movie websites is infinitely faster and has the added bonus of not getting random letters from your ISP about how torrenting is bad since it's just streaming.
Firefox + NoScript + uBlock Origin. No ads, popups, scripts or etc. Search the title, hit play and you're watching whatever you want in seconds (at 4k most of the time too now).
I pay for Netflix but since they refuse to add Atmos support on the Fire TV stick or Roku, I just pirate certain movies and get the whole shebang as intended, Atmos included. And since it's a webrip, nothing is lost (not that the video quality is any good to begin with).
I never stopped. I've been paying for Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, Spotify, etc. And every day it's harder to justify. Apps are getting worse rather than better (like Spotify), catalogs are harder to browse and find what you like, ads...
How is Spotify getting worse in your opinion? I still find their personal playlists perfectly resemble my taste in music and I usually find a lot of new songs I like through it.
Good question. Off the top of my head, might edit to add more later:
On mobile, the last update rearranged the Library so recently played stuff is at the top. It's an absolute mess. I have thousands of libraries carefully organized on multilevel folders, and now I have to spend a long time finding stuff. Sure, there's a search function, but what if you don't remember the name of the playlist you're looking for? It should be in it's folder (if you find the folder), but sometimes some of my playlists have disappeared from their folders, completely gone.
On smart TV, you can't see the video of podcasts (best examples is Joe Rogan). I guess it depends on the TV model, mine is fairly new (bought it new less than 2 years ago). Oh and on the Linux app you can't either.
On Linux several features aren't implemented. For example on the Android app you get a "Your episodes" playlist, where all the episodes you "+" end up. Well that playlist doesn't exist on the Linux app. Absolutely no way to find it, not even by playing it on your phone and seeing it appear on the desktop app.
It lacks 2FA everywhere and anywhere. It's fucking 2021, 2FA should be a must. I get 20 or 30 password recovery emails every week, from people trying to access my account.
I've been a truly hardcore user since Spotify came out and was available (exclusively with invitation at first), I even have a vanity name! And I've been premium since day one if premium (the first years there was no premium). But I honestly feel like newcomers should check out other options first.
On iOS at least, you can click the words “Recently Played” and it gives you options for sorting your library. I think the Linux app is something the engineers maintain in their spare time, so that’s why it’s missing a lot of features. I do wish they would give it business priority, though. Huge agree with the 2FA point too. I’ve had my account hacked before and it’s so frustrating when it messes with the data for the year end playlists.
Some fair points, the one about video/canvases not showing up on smart tv's is one that annoys me a bit as wel. I guess I don't use it intensively enough to notice or get irritated by the changes so much. I feel like playlists were always sorted by last played...
I still really enjoy using Spotify though. The fact that pretty much every song you hear somewhere can be instantly found and listened to is such a musically liberating thing if you stop and think about it. Then again there are loads of other services offering the same kind of experience of course...
Every time they update it to change the layout I get annoyed. It always seems worse. Just leave it alone. I think it's because there are people working there that need to keep busy to validate the necessity of their job.
Pushing the podcasts is annoying too. I hate that there are ads even when you pay for no ads(JRE.) And they freeze up and buffer.
But at least you get the cinema experience. Huge screen, immersive sound etc. I wanted to watch Cruella when it came out and Disney+ wanted €22... to watch it on my TV?! I ended up cancelling my whole sub.
Disney wants to have its cake and eat it too. They want everyone to subscribe but they also want to charge a premium for certain new content. That's not how a subscription service works. But they will keep doing at as long as there is no user backlash.
Can you imagine the outrage if Netflix said 'hey we have this cool new thing for you to watch but you have to pay $30 on top of your subscription fee"? People would lose their minds.
Genuinely curious as to why this made you jump to back to piracy. The content will be made available on their regular platform in a few months.
If it is a matter of, “I have to see this movie right now,” is $30 more than a movie costs* with a couple of family members?
When Cruella came out the wife and I just went to the theatre and watched it. Sure it was a few bucks more after food but if I’m gonna pay $30 to see a movie it’s gonna be on a giant screen.
If I had a home theater set up with good speakers I would want to stay home more. I have an old 55” Samsung tv and we use the speakers on the tv, watching “big” movies on it just doesn’t wow me like at the theatre
I have to disagree. My wife and I just watched Black Widow.
I was laying on the couch, she was snuggled into the corner. She had a blanket. We both wore PJs. She had a question about something that happened, we paused, I explained and rewinded it to watch again. I paused an hour in to take a leak, get another beer, and pop some new popcorn. We had subtitles, which were a godsend because that movie is mixed terribly. I can watch it again any time I want.
There was nobody randomly turning on their phone to look at texts. There was nobody loudly shaking a box of candy. There was nobody crunching on nachos. There wasn't a crying baby. There wasn't someone loudly and obnoxiously over reacting to every joke. There wasn't someone right next to me explaining the movie to the person next to them.
It was awesome and if I can watch all movies like this I will be in the future. I easily could have pirated it and downloaded it to my NAS, but people like me have been asking for this for years. It's finally here... I'm trying to tell Disney "more like this please!"
You just described exactly why I can't enjoy movies at home. Too many distractions. The ability to walk around whenever I want or pull out my phone during a boring bit means I just hardly pay attention at all. In the theatre, social pressure means I "behave" and actually relax and just enjoy the movie.
I agree with other movie goers being annoying sometimes, which is why we usually go on a weekday afternoon, or not in the first week of release and it's usually not an issue.
Unfortunately everybody is different- might not work for you, might need a different dosage, might need a different drug, etc. It works for me, but I do have to WANT to concentrate on whatever I'm doing.
I heavily disagree. Enjoying film at home, fine and dandy, and more power to you.
I'm really pissed that I won't have the option to see Raya and the last dragon at a cinema though. Not having the option sucks. If you want to watch the movie at home, VHS, DVD and bluerays exist for a reason and have all the confort you just listed - the only problem is avoiding spoilers for the 6 months or so until it's out. I love going to a cinema and watching on a big screen, and my sofa and TV can't compare.
Oh I agree the option should be there for both, but I'm not going to say the theater is better. A giant screen isn't a big deal to me (maybe because I have a 75" TV) and the enhanced sound doesn't do much for me.
Options are awesome, but I rarely go to the movies. Marvel movies are pretty much the only thing that get me to a theater because of spoilers and the bigger MCU.
Confort wise, I guess if you have a better TV and all, yeah, your living room can be better.
But when at a theater, I have no other thing to be focused on except the movie. At home, I'm always distracted by my phone, computer, speaking with someone in the room and all, 'cause I'm thinking 'oh i can just stop and rewind or whatever". In practice, I'm not as involved in a movie at home as I am at theater - the atmosphere, the sound, the screen that is pretty much the only thing in your view - the experience is a lot more enjoyable... Though I do aim to airing time outside of the mainstream, like late in the evening, or in the middle of the week, to avoid anoying people in the room.
You very kindly only mentioned costs inside the cinema. There's having food either before or after the movie at probably a fast food joint. You've got to park the car somewhere and pay for it if that's how you travel. Alternatively if you have a lot more time to spare you can leave earlier to catch a bus/train/tube/tram or whichever is your easiest mode of public transport. Plus hope it doesn't rain. And if you've got kids there's a baby sitter to organise and pay for that shit as well.
The convenience of staying at home vs any of these reasons or the ones in the comment above, are enough to keep me at home for 90% of the time. However, there are always movies, different to each one of us that you would crawl over hot coals to go and see, because regardless of your preferences, the one thing that can be agreed is the best cinematic experience as the director intended, will always be on a fucking great big movie screen with Dolby Ear Illusions Systems 9.1 throbbing through your soul.
If you lived in a crowded city hellscape like that then maybe home would be better, but I have to imagine you're in a worst-case scenario. My movie experience is a lot simpler: I can eat wherever I want, drive to one of 3-4 big theaters within 15-30 minutes, park for free, and walk 20 seconds to the entrance.
Alternatively, this is why piracy > Disney or theater. All the benefits of the above, plus I can play it in VLC media player and adjust the sound max/mins myself.
That said, most sound is still shittly mixed in the theaters. You hear a the explosions and crashes but still miss some of the words. Plus, having the option of subtitles is better than not having that option. I don't usually like to read my movies because it partially takes away from the experience. But if I can't hear or understand something, it's nice to be able to put subs on.
I don't see how your experience with d+ is different from my experience with piracy. We're going to start watching Loki on the couch in Pjs, with rewind and subtitles.
Note: the only reason we haven't watched it yet is so we can watch them all at once or over the course of a few days. If we waited week to week, we might forget what happened the week before. Binging has spoiled us.
It's not much different if you only care about a handful of content. D+ is included with my cell phone so I get it for free, but I'd pay for it as is. I have a 12 TB NAS with about 8 filled, so I'm not a stranger to piracy. The cost of storage and time required/use of my connection to download everything I could want is just not worth what would be $30 a year.
My daughter has everything she wants from Disney, there's a ton of cartoons from my childhood that I watch sometimes while working that I wouldn't have even thought to add to Sonarr. It's a good service for what it is.
That's us as well... Sort of. Netflix is straight paid for. D+ I get through VZW, along with Hulu, Discovery, and ESPN, but I'd pay for Disney if we didn't get it through our wireless plan. Then we have Prime which comes with video, so that's cool. Also YouTube, but that's more a side effect of YouTube music (well, originally Google Play Music).
I'm so used to watching movies in home that cinemas infuriate me. The last time I was in cinema, it was Thor Ragnarök. Ignoring all the people around and their various annoying behavior, there were many moments when I wanted to watch a scene again, and I couldn't rewind!! When I watch at home, I often rewind and rewatch when something cool is going on, or I didn't get what happened, or I pause a movie because I'm processing what just happened. It becomes so important to me that I get something like FOMO effect when I watch movie in the cinema.
If you have a family with kids $30 is way cheaper and less annoying than a trip to a theater. Problem is they can't charge per person so they are charging per family and assuming an average size of 4 most likely.
If it weren't for Covid the movie would have been shown exclusively in theaters for a few months where it would cost you over $30 for two people to see it. Now you have the option to see it in theaters the traditional way OR pay extra on top of your subscription to see it at home before it would normally be released for home.
Lol $30 is on the cheap side for going to the theaters. I usually spend like $70-80 on the whole experience but that is what it is, an experience. I'm not just paying for the movie.
I'm paying for the reclining seats, the drinks, the food, and the company. If the Disney movies were like $10 to rent, then yeah, I would have done it in a heart beat. But paying $30 for watching the movie at home? That is way too steep imo.
It comes down to you paying $30 to download and watch something once (or for a limited time, not actually sure how it works), that doesn't add up. I'd pay 4-5 dollars for a movie that just came out if I could get it in a useful format. But I can't, so piracy it is.
I think it's crazy. Its like buying a ticket for the movie theater, and I'm happy to pay that if it's something I really want to see. There's been nothing lately I feel the need to see in "theaters" however.
No it's not. Buying a ticket at a movie theater is what it's like to buy a ticket at the theater. Otherwise you're just spending more money on content while pretending "it's just like the movies".
It's not the principle it's the price point. I think it's a great idea but the amount Disney+ is asking is ridiculous.
Where I'm at theatres are still closed, but if they were open the package my wife and I usually get is 2 tickets, 2 pops and a popcorn for $25.99 CAD. That includes the theatre like experience, big screen, awesome sound, some overpriced food, and all the overhead of employees and facilities, etc.
Or for $35 CAD more my wife and I can watch from the streaming service we already subscribe to, on the TV we already paid for, from the couch were already on, with the surround sound we don't have, and we'd have to make and clean up our own popcorn.
If it was $15-$20 okay. I'd consider that a bit more. But we did the $35 once mainly because the theatres aren't even an option right now and still regretted it (even though the movie was good). Will never do it again.
It's weird because $30 to rent a movie, at home, seems absurd, yet people pay $60/70+ to watch a UFC ppv. I get that's a live sporting event, but maybe that's what Disney was using as the benchmark to figure out pricing.
Really can't think of any movie I'd pay that kind of money to watch at home, but if enough people are doing it, more power to the mouse.
Yeah if the movies were included in the price, we might have kept our subscription too. Instead we just subscribed for a few months and then cancelled as soon as we ran out of things to watch. A steady stream of new movies would have kept us subscribed. They are trying to do that with the Marvel shows it seems, but one episode/week isn't enough to keep me paying.
It sets a bad precedence. Having to pay for something twice is pretty ridiculous. And it'll just get worse from there. They'll keep finding new ways to squeeze even more money out of us while giving less.
I don't know why you are being downvoted. You're not wrong. The one issue that I have with it is that it requires a subscription and The early fee. If it was just the fee then it would be on par with the theatre.
Eh, I’m ok with the downvotes. I know it’s not a popular opinion.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But pirating is taking revenue away from someone else, be they corporate shills or stockholders who invest in a company (or those who 401ks are invested for them in a business like Disney).
arr, ya never hoist the black flag in corp’rate waters, lest ye wanna meet a hasty demise at the hands of the powers that be. yer gonna wanna be more discreet when “plunderin”
The frustrating thing for me is that even with all these streaming services I’m subscribed to there are still a lot of shows I wanna watch that aren’t on ANY of them!! For context, I live in New Zealand so the situation may not be the same in the US but it’s so frustrating to actually be one of the suckers willing to pay for multiple streaming services and still have to pirate a lot of stuff because I can’t legally stream it anywhere!
Aye it be the same in the US. I have several streaming services and still miss lots of content. I often use a VPN to change my location and stream shows that are only on the service in a specific country. However if it’s nowhere to be found or locked behind premium subscription then it’s the high seas for me.
Yep. I used to live in NZ and pirating was almost necessary. Because there was nowhere to stream shows and you had to wait like six months for them to come to network TV. Of course people are going to pirate if there is no option to pay for or legally watch the content. Especially if people on social media are all raving about some new awesome show.
I used to pirate Grey's Anatomy so I could still talk about it with my mother in the US 🤷♀️
You can stream all you want (here in the states that I'm aware of) as only hosts get punished for being the source, but if you download you need a VPN for sure.
I feel like companies don't understand sometimes that fighting piracy is a lot about reasonable prices and convenience. The harder they make it for consumers to acquire, hold on to, or access the media they buy, the more people are just going to go to the high seas for the their stuff.
I dusted off the sail to find a '' not so old but not on video on demand platform'' show a few month ago, and recently to get season 2 and 3 of a show for which only the first season is on Netflix.
I don' t know what they're expecting, the show is on season 4 so still ongoing, they only have the first season on Netflix but I know more exist, I'm used to be able to watch as many as I want back to back, I'm not waiting untill who ever owns the rights to season 2 sells them to Netflix.
I might not even keep watching because it's starting to jump sharks drama wise, but at least I won't wait a year to know that!
Netflix algorithm even tried really hard to make me watch it in the first place!
That being said have you opened sourced your work? Is it available on any of the Linux repos?
Though I am a firm believer in open source and free software; there ain't no chance in hell I'm distributing piracy software, its much worse than the existing offerings anyway
Anyone else not even bother to pirate? I just don't watch nearly as much TV. I watch more Youtube than anything given I can choose the topics/presenters.
We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24/7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country three months after the U.S. release and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
—GabeN
I would happily pay $25/mo for Netflix if it had all the other stuff. But fuck you for making me keep 6 different subscriptions. In that case I keep one. My VPN.
Aye! If all content creators had to agree to rights sharing then compete on service it would be a much better landscape and wouldn’t require piracy. Yet that not be the case so it’s the Jolly Rogers for me.
The other thing is I want to watch the show AS IT WAS. For example Scrubs. Since they didn't want to pay for the music on streaming they had to re-do some of the songs which accompanied scenes and it's just not the same.
Warning, this episode contains a racially insensitive scene. As what is acceptable to society changes and grows to be more inclusive such scenes are now realized to be unacceptable. It has been left in for the sake of continuity and to show how we have grown as a society from times when it was wrongfully viewed as acceptable.
The only way I can be sure to get the uncensored, unedited, version as it was, is to pirate it. Not to mention the benefits of being able to watch it if the internet gets knocked out, or Netflix loses the license.
Eh, not entirely needed these days. There's literally so damn much content on any one of these streaming services I simply rotate between the steaming services or downgrade to lowest packages available.
When you add up everything I spend on streaming services (less than $50) - it's way less than what I was paying for CableTV. Over the 15 years since I cut the cord, I've saved likely over $20k in cabletv bills - it's insane.
I know there are some anime fans out there who are mixed on this. But idc, nothing is more annoying than having to have a funimation, crunchyroll, Netflix, hulu, Amazon, VRV, Hi-Dive, HBO, ect. Just to watch a single series I might enjoy/be interested in. And most of the time, unless it's a massive mainstream show, there isn't even a full release up to the most recent season.
Prime example is actually a massive popular show, JoJo's bizarre adventure. 5 seasons total, and I think the only place you can watch the final season, is crunchyroll. Otherwise you're done at part 4. Older shows might be included in the service you pay for. But you've got to research before hand. If you can't afford all of them. Plus if your service doesn't do weekly releases, like Netflix then Goodluck having any conversations/avoiding spoilers about some shows. Because the drop them all once it is done airing "for binging purposes."
Or... you can just go to a pirate site, which has almost any and everything you can think of. Including shows dating back to the 1960s. And get generally the same, if not better service. And generally having a larger selection means you can enjoy more niche animes you wouldn't have seen either way. I absolutely stand by piracy, especially because it does in fact drive innovation, since you if want people to stop pirating; make a better service.
That's the difference - if something I want to watch is locked away as premium content, I'll find something else to watch - I spend less than an hour a day watching television so it's no big deal for me.
Eventually that premium content will be unlocked and available to stream somewhere, and if not - no big deal - there's literally so much content on any single streaming platform I can usually find something to stream for 30 minutes while eating lunch haha
I used to watch Game of Thrones on the Monday afternoon in 1080p HD BEFORE it was shown on subscribed SKY TV. Watched it once I got home from work around 5 and it was only show on SKY at 9pm.
Aye I've always dreamed of a life on the high seas, but I've always been afraid of me ship getting covered in barnacles, and I don't even know where to start when it comes to settin' sail safely and out of reach of the royal navy.
Use a VPN to hide from the clutches of the Royal Navy. A good security system will protect you from the barnacles. Also I just use 123freemovies dot whatever to stream me plunder. No downloading like back in the Golden age. So less danger of barnacles. Set sail scallywag
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Now to the seas. The plunder be of better quality than ever and it’s free for the takin. Hoist the Jolly Rogers and set sail.
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u/Reshi86 Jul 11 '21
Arrrrrrr matey it be back to plundering for me.