One thing that bothers me personally is that nowadays everything is a membership, but what bothers me most about the subscription model is the fact that the price goes up and up indefinitely and many people really don't mind paying $2 or more a month.

I mean, let's take for example the case of Netflix (I know the image is old, but I couldn't find anything better), where it went from costing $7.99 in 2014 a month to $15.99 in 2019, literally double, and it will surely keep going up and up, if this trend continues and it surely will soon people will be paying $30 a month without any problem.

I understand that a market like Netflix (to follow the initial example) is an expensive market to maintain, both for equipment, staff and licenses and it is obvious that the economy is not the same in 2014 as it was in 2019, but how are people ok knowing that the price doubled in 5 years? If that continues in 2024 the price would be $30, and if it was people would still be fine paying it.

I don't use Netflix but I understand why people use it, both because of the recommendation algorithm and the simplicity, but damn, if in a year they say they are going to raise the price $5 a month people would be happy to pay it and I don't understand it, much less those who pay several memberships of the same type (Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, etc).

  • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don't think people feel good about it. It does seem like people put up with it, though, which is pretty confusing.

    I'm honestly surprised with people paying the extra fee for sharing a Netflix account more than anything.

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      What alternative exists for people who aren't tech literate enough to torrent their entertainment?

      • DayOfDoom [any, any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Wtahcing 10 minute chunks of pixelated messes of incomplete shows on Dailymotion.

      • cosecantphi [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I felt the same way before I got into torrenting, but upon taking the time to sit down and actually read a tutorial, I found it was all much easier than I initially thought. All I had to do was install qBittorrent, go to the piratebay website (or RARBG, rest in peace), and click the link to the torrent. qBittorrent will then do the rest for you.

        I don't know how much effort you've given to figuring this out already, but if it isn't much I'd give it another try if I were you. If you get stuck somewhere just make a post about it here. I'm sure there are many comrades who would gladly walk you through it.

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh don't worry lol I'm a pirate. Haven't torrented stuff in a while because I literally have not had the time to watch anything. I was asking the question mostly because I think like 95% of the general population would blow up their computers with viruses if they tried to torrent everything.

          • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Computer viruses aren't that big anymore. The bigger things are ransomware and data breaches, but those tend to be targeted at corporations more than people. Not saying computer viruses don't exist, but they're not a big thing as they were 20 years ago.

    • CatUser@discuss.tchncs.de
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      I guess I understand although that doesn't mean I don't think it's dumb either, I mean, if I'm not wrong (please correct me if I am) it's necessary to have one of the most expensive subscriptions to be able to share, it seems silly to me, that means I strictly need to know someone pays those expensive subscriptions to save a little bit.