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Arethusa

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Arethusa , (edited )

Wow. This is why owning DVDs is better. And if you can’t buy, download via torrents. Imagine these bastards rolling up to your home and reclaiming a movie you physically purchased. We gave them too much power. Time to withdraw it. Convenience is not worth this shit. Get uncomfortable and get your entertainment away from these streamers who don’t give customers what they paid for.

DVD rental stores could surely make a comeback given these new developments. Libraries still loan movies as well. Remember, Barnes & Noble didn’t run all independent bookstores out of business. And after Amazon savaged Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books suddenly came into existence (2015 - 2022). Greed driven corporations aren’t the answer.

Arethusa , (edited )

I’ve always felt uncomfortable about “buying” digital media that stays on a cloud. Vudu (Walmart) offers this as well as Google I believe. Renting digitally bothered me less because the notion that it’s temporary is inherent to renting. The above situation solidifies my concerns. I’ve “bought” some media this way but I will never do so again.

Cancelled Netflix as of last month as well and I won’t be keeping up any streaming subscriptions long term. One off month subscriptions will serve in a pinch as I travel but with the games corporations play with blocking use between locations, they’ve rendered themselves as having no purpose.

Arethusa , (edited )

Abusive is a perfect description. Exploitative too. I’ve always viewed store credit as a sucky refund policy. Offline. Whenever I discovered these, usually because I needed to return something, these shops lost my business.

And the above is not even the same situation when you really look at it. This person didn’t want to return something. They made a purchase they wanted to keep. Then Amazon just said, “oh, we’re repossessing that media and keeping your money. Feel free to use this store credit on something else for which we can repeat this scenario all over again at will. Have a great day!”

Arethusa ,

Steam came to my mind with this situation as well. I assume the outcry would be loud if this happened there. But it gives another good reason to shift habits.

Arethusa , (edited )

Gift cards and store credit = “we keep your money.”

The reality is that they didn’t give the customer back anything. It’s the usual corporate sales speak.

“50% off” and “Save $10” aren’t actually real either. $10 doesn’t appear in customer’s bank accounts after a purchase and customers often have no concept of what the item originally cost before it was marked up and brought to market by the the corporation. It’s sales and marketing psychological games that many people can’t see through. $9.99/$59.99 is cheaper than $10.00/$60.00 true and people somehow feel better buying the former versus the latter as though that penny isn’t only a penny and they didn’t give the corporation the 99.99% of the money they wanted.

Arethusa , (edited )

It still comes down to choosing convenience over not being taken advantage of. Building a computer, for example, has many benefits over buying one. It’s a matter of what a person places value on.

Why follow corporations’ timelines for obsolescence? I’m sure if they could erase the technology of media players from people’s minds, corporations would. Best to keep people completely hooked up and dependent on their “services” so they can be milked of their money continuously.

As long as the method and means to play the media is available, physical is my preference. Vinyl, CDs, DVDs. Cassettes and VHS quality over time leaves much to be desired and is the only reason why I wouldn’t add them to the list.

These aren’t dependent on a network, internet, cloud. Own forever, build and repair.

Arethusa ,

Another DVD plus is never having it go pixelated or buffering while watching due to some streamer error or widespread cloud downtime or other issue. That one time purchase and watching it whenever I like for as long as I like, and not some corporation, is an impeccable experience.

Arethusa , (edited )

I don’t see the disagreement here.

Digital includes digital optical or video discs (DVDs). DVDs and downloads are preferable to the situation posted by OP which is what I posted in this thread. The choice is convenience or not being taken advantage of and owning your media.

And an aside, have you never had a portable CD player or minidisc player or mp3 player, nevermind a tape player? Are you familiar with Walkman? Sony still makes that.

Arethusa ,

Owning my media is what’s significant and I do in multiple ways that have been listed. It’s not an issue which one I use. What’s important is that media not being locked up by a corporation after I’ve “bought” it.

Arethusa ,

I didn’t understand this for a long time myself. And I can’t rightly remember when I first learned about this sort of thing. But once I did, information just seemed to flow to me from multiple directions. Maybe look up classic tactics around sales and marketing, then deceptive, yet typical, psychological sales and marketing practices. There’s a book on credit cards I enjoyed years ago “How to Take Advantage of the People Who Are Trying to Take Advantage of You: 50 Ways to Capitalize on the System” by JSB Morse (Though long story short, avoid debt and credit cards). One video on YouTube turned me off of buying ink cartridges once I found out what they truly cost versus the exorbitant amount they sell them for. Capital rip offs.

Arethusa ,

Right, so what is the relevance of this in the context of owning your own media versus being milked for money by corporations and having what you paid for removed at their whim? You’d have to be familiar with common usage of media players up to today to give a knowledgeable comparison on what was and is normal or impractical in that area, let alone the meaning of digital, which you don’t appear to be. My point that owning is better than allowing corporate exploitation for convenience sake still stands.

Arethusa ,

So… you prefer owning your media, as was said many times here. Great.

What advice would you give a young adult about to move out?

I am asking this question because the young adult in question, is me. I am to move out in a few years, and it feels impossible to move far away from my hometown (which I want). I have no idea how to juggle both finances, a job, and the move itself. With the global inflation going on, it feels impossible getting hold of a decent...

Arethusa ,

Bills/expenses are important in the following order:

  1. Rent / roof over your head
  2. Electricity and gas
  3. Food (fresh food, frozen food, canned food. This is also the order of the speed this food goes bad with fresh going off first and canned lasting the longest. This can also be the order of nutritiousness with fresh being the best. The reverse on cost with fresh usually being the most expensive).

Saving money is more important than moving out unless employment prospects are nil back home or it’s psychologically taxing to be around family. That saved money, whether using retirement options via employers who may match your contribution or through your own individual bank or brokerage, provides freedom to move out with more choices, or travel, or quit a sucky job, or deal with an emergency etc.

Meta wants to charge EU users $14 a month if they don't agree to personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram (www.businessinsider.com)

Meta wants to charge EU users $14 a month if they don’t agree to personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram::Meta is considering offering ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram for $14 a month – but only in Europe.

Arethusa ,

Sounds great. I stopped using Facebook years ago. This can only bring their demise faster.

Arethusa ,

Sounds like Netflix is panicking and scrambling. The frequency of their subscription hikes increases and increases. Perhaps they think they can price hike their way out of the dissatisfaction they have delivered to subscribers. Keep trying Netflix, find that magic subscription price point that will surely cover for all the subscribers you’re shedding with your idiocy and will definitely not hasten your arrival to 0% revenue. Increasing that price won’t lose you more subscribers right? Of course not. Burn Netflix burn.

Arethusa ,

Netflix’s lowered revenue growth is the highlight. That’s what they and their investors focus on, with subscriber satisfaction being an afterthought. The price hikes haven’t shown any effect on that downward trend either. But hey, keep hiking I say. Fires burn bigger when fuel is added and these people can’t differentiate water from gasoline. Having washed my hands of this company, I’m looking forward to further scrambling when revenue growth is nil and then negative and the stock drops and drops and the corporatists wail.

Arethusa ,

This is exactly what I thought of. After The Prestige and Soma, the wonder and awe of teleporters were forever lost to me and replaced by a Lovecraftian, world of Cthulhu-esque cosmic horror type dread. Let’s have some technological advances for bending time and space a la A Wrinkle In Time or Dune. Manipulate stuff that’s not my body.

Arethusa ,

I created an account on Lemmy.world earlier this summer but it remained dormant for the most part because I tend to participate in these kinds of forums from my phone. It’s similar to a preference to watching movies and television shows on a television. I wasn’t streaming until apps and services became available to stream and watch directly on my TV. I just wasn’t going to watch on my phone or computer except once in a blue moon.

After experimenting with several apps, Boost for Reddit was what I preferred and used for a long while back there. As soon as Boost became available for Lemmy, the ease of participating here for me was as smooth as silk. For others that Boost was a fave with, it’s probably the same.

It’s great that activity is on the rise on alternatives such as Lemmy.

Arethusa ,

I was not allowed to go on the next class trip because I talked when I wasn’t supposed to on the bus ride home during the last trip.

My report cards were always excellent academics but needs improvement or unsatisfactory on behavior because I was talkative. They wanted little meek drone robot children to feel superior over in their miserable jobs and lives. I imagine the feeling of power over a captive youth who have no choice over interacting with them therefore they can do almost anything they like was the only thrill most of these teachers received in life. Even as a kid, I never granted respect to anyone, classmate or adult without them earning it.

The next class trip was to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I remember seeing commercials and wanting to see the animal tricks. I had to stay at school alone that day and I never did get to go to that Circus.

I hated disgusting school lunches so my parents made mine. I had a teacher dictate how I was eat my lunch which I brought from home and when I refused to eat in any other order but the way I wanted to, told me to sit on my hands. That got handled by my parents and I was never told a damn thing about my lunch again.

Another teacher lectured me about learning to live in the world with other people when I complained that the classmate behind me was repeatedly kicking my chair and jolting me during class.

Looking back, these situations were always a conflict of wills where students weren’t supposed to have any and just mindlessly follow or allow themselves to be picked on by others.

Suffice it to say, the majority of my teachers were scum and my favorites were few and far between. This is why people homeschool. Poor teachers, propaganda and brainwashing as education, and crap school lunches.

Arethusa ,

And the baby formula scandal. businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scanda…

Arethusa , (edited )

I learned about this at university. Wasn’t sure I’d find mention of it online but it’s out there. One of the many examples of corporations extra psychotic behavior in the Global South. IIRC they were keen on getting mothers feeding their babies formula particularly so their breast milk dried up and then they would have no alternative, becoming dependent and stuck in a financial bind.

Arethusa ,

Ahh, may they join Netflix in their journey to 0% then negative revenue. These corporations look at their subscribers with disdain and assume no matter what they do, subscribers will be dumb enough to be treated poorly and still pay them. Netflix is losing subscribers who pay $16 - $20 and replacing them with those that pay half as much. Then they shout from the rooftops that they are gaining subscribers. They’ve set their trajectory towards their doom. Watching them all burn will be great.

Arethusa ,

I first read the enshittification post during the Reddit blackout. It’s on point.

Arethusa ,

The error message “this account cannot be used in this location,” finally hit my account after I’ve been subscribed to Netflix for over 10 years. I’ve cancelled permanently and will be emailing their privacy dept for immediate account deletion as I will never subscribe to them again. I don’t need 10 months. I’ve described some of my experience in another recent comment on an older Netflix crackdown in Australia post. My account was North American however.

Netflix was the only streaming service I kept up consistently month to month. I did fall into the same trap you did after allegedly “cord cutting” several years ago. Too many “Gos” and “Nows” and a “Sling.” Stupidity really. I realized my mistake and corrected it then, only subscribing to streaming services when there was a season I wanted to binge and then cancel after a month.

But Netflix was flexible in that I could travel and use it unlike a Hulu or HBO Now etc. It was annoying when movies and series disappeared but there was always something else to watch.

Now I’m done. Companies like Netflix and Reddit (and other social media sites), and even Playstation with their insane Playstation Plus hike, count on and thrive off of the addict mentalities of their customers. Just like McDonald’s and credit card companies. Recognizing that allows people to stop feeding these greedy corporations if they have the willpower to do so (some people would rather be addicts and serve as money cows).

Any program I haven’t finished watching on Netflix, I have the means to do so without subscription and once that’s done, I won’t know or be aware of what programming they have because I’m not a subscriber any longer.

Netflix is heading for a death spiral if they aren’t already there. Their revenues are dropping. It’s just a matter of watching the fall until they hit 0% and then negative. They are intent on this change regardless of if it will destroy the very thing they’re trying to maximize. Money. They really have the wrong of it by increasing subscription price and taking away the features that made them attractive as a service to begin with. They’ve waved subscription numbers around for the ignorant as a smokescreen while they continue to lose money and the subscribers who were paying $16 - $20 versus markets where they sell Netflix subscriptions for as low as $10 or lower.

Arethusa ,

Podcast Republic is an awesome podcast app. When Stitcher became cumbersome that’s what I switched to years ago. I feel even better having made the switch now that Stitcher has been absorbed.

Arethusa ,

It’s become apparent that Netflix has been rolling out these changes gradually over the past couple of years to avoid a high volume outcry. They are aiming for a trickle here and trickle there.

Searches for “this account cannot be used in this location” + “Netflix” shows the same story. People run into blocks that didn’t exist when they traveled or used Netflix away from home.

Many subscribers haven’t experienced this yet and so try to explain it away as an anomaly making those who have experienced it question themselves. And there are the shills online, on Reddit for example, trying to play it off as subscribers being angry about nothing and/or trying to take advantage of lower Netflix fees in other regions. That doesn’t explain North American users paying over $16 being blocked from using their accounts while abroad. Netflix customer service response is consistent in its inanity and gaslighting.

This is not “working.” Netflix revenue is decreasing year on year, quarter on quarter. They are replacing subscribers who pay $16 - $20 in North America etc with subscribers paying as low as or lower than $10 in other countries. It defeats their greedy purpose to replace 1 person paying $20 with 2 paying $10. They are not “forcing” anyone to subscribe at the $16 - $20 level because they were locked out based on location. Rather they are leaving a bad taste in the mouth of subscribers and losing them in the process.

Netflix’s audacious ludicrous stance is that they are entitled to money from people who share accounts with friends and family. They imagine this money will materialize for them once they put these measures in place. It’s obvious that is not happening.

Netflix has decided a death spiral is preferable to providing service that subscribers want. How long before revenue growth is 0% and then negative. That’s the trend. That’s where they’re headed. I can’t wait🫸🫷.

The “this account cannot be used in this location” error hit me this week after using Netflix for more than 10 years. Customer service was very interested in telling me to get prepaid cards and phones to re-subscribe to my account versus being able to use my North American payment method and billing info while traveling.

Fuck Netflix. How dare they? They are not food and water or a roof overhead. They are not entitled to details of my location or traveling habits. They are simply entertainment. They were the only streaming service I kept up consistently month to month almost like cable. That is the reality that Netflix will face. People will subscribe for a month to binge a show and then cancel once that month is done. They’re destroying a selling point that made them better than Hulu or any other streamer not available internationally.

Netflix sent their last DVD this week. Soon enough Netflix may return to DVDs when they’ve run their business into the ground and the only interest people have will be to purchase Stranger Things or The Witcher to watch on their DVD players and game consoles away from subscription.

Arethusa ,

Netflix decided they didn’t care about subscriber preferences and would rather push what they want the subscriber to watch instead. Perhaps it was the moment they removed the star rating system and replaced it with thumbs up and down. The double thumbs up addition made the removal of the star rating system look utterly ridiculous. When “More Like This” recommends the same shows/movies no matter what you just watched, it becomes obvious Netflix just wants to funnel subscribers to raise viewership in certain categories or for certain programs. They don’t care what subscribers want and this is just one example of that.

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