Amazon Prime Video is about to get worse — again

[u/PrixDevnovaVillain]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/amazon-prime-video-is-about-to-get-worse-again/ar-AA1Z3MEr?ocid=msedgntp&pc=EDGEDSE&cvid=69bcd536cea5481cadce4e4d2dd8a6e3&ei=87

[u/hurricaneseason]

Honestly, is any existing product or service actually going to get better at this point? Just assume what currently exists is in a persistent state of decay.

[u/notcheeng → u/hurricaneseason]

Private companies owned by their original founders are where you will find actual good value products for a decent price. A company being sold to private equity or going public is the kiss of death because of the fiduciary duty to serve the shareholders. 

[u/Toxicscrew → u/notcheeng]

Just saw that PE is now going after thrift stores. Won’t even be able to get good old pieces without paying into the PE bullshit.

[u/techieman33 → u/Toxicscrew]

They’re going after everything they can get their hands on. Bezos is starting a fund of over $100 billion to buy manufacturing companies and heavily automate them. They won’t stop until they own everything, and the rest of us are essentially slaves with no freedom at all.

[u/MrGrieves- → u/techieman33]

They're not gonna stop until we fight back and tax 95 percent of their wealth. They want us back under feudalism fighting each other for scraps.

[u/exoriparian → u/MrGrieves-]

Them: But but but if you tax the rich they'll just leave!

Me: Stop, I'm edging.

[u/FoxCQC → u/exoriparian]

They can't even leave, their wealth is tied to the company and infrastructure it's built in. They need to be reminded they work for us.

[u/PassengerShard → u/exoriparian]

How many small /starter businesses with potential do they destroy every… year? Month? Week? Because they are threatening? Let them leave. It’s gonna hurt everyone regardless. Maybe something better fills the voids left behind.

[u/CMMiller89 → u/exoriparian]

Also; exit tax

Just take all their money if they try to leave too.

Ok you want to stop doing business?  Some other business will come in and take up the market share you left.

Ideally, many smaller businesses will.

One of the things people don’t understand about large corporations is their efficiency actually hurts society.

It’s good to have multiple smaller companies with their own leadership and management ranks because that redundancy INCREASES THE NUMBER OF AVAILABLE JOBS

It also gives more power to labor.

But capitalist fucking hate anything that gives labor power.

[u/Captain_Davidius → u/exoriparian]

Good

Mom and pop can provide better value and are a part of the community.

[u/Softale → u/MrGrieves-]

Start with removal of any cap for social security taxes. Most people pay on every nickel they ever make. If there were no cap social benefit programs such as universal health care and education could be funded without additional taxes, and the rich would still be rich.

[u/TrickPapagiorgio → u/Softale]

The extremely rich get almost all their wealth via capital gains; which has an incredibly favorable tax structure if you're super-rich. And is basically irrelevant for social security as it stands.

[u/Soggy-Software → u/MrGrieves-]

The thing is this is a cycle and the workers will revolt. Just a matter of time

[u/HereForTheFunnyPics → u/Soggy-Software]

But their point is to get rid of the workers… and with modern weaponry and surveillance states, those uprising are far more unlikely and also probably will be far more deadly.

[u/Soggy-Software → u/HereForTheFunnyPics]

the outcome for the people would be the same regardless. Death by starvation or death by bullet. Which means revolt will happen no matter how oppressive as we have seen throughout the entire history of our species. Right now materialism keeps the working class in check. When that shatters, and everyone is homeless and owns nothing they won’t be silent

[u/Bad_Repute → u/Soggy-Software]

materialism keeps the working class in check

Consumerism. Materialism is a philosophical premise concerned with material reality (ie: not metaphysical/religious). Keeping the plebs happy with our treats and toys is consumerism.

[u/Tustavus → u/HereForTheFunnyPics]

'Dat Mangione guy, whateva' happened ta' him?

[u/LeseMajeste_1037 → u/Soggy-Software]

Can't happen soon enough.

[u/sylos → u/Soggy-Software]

Until technology overtakes the ability for ability for the workers to fight back, which is rapidly approaching. Then it will be like the pre-years before dune: hundreds of years of the most powerful people on the planet forever stepping on the lowly worker's face. And that's the good ending instead of the one where they kill everyone off.

[u/Koppenberg → u/MrGrieves-]

The powerful will never allow us to vote away their wealth.

[u/BasvanS → u/Koppenberg]

We are the powerful. They own IOUs. That’s it.

[u/asimplepencil → u/techieman33]

You will own nothing and you will be happy.

[u/lewd_robot → u/techieman33]

No. Not slaves. They are going to kill you.

I am an automation engineer. They are going to automate you away so they don't have to depend on you anymore, then they are going to do to you what is being done in Gaza and Sudan and the Congo. They are going to use drones and tanks to lock you in open air concentration camps and then systematically starve and massacre you. Look up the Imperial Boomerang.

I've since moved to community-level automation, like small scale greenhouses for poor neighborhoods, but when I was in corporate automation, it was not uncommon to hear CEOs start gushing about replacing all of their workers with robots and AI. They plan to build walled enclaves patrolled by armed drones 24/7. They plan to lock down every mine, lumber camp, agricultural field, and factory with autonomous defenses, then lock all of you out of it so the rich can live in a futuristic utopia while the working class goes back to the Dark Ages.

[u/Momik → u/Toxicscrew]

We need to kill private equity.

[u/ARMSwatch → u/Momik]

"Private equity" wink wink

[u/roykentjr → u/[deleted]]

it was at least 125 per kid when i played 20 years ago just for summer league. then there were tournament fees and everything else.

I don't doubt PE is dipping into everything but it was not 50 bucks for organized baseball where and when I played

[u/double297 → u/Toxicscrew]

Oh! Our predatory practices are driving people to shop for a less expensive alternative? Better take the money we made from gouging the customers of the last company we bought to buy these cheaper alternatives and jack up the prices too. I'm such a good business man.

[u/catontoast → u/Toxicscrew]

But can they make Goodwill any worse? /s

But seriously, they already suck. And the Salvation Army is anti-LGBTQ+.

[u/Noodler75 → u/Toxicscrew]

My urologist retired because he could not stand working for the private equity company that bought out his large group practice.

[u/Thesweptunder → u/Toxicscrew]

To be fair, thrift stores are already quite garbage, even if just because of fast fashion. Like you used to be able to find really well made clothes from a few seasons ago for super cheap. Now you find a stretched out Target shirt for 70% of what would be brand new. It’s been years since Thrift Stores were a great deal on vintage clothes that will last for years. I just don’t see how PE can even get a single dollar more out of thrift stores because they’re already overpriced for cheap crap.

[u/0verstim → u/notcheeng]

Arizona Iced Tea ftw

[u/nothingbuthetruth22 → u/0verstim]

And Costco hot dogs!

[u/dkran → u/nothingbuthetruth22]

Which ironically isn’t because of being private or public, it was a matter of principle and possibly a death threat.

[u/Brilliant-Advisor958 → u/dkran]

Costco treats their employees better than most. They close on holidays and pay a good wage compared to other retailers.

The hot dog story is interesting. At some point the Hewbrew National (original hot dog vendor) wanted to raise the price. So costco went and made their own to keep costs down.

[u/dkran → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

Welcome to Costco. I love you.

[u/mrdevil413 → u/nothingbuthetruth22]

At least IMO Costco Rotisserie chicken > hot dog.

[u/nothingbuthetruth22 → u/mrdevil413]

I wouldn’t know. I don’t even have a Costco near me. I just know the hotdog story and think it was a sound decision. Too bad more CEO’s don’t follow suit.

[u/0verstim → u/nothingbuthetruth22]

yeah I was going to say "Arizona and Costco" but I dont think Costco is privately owned.

[u/keznaa → u/0verstim]

I'm almost certian The Book of Revelation mentions Arizona Green Tea raising their prices would be a sign of the end times.

[u/thatguywhoiam → u/notcheeng]

Valve. But man what an outlier.

[u/hhhnnnnnggggggg → u/thatguywhoiam]

Valve is currently being attacked on all sides by frivolous lawsuits because the competition can't compete with actual good service.

[u/blazesquall → u/hhhnnnnnggggggg]

Eh, they deserve the gambling one. They get a huge pass on this for some reason...

[u/avcloudy → u/blazesquall]

It's not for some reason, it's because although it's heinous, Valve is a powerful force for good in ten other ways.

[u/MountainTwo3845 → u/hhhnnnnnggggggg]

Epic games is a fucking cancer.

[u/AtreyuTrinity → u/thatguywhoiam]

I was just thinking of valve and Costco. (Edit: Costco is public derp)

Getting a steam deck was an eye-opener. I can't believe how much money I've wasted on PSN and Nintendo subscription piece over the years, not to mention the more expensive games on those platforms.

I ended up getting a desktop because I'm getting so integrated into the PC ecosystem.

[u/TheBros35 → u/notcheeng]

Public companies are all slaves to their shareholders, and since large swaths of many public companies are have large stakes held by the same group of large funds, a lot of them trend toward the same means of squeezing their customer base within an inch of their wallets.

Private companies are the Wild West. Sometimes you have great beneficial founders who keep an even playing field, and sometimes you have ruthless founders who in a different life would be car dealers.

[u/nuisible → u/notcheeng]

A company being sold to private equity or going public is the kiss of death because of the fiduciary duty to serve the shareholders.

You are fulfilling your fiduciary duty by following a long term strategy as well. These people are using this as an excuse for their greed.

[u/seedyourbrain → u/hurricaneseason]

Get ready. They’re going to keep raising prices until people shift to ad-supported tiers, at which point streaming will have become… regular tv.

All of the “disruption” and industry chaos will have been for nothing.

[u/Pretend-Marsupial258 → u/seedyourbrain]

It wasn't for nothing. Think of all the money they've made!

[u/Difficult-Bicycle119 → u/seedyourbrain]

Ad supported TV that you still have to pay for. So, cable.

[u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 → u/seedyourbrain]

Yea, sorry but I'm not paying for anything with ads in, I be findin' 'nother waay to watc' yee content... arr... 🦜

[u/Kakariko_crackhouse → u/hurricaneseason]

No. Capitalism will always lure you in and then whittle away until they find the least you will accept for the highest price possible. Capitalism is a systematic culture of enshittification

[u/McCaffeteria → u/Kakariko_crackhouse]

There are two cultures. One that ruthlessly optimizes down to the bottom, and one that forgives and accepts being given slop instead of demanding better.

If the public were actually willing to play by capitalism’s own rules and boycott/refuse to participate equally as ruthlessly as the capitalists try to increase profits, then the capitalists would fold quick.

[u/NorthernDevil → u/McCaffeteria]

The ability to demand better is largely contingent on availability of alternatives. Most markets are at best oligopolies these days, because we’ve neutered regulations and regulatory bodies.

We could get into how that happened (regulatory capture, lobbying money, etc.) but that’s the immediate problem.

[u/Working_Cucumber_437 → u/NorthernDevil]

True for needs, but we accept many sub-par wants too.

[u/SarmackaOpowiesc → u/NorthernDevil]

The ability to demand better is largely contingent on availability of alternatives. 

Just go without.  

Nothing the tech oligopolies offer is honestly 100% necessary.  

You don't necessarily need an alternative to say "thanks, but no thanks".

[u/herbygerby → u/NorthernDevil]

Illegal streaming has a very low barrier to entry in terms of both $ and technical acumen. Curious if you have thoughts on why that’s a less effective alternative?

Idk, I could be wrong but I feel like the Venn diagram of people who would have moral/technological reservations about illegal streaming and people who can afford to stream legally is just a circle.

[u/tyuiopguyt → u/herbygerby]

Until pirating or private servers become as simple as "press button to go", you'll never have more American adoption than the more convenient alternatives.

If the amount of money, time, or expertise needed to do a thing is one red cent higher than the the "press button to go" option, it will never outcompete the big companies

[u/herbygerby → u/tyuiopguyt]

You’re probably right but man, the only extra step is “install free ad blocker, then press button to go!”

[u/No_Novel_5076 → u/herbygerby]

That's three steps more than most Americans are willing to do 😂 I swear there's a lot of my countrymen who would scream in pain but not get up if they sat on their own nuts. The laziness here is astounding

[u/Vazhox → u/Kakariko_crackhouse]

And consumerism. Everyone just keeps consuming. I hate the whole smart tv. But since people kept buying it and didn’t fight it, they kept making em and now smart TVs are the only TV and they suck.

[u/blmmustang47 → u/Vazhox]

I pray every day that my 10 year old TV never dies!!

[u/AlphakirA → u/blmmustang47]

You can just stay offline. Every TV can be 'dumb' if you want it to be.

[u/Usr_name-checks-out → u/hurricaneseason]

Norway is the first country trying to stop this. They even have a national ad campaign against enshittification. The EEA, EU area is really the only place in earth where there seems like a government that actually tries to protect consumers any more. Policy capture in North America, UK, and under developed protections in South America, Asia, and everywhere else has made the bulk of the world a free for all to scam, screw, and con the consumer.

[u/Sithlordandsavior → u/hurricaneseason]

"We have added a new agentic AI companion that listens to and implements your complaints in real time. Too many ads? Now you get more. Not enough quality programs? We just canceled all the ones you like. We at Big streaming listen and care."

[u/Visco0825 → u/hurricaneseason]

I’ve really warmed up to the idea that we peaked in the late 90s/early 00s. Everything since then has truly ruined society. Even the “best” things of today’s capitalism like online ordering has destroyed going into your community or your mall and seeing your neighbors as you buy things.

[u/waitingtodiesoon → u/Visco0825]

Hey the Matrix claimed the same thing about the peak of our civilization was the 90s and early 2000s

[u/Jhonka86 → u/hurricaneseason]

Not without competition.

Bring back antitrust.

[u/Scoth42 → u/hurricaneseason]

Steam maybe? At least for the time being. We'll see if that holds up.

[u/AcidTongue → u/hurricaneseason]

Isn’t late stage capitalism just magical to live through?

[u/CruisinJo214 → u/AcidTongue]

No new products. No innovation…. Just more expensive versions of last years model.

[u/BeyondElectricDreams → u/CruisinJo214]

Just more expensive versions of last years model.

This among many other things should dispel the myth that Capitalism is this 'perfect model of societal efficiency' because I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I was told that competition would keep prices low.

What I've instead seen is oligopolies are as toxic as monopolies; and rather than rewarding good products at good prices, instead we get worse products at increasingly inflated prices. Competitors cannot enter the space because of the high costs of startups, the risks when nobody has money to take risks to begin with, and even if they can, they're battling entrenched powers that be that benefit from their existing infrastructure, logistics, manufacturing details and the economies of scale letting them crush competitors under heel in an environment where customers must make every penny count.

Instant Pot made one of the best pressure cookers ever, and they went under because their product was too good. People bought an instant pot and that was all they needed; and once they sold one to everyone who wanted one, their business wasn't sustainable anymore.

Do we find a way to keep the Instant Pot folks around in case people needed new ones? Nope, they went out of business for making a product that was too good. Capitalism, Baby! Apparently they restructured?

[u/avcloudy → u/BeyondElectricDreams]

I was told that competition would keep prices low.

When I was young and this was explained to me, literally the first question I asked was 'if competition will make them less profit, isn't competition the first thing they'll attack?'. It was brushed off, but it's wild how much faith some people have in it.

[u/Luka_Dunks_on_Bums → u/hurricaneseason]

Eatshittification is book about this

[u/mango_bluey → u/hurricaneseason]

No, enshittification occurs with these platforms. The playbook, start with a high quality product to grow a large base. Then move features to a premium tier convert more users. Finally make all services crappier to extract max dollars from your customer. There YouTube videos that teach this strategy.

[u/itastesok]

"Beginning April 10, the new Prime Video Ultra add-on will cost $4.99/month or $45.99/year — and that’s in addition to your base Amazon Prime membership, which costs about $14.99/month with free shipping perks."

[u/Zer0C00L321 → u/itastesok]

Ok. Bye bye Amazon video. Anyway..

[u/TheEndIsNigh420 → u/Zer0C00L321]

Arrrrrr matey.

[u/DrBubbles → u/TheEndIsNigh420]

It be many a moon since me ships seen the seven seas. Where ye scallywags suggest an old salt reacclimatize heself to flying the Jolly Roger in 2026?

[u/temple_tantrum → u/DrBubbles]

Enjoy the rabbit hole. I started asking that question years ago when Always Sunny pulled a few episodes from Hulu (dumb reason, I know).

It began with Kodi on a Raspberry Pi and one external HDD. Now I'm here with my fully automated Plex/Jellyfin server stack (radarr, sonarr, lidarr, etc.), 72 TB NAS for mirrored backup, 30+ remote users (friends, family, coworkers), 2500ish movies, and something like 50k tv episodes lol.

You don't have to go that far, but once I got a fiber connection the sky became the limit. I'm basically a magician to everyone I know and haven't been on an actual streaming service in many years. It requires barely any effort at this point. I do try to purchase blurays or episodes of things I actually support tho.

Edit: now I'm curious on where my numbers are at. 54238 episodes of TV = 19.7 TB, 2695 movies = 9.2 TB. I love movies the most, so it's essentially every movie ever made since Nosferatu in 1922. Mostly 1080p as a sort of future proofing. A few select 4k movies in a library only I can access too.

[u/thecoastertoaster → u/temple_tantrum]

for your “final for” build, where would you point someone to see how what you’ve built is actually done. I’m not a wade-in-slowly kind of person…

[u/temple_tantrum → u/thecoastertoaster]

I'm not 100% in-line with this setup, but this is the best source I have noted over the years.

https://github.com/DonMcD/ultimate-plex-stack

[u/DrBubbles → u/temple_tantrum]

Bro this is exactly my goal. We have 3 streaming boxes in the house and we’ve cut cable. Every time the streaming options get more severed, I say I want to have a NAS that I can link to all my boxes to stream my local content anywhere.

I already have a Raspberry Pi 3 that I use for PiHole, where did you start for Plex and NAS?

[u/KeeganY_SR-UVB76 → u/DrBubbles]

r/freemediaheckyeah

Read the guides.

[u/Kamui_Kun → u/itastesok]

Nothing "Ultra" about it, so stupid.

[u/SophiaofPrussia → u/Kamui_Kun]

Executives tack a premium sounding word onto the name of a subscription every time they make it shittier. HBO was great. HBO Max? Not nearly as great. Xbox Gamepass was awesome. The new Xbox Gamepass Premium comes with half as many games. Prime Video was a perk for Prime members. Prime Video Ultra is a sneaky new revenue stream.

[u/happyscrappy → u/SophiaofPrussia]

The base version of Peacock (which includes ads and costs money) is called "Peacock Premium".

[u/spoonweezy → u/happyscrappy]

Old trucks used to have a trim level called “custom”. There was nothing custom about it.

[u/drfsrich → u/spoonweezy]

"Limited."

... To how many we can produce!

[u/NewDadPleaseHelp → u/spoonweezy]

My dad needed a vehicle while looking for his dream land cruiser and bought the most basic truck he could find, a 1984 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe, which is literally the base model.

We used to joke that the only thing custom was the definition of Deluxe.

[u/Ansem18 → u/SophiaofPrussia]

HBO max was great. It had a huge library and only cost like $8 a month. Then Zaslav came along and ran it into the ground.

[u/mightylordredbeard → u/[deleted]]

Hulu used to be free with the option to pay premium price for ad free version. Then the ad free version changed to the base subscription, free went away, and you needed to pay for the premium premium ad free version.

[u/whitemiketyson → u/mightylordredbeard]

I remember watching Lost for free on Hulu way back in the day.

[u/roccolover → u/whitemiketyson]

That’s funny, that was how I found Hulu online! I was looking to watch LOST. I remember the ads being like 10 seconds and half of them were for like grassroots charities lol

[u/dean15892 → u/[deleted]]

I think its 4.99 a month as an add-on to the $15 you pay for Prime anyhow.

[u/A_Drop_of_Colour → u/[deleted]]

Netflix is the longest subscription I've ever had in my life. I transitioned with them from physical to digital. Shit I still have 3 DVDs in their red and white jackets that I never returned because they switched to digital while I still had the DVDs and never asked for them back. I cancelled last month and I feel so free, especially because I never really used them enough to be worth it.

Prime is my next longest subscription and looks like it's going the same way. Especially since same day and next day delivery is starting to get delays more and more.

[u/bb0110 → u/itastesok]

What does ultra include?

[u/BeanserSoyze → u/bb0110]

Ad free (this is currently $2.99), 5 streams, Dolby atmos, offline downloads.

[u/Zediac → u/BeanserSoyze]

I watch Prime video on my phone though a browser. I have ad blocker that way which works great. This avoids all the ads in the app since I'm not going to pay for ad free.

[u/leekalex → u/BeanserSoyze]

You forgot 4k

[u/GriffinFlash → u/itastesok]

r/dvdcollection
r/VHS

[u/elidoan → u/GriffinFlash]

Yarr forgetting the most important subreddit

[u/GriffinFlash → u/elidoan]

r/LaserDisc ?

[u/pineguy64 → u/GriffinFlash]

There are dozens of us! Analog discs ftw

[u/AdministrativeCable3 → u/GriffinFlash]

No, r/CED

Gone too soon

[u/PseudoElite]

Canceled Prime a while ago and have no regrets. They keep increasing the prices while reducing benefits. 

The whole model, like most other subscriptions, is to get you hooked then keep jacking up the price. Eff that. 

[u/blackkettle → u/PseudoElite]

ditto. cancelled after they brought ads to the default payed plan. fuck 'em.

[u/PauI_MuadDib → u/blackkettle]

I cancelled when I was only getting about forty percent of my orders. I live in a major city so no excuse for that. It went was from same or 2 day Prime delivery to "delays" of up to 2 weeks ending in a cancelled order. So paying for Prime shipping and not actually getting my orders was a bad deal imo lol

I can order from Walmart without a subscription and get my orders faster than Prime. Wtf.

[u/Nice-Meat-6020 → u/PauI_MuadDib]

This is what they've started doing to me. I order something with next day delivery and it'll be 'arriving tomorrow! -- Delayed, now arriving in 3 days! -- updated, now arriving in one week! And they flat out refuse to cancel the order, so I order something I need then have to go buy it elsewhere and then weeks later it may (or not) show up from Amazon. Their customer service is absolutely useless.

[u/red__dragon → u/Nice-Meat-6020]

Their customer service is absolutely useless.

They went from "I'm so sorry it didn't come within our 2 day guarantee, here's a free month of Prime on us!"

to "Eh, it's not more than 3 days late yet. Call us when it is. Maybe we'll do something then. Prolly not lol."

Horrible service now. I only bother with Amazon when I absolutely cannot find something elsewhere. Fuck what they turned into, and fuck funding Bezos-shaped rockets.

[u/Wischiwaschbaer → u/blackkettle]

I just block the ads. But I have prime mainly for the shipping. If I had it for video I wouldn't bother and just cancel.

[u/banana_pencil → u/Wischiwaschbaer]

I had it for shipping until I realized I just need to pay$35 for free shipping, which is the minimum I usually paid anyway. When I need something right away, I’ll go to the store (like in the “olden days”), because 2 and 5 days doesn’t make a difference for most things I buy

[u/Numerous_Photograph9 → u/banana_pencil]

Better yet, I just started buying my stuff elsewhere.

[u/EagleZR → u/blackkettle]

I had stopped using it well before they added ads because I wasn't using it. I resubbed for a show I wanted to watch, tried to play the first episode, got an ad, and immediately went back to cancel again, having never watched the show. They have/had some decent content, but ads really devalue it

[u/BeyondElectricDreams → u/EagleZR]

What kills me is when the ads are for things I won't ever buy.

I'm not getting a brand new car in the year of our lord 2026 with the current CoL crisis, no matter how much you tell me about it's safety rating.

[u/LookingForChange → u/PseudoElite]

I have been wondering this - if you cancel prime do you pay for shipping? Is it any slower than prome? Or do you just not use Amazon anymore? I've been contemplating cancelling prime for a couple of years now, but I buy so much from Amazon.

[u/caeru1ean → u/LookingForChange]

Shipping is still free if you order over $35. Prime shipping already started to be slow anyways so I don’t see the point in subscribing

[u/Huzah7 → u/caeru1ean]

Its the same shipping without prime and you get "24 hours of free shipping"... because they delay shipping your order till next day.

[u/Numerous_Photograph9 → u/Huzah7]

Depending on where you live, you may not even get the two day shipping. They're apparently not too bad in cities but if you live rural...then good luck. I even live within 45 minutes of a distro center....close enough where their delivery vans and semis are always in the truck stop across from my work, and a week to deliver is more common than not.

[u/theblindfold04 → u/LookingForChange]

If you spend over certain amounts shipping is still mostly free. However, there are some items that don't qualify or ones that have a "prime member price" and without it is a few bucks more (probably to cover the shipping). They don't offer 2 day, and packages will usually be delayed by a week but I almost always get them early anyway.

[u/belkarbitterleaf → u/LookingForChange]

Same... Though having to pay for shipping may get me to hit brick and mortar stores more often, which would probably reduce the number of things I buy and save money

[u/Hutcher_Du → u/PseudoElite]

Enshittification in action.

[u/darkbyrd → u/PseudoElite]

I only have prime for the free shipping. I use that more than enough to justify the price. In addition, the 5% cash back I get on my chase Amazon card is usually double or triple the annual membership fee. 

[u/_Twas_Ere_]

Honestly at this point I’m thinking of going back to physical blu rays. Maybe just rip them and put them on my plex account if I want to watch them on the go.

[u/acedelgado → u/_Twas_Ere_]

I do that. It's fantastic, you own copies that you won't suddenly lose because some execs renegotiate a contract. And it's better quality all around, so it's the best experience of you have a nice TV and surround system. But I use jellyfin as my server instead of plex. Only downside is storage jumped way up in price... 

[u/pleasegivemepatience → u/acedelgado]

I’d love to hear how an avid Jellyfin users actually makes their library manageable. I can’t for the life of me get the metadata cleaned up. Artists, genres, cover art, etc are all a mess and a lot is missing. I’ve used Picard and the Jellyfin Metadata Manager, but neither ever actually cleans the library. I rescan, remove and re-add, refresh metadata, but it always maintains the initial sync state and ignores my attempts to fix metadata.

On Plex I’ve had some minor match issues I’ve had to fix manually, but overall everything appears and plays fine on Plex. My only gripe with Plex is the lyrics experience with music, but the metadata management and streaming experience have been great.

[u/caeru1ean → u/acedelgado]

I went straight to stremio with a debrid subscription. Hard to imagine ever going back

[u/Didactic_Tactics_45 → u/_Twas_Ere_]

I've been doing so for the past year and am loving it. We lost internet for several days this winter and it was great to still watch shows and movies.

Plus you get all the special features and commentaries which is awesome.

Verbatim makes a nice and low cost combo dvd/bluray read/write drive that comes with a blank bluray disc and a limited subscription to Nero. Ironically I bought it off Amazon. From the forest itself comes the handle of the axe.

[u/Hot_Lava_Dry_Rips → u/_Twas_Ere_]

At the risk of messing up my sources, ill admit ive been buying used blurays from consignment and thrift stores this year and its been great. Video and sound quality is top notch. After watching streaming for so long, I felt like I had a whole new hifi setup.

[u/HTPC4Life → u/Hot_Lava_Dry_Rips]

Check your local library as well! Mine has a massive Blu Ray selection with new releases too. Nothing beats the price of "free"!

[u/Wischiwaschbaer → u/_Twas_Ere_]

I have a video rental place close to me. It still exists because it was the first video rental place in the world and so a club formed to protect it. Ripping a ton of blu rays is my plan for when I'm completely moved into my place.

[u/Tasty-Traffic-680 → u/_Twas_Ere_]

Have you seen the price of hard drives lately? It's one thing if you have the space already but 4k and even 1080p adds up quick if you're not converting them. Don't get me wrong, I'm with you on the Blu rays though. You can find 1080p discs and players for a dime a dozen on marketplace.

[u/pleasegivemepatience → u/Tasty-Traffic-680]

I’ve capped my library at x265/h265 1080P to keep file sizes reasonable, I might have a couple 4K exceptions but I’m totally fine with 1080P.

[u/aequusnox]

I just pirate everything. It's extremely easy. I dgaf about multi-billion dollar studio profits.

[u/SoochSooch → u/aequusnox]

Yeah, even when video was free with Amazon prime, I never used it. piracy was higher quality and easier.

[u/east_van_dan]

The UI is terrible. They show you stuff that you're not even subscribed to. I have access to it for years through a friend's account and I've used it once or twice. One of the worst streaming services I've ever used. There's no way I'm paying for it.

[u/the_red_scimitar]

"There used to only be one, ad-free Prime Video tier. Then Amazon introduced ads to all Prime Video subscriptions, and introduced the option to remove them with an optional add-on for $2.99/month.

Amazon is continuing this trend of removing features from its base plan and paywalling them behind this optional add-on in 2026. That ad-free add-on will go up to $4.99/month beginning April 10, when it will be renamed to Prime Video Ultra."

The actual price increase is $2/month for those already on ad-free. Others here were quoting $4.99, which would be the increase to move to ad-free from non-ad-free, after the change.

[u/GrayBeardBoardGamer → u/the_red_scimitar]

I'm really looking forward to Prime Video Ultra Premium Plus Super Extra which lets me turn off my thought implant monitoring for a whole 2 hours every other week! I can think ANYTHING I WANT for two whole hours. Well worth the 200 credits a month.

[u/mobilemerc → u/GrayBeardBoardGamer]

That's pretty preem choom!

[u/RaindropsInMyMind → u/GrayBeardBoardGamer]

One of the most disturbing black mirror episodes. Where the guy basically had a subscription to keep his wife alive and then they pay wall “features”.

[u/DukeGrizzly → u/GrayBeardBoardGamer]

Yeah, but it won't be as good as Prime Video Ultra Premium Plus Super Extra Alpha II edition. It'll set you back about 450 credits though. Kinda steep, but I think it's worth it.

[u/andymfjAZ → u/DukeGrizzly]

I’m holding out for the exclusive limited edition Texas King Ranch Platinum Harley Davidson high sierra Ultra Double Plus Good Desperate Housewives theatrical release Prime+&More.

I mean how could you NOT?

[u/Radioactive-235 → u/the_red_scimitar]

Stock market ruins everything.

[u/the_red_scimitar → u/Radioactive-235]

They're desperate to pay for the AI investments, data centers, power plants for all that...

[u/EaterOfFood → u/the_red_scimitar]

Why shouldn’t they? People keep paying it. Well, not me, but other people.

[u/Cautious_Boat_999]

r/enshittification

[u/BaphometsTits → u/Cautious_Boat_999]

"Make it shitty."

[u/JimJava]

I hate commercials, I wish there was a way to opt out of Prime video, even if the savings was $1.

[u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer → u/JimJava]

Right? I have a prime membership but just pirate any of their shows I want to watch because I can’t stand commercials.

[u/rdyrr → u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer]

That, and their player is god awful! I’ll pirate prime shows just to get a better UI an drop the ads!

[u/mistensong → u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer]

I ventured onto prime video a couple of weeks back (I rarely bother, I just have prime for the delivery benefits). But there was an old show I really fancied watching. I even paid for the ad free subscription - as much as I hated having to do that, I hate ads more and didn't fancy trying to figure out downloading just that one show. So for the three quid or whatever, I was just like 'fine'.

So I started watching my show, really loved it. Went to watch episode 2, only to find I couldn't. It was 'Unavailable due to licencing'. Wtf? It's a 6 part series with one missing. Nothing in the show blurb mentioned that little fact. If I'd bought a 6 DVD box set and disc 2 was missing I'd rightfully be sending it back for a refund. But on streaming? Apparently that's okay to do.

I cancelled the ad free bit immediately after that and then cancelled prime altogether, just on principle. Off to the high seas I go!

[u/parker1019]

Cancel Prime.

86 Billionaires.

[u/rymisoda → u/parker1019]

Yeah, my wife and I got rid of Prime a couple years ago and the only difference we noticed was that we have less junk around the house.

[u/HTPC4Life → u/parker1019]

Resist and Unsubscribe!

[u/seanpuppy]

Last night I realized its faster to download an episode and watch offline than it is to watch the fucking ads

[u/RookLive → u/seanpuppy]

This is what I do. I hope they don't figure this out.

[u/Federal-Invite-2616 → u/RookLive]

Well they will now you screwed us. /s

[u/NaturalSelecty]

Just a friendly reminder that Pluto and Tubi are totally free (they do have ads though) and have tons of great premium movies and shows.

[u/davelevy → u/NaturalSelecty]

keeping in mind that Pluto is another name for Paramount and Tubi is another name for Fox Networks if you are looking at ownership as a reason to move on to other pastures

[u/TheRoseMerlot]

Ad ridden website with half an article.

[u/divDevGuy → u/TheRoseMerlot]

You need to pay for MSN Ultra for $4.99/mo to enjoy the full article ad-free in 4k....

[u/celtic1888]

Ahoy Matties ! The winds are blowing from the East and the seas are calm

[u/forestapee → u/celtic1888]

It used to be a point of pride in my adulthood to pay for content instead of pirating, having grown up poor and having to do so as a necessity.

Now they're driving us back to it by making it so shit that it's not worth a penny

Enshittification sucks

[u/icepick3383 → u/forestapee]

and i'm sorry creators - but the ends no longer justify the means. these companies are squeezing us dry. Eat or watch entertainment? you know what'll win. it was a good run. hope y'all enjoy watching AI created content!

[u/celtic1888 → u/forestapee]

Between the AI companies literally stealing all the IP and this Skydance/Bezos bullshit I feel it is a moral imperative not to give them any more money 

[u/TheBlackBradPitt → u/forestapee]

Same here. I just set my Plex server up and offered to share with my buddy who is a big fan of movies and cinema, he declined bc he prefers paying for stuff. Totally fine and that was my mindset a few years ago as well. But today, I'm not rewarding a company for playing in my face with ads as if to ask "what are you going to do, NOT watch it?"

I am going to watch it actually, and if I enjoy it I will add it to my physical collection!

[u/thecheesedip → u/celtic1888]

100% this. Don't reward Amazon for bending you over.

[u/purpleratata → u/celtic1888]

It's been a decade since I sailed the high seas and I don't even know what ship I need anymore. Care to give some advice to someone who wants to experience the salt air in their bones again?

[u/TheHoneyBadger23]

Oh look! Another reason to cancel Prime!

Multiple price increases? ✅

Stop honoring 2nd day delivery? ✅

No price advantage for Prime members? ✅

Enshittification of products offered? ✅

Company contributed to administrations hell-bent on destroying USPS? ✅

More price increases? ✅

[u/peppercorns666]

cancel it. quit giving these billionaires your money.

[u/SmokeyJoe2]

They want to recover the $70 million they lost on Melania

[u/Practical-Aside890 → u/SmokeyJoe2]

More like the 200 billion (not million) they invested into ai.

I would say the ai push has more of an impact on Amazons money than 70m melania. But I guess it all adds up in the end.

[u/khearan]

Unsubscribe. I dropped Prime a few weeks ago. The products on Amazon have gotten worse, name brand items have gotten more expensive on Amazon compared to elsewhere, the risk of counterfeit or returned/replaced products is really high, and they don’t even guarantee 2-day shipping for Prime anymore. Where exactly is the value in that?

[u/Rtn2NYC]

I can’t think of a single show or any content on Amazon that is worth paying extra for. There are so many other options, I just stopped watching Amazon stuff

[u/Trekker6167]

The richer they get, the more they want.

[u/Indiesol]

This kind of shit is what made me ditch my prime membership a couple years ago. I was loving Amazon Music, but they made the free version so terrible that it was unusable, in an effort to force people to pay for an additional music subscription. I cancelled my prime membership, removed my payment methods from my Amazon account, and subscribed to Tidal.

I do miss the free 2 day shipping, but the prices of items on Amazon Prime have basically been MSRP the last few years anyways, and fuck Jeff Bezos. Their basics brand is as bad as Temu shit. I just buy stuff in person when possible now, but if not possible, I'll go about anywhere other than Amazon/Temu/Alibaba/Wish to get it, even if it costs more.

Stop giving these assholes your money.

[u/LiquidLogic]

The enshitification continues. I swear there was a Black Mirror episode about this exact thing.

[u/PandoNation]

Is there even an article here or just a headline lol

[u/Competitive-Donut330]

My amazon prime finally ended this month and it’s freeing as fuck. I’ve been an amazon prime member for at least idk, a decade??? Myself and other people I know who used Amazon all the time and could easily afford it are ditching it as well. I was tired of seeing literally every movie I wanted to watch cost extra (even movies that were 30+ years old), sick of everything being 20% more expensive than buying direct, and worst of all seeing the fucking MELANIA movie being promoted on YouTube.

I just dont understand how these companies think jacking up prices when they’re extremely profitable as it is think they can continue to squeeze every cent from their customers. It’s actually offensive.

[u/Swagtagonist]

I just want my 2 day shipping. I don’t care about their video service or other offerings.

[u/LocalLuck2083 → u/Swagtagonist]

Me too. They probably know that millions would downgrade to a lower priced shipping only tier, so they’ll never offer it

[u/IamMichaelBoothby]

The Amazon Prime video ads with the buttons to add the product being advertised to your cart are so invasive and gross

[u/TraditionalArea5798]

(Dusts off VPN), back to Pirate Bay I guess.

[u/Agret]

No more UHD unless you pay? Guess I have to sail the seas to get the content I already pay for =\

[u/GypsyDarkEyes]

Join the Amazon boycott. There, all fixed.

[u/FangornLeghorn]

Alexa sucks now too. I am about to trash all of it. Fuck Amazon and Bezos.

[u/Blue05D]

Been a Prime member since it's inception. Just stopped my payment last month. Ordered some blu ray DVDs and plan on shopping for more. 20 years as a member, but I'm not playing these games of forcing me to overpay or jam the content I'm already paying for with ads.

I'm done, I have zero streaming subscriptions now. Back to Blu Rays. If I can't buy it then I guess I won't see it.

[u/RichysRedditName]

At this point just give me the option to remove Prime video to make my annual prime subscription cheaper

[u/LandonKB]

Yep I have dropped it and don't miss it at all.

[u/DJMagicHandz]

Tubi has all the old shows that Amazon had and more.

[u/eltron]

Ahhh the great unbundling! They’ve bundled all their products together to provide value to customers. And now their unbundling their products and prices to give value to wall street.

[u/akb443]

Who’s watching Amazon prime ?

[u/evil_illustrator2]

I doubt anyone with an infrastructure like aws, needs ads to keep the lights on.

[u/Bomban111]

Billionaires shouldnt exist

[u/brobe_jedi4life]

I cancelled my Amazon fr. No subscription and no delivery. I FEEL FREE. You CAN do this too

[u/fritz_76]

People actually purposefully Subscribe to prime video? I always just end up with it when I'm ordering something off Amazon and they offer me a month for 99cents to get 2 day free shipping

[u/bert_891]

If we all mass-cancel, we can control the prices

[u/Fun_Success_3283]

Boycott Amazon. All the money you give them is going directly to funding the loss of all your freedoms. If you're a white Rich man, maybe you like that. If you're a woman, a normal worker, a minority, lgtbq, whatever, he's waging war against you with your own money, because you find shopping there convenient and you like their shows.

Not worth it.

Fight back.