If Big Media is so dogged on not letting me watch something then fine, I’ll exercise my freedom of association and boycott it if they want it so much.
Therein lies the issue I have with modern streaming. When Netflix was the only game in town, things were mostly fine. Then I saw content I was actively watching disappear from the service, and research showed that this was due to licensing issues.
I saw the writing on the wall. Copyright holders were gearing up to make their own Netflix competitor streaming service. Which is exactly what they did.
When it all started, I dusted off my tri-point hat and got to work building “my own Netflix” and honestly, it’s been amazing. A royal pain in my arse sometimes, but mostly amazing.
I have had the (dis)pleasure of dealing with some of the more recent streaming services, shortly before everyone started cracking down on “asking sharing” bullshit. I live in the same house as one subscriber, but I run my own network, and have my own Internet IP address, so I’m not in their “home” and can no longer use the service because of account sharing restrictions and related bullshit. Anyways…
One thing that always grabbed me is that my own service puts all my recently watched shows that have new episodes front and center as soon as I open it up… New streaming services either have that info halfway down the page, with the top of the page dominated by ads for new shows to watch, or whatever popular… Meanwhile, I mainly just care about the show I’ve been watching and I want to watch what’s new… What a pain in the ass.
On top of that, I would have to memorize what service has what shows/movies, and if it’s anything pre-streaming that’s not part of a large franchise, like Star wars or Star Trek, or whatever, I usually have to look it up, or bounce between different services frantically searching for what I want.
No thanks.
The MPAA needs to take notes from the RIAA… I subscribe to one music service and I never have any trouble finding what I want to listen to. … Key takeaway: I subscribe to a music service.
I do not subscribe to any video streaming services.
Pretty much every film with the smallest amount of popularity can be easily, freely torrented in high definition. Netflix has good OG anime, not worth the price of subscription but still, whilst other platforms don’t even offer that. Why give them money? Learn to use the interwebs!
Reminder that your local library likely has many great DVDs. Not just the classics either. I was surprised to see my library had Dune part 1&2 and many others.
On your 13 PAID streaming services.
