• infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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    1 day ago

    DAE remember Kim’s Video in NYC? The main store was 4 floors of rentable media in a skinny former tenement building on St. Marks with a yellow/black facade. They had every movie imaginable from all over the world mostly in DVD and VHS formats in nondescript black cases, sorted by nationality and then director. You’d pick a case and bring it to the art students manning the desk, they’d judge your tastes without subtlety then go into the vault in the back and come back with the media. Members only, no more than two rentals at a time, strict late fees. Friends and I were there every day or so rotating out an endless stream of cinema.

    • CodingCarpenter@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Are they though? I see a whole lot of talk in these threads every time and I’m not convinced. Feels like a lot of hot air

      • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
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        21 hours ago

        Some. But subscriber rates went up when they disabled sharing.

        I’m like you and think some definitely bail but not enough for then to care.

      • locuester@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        I went back to full arr stack and usenet when it became too fragmented and unreasonably priced.

        • 01011@monero.town
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          1 day ago

          Is there enough good content to make it worthwhile? I haven’t downloaded a movie in months, the latest offerings are so unappealing.

          • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 day ago

            Find better sources. If you’re not seeing something you want in the places you know about, put in more effort. You’re not gonna find shit from a google search.

            As for myself, I hopped on Usenet and ditched torrents almost entirely. Far better selection of pretty much everything.

            • 01011@monero.town
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              13 hours ago

              The source isn’t the issue, it’s the quality of the art. I used to download TV shows, haven’t seen anything worth watching besides the odd episode of Abbott Elementary.

    • Luke@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Do people expect the price to go down?

      Actually yeah that would be great. After all, Netflix is raking in more profit than ever (this chart represents earnings after expenses are removed):

      That’s billions. Billions of dollars every year that’s just… extra. Where the fuck are they wasting all this money that requires them to raise prices instead of lowering them?

      I mean, we all know it goes to funding the Epstein class and making the world a worse place for everyone else, but it should go towards making their service better and cheaper.

      Let’s stop normalizing the predatory nature of capitalism, and instead be surprised when people don’t expect better.

      • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        The profit metric they look at isn’t profit itself, but actually year-over-year profit increases.

        That’s the imaginary money line that tells shareholders and execs how much the actual money line has gone up since last year. When a big company says they’re operating “in the red”, they’re still making ungodly amounts of profit - just not as much as last year.

      • locuester@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        If people invested $1.50/mo into NFLX stock every month in addition to paying the subscription, it would have net out to be free over the past 10 years.

        I’d you can’t beat them, join them. It’s a public investment market.

        • MacAnus@sh.itjust.works
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          9 hours ago

          Could you elaborate? I don’t really understand the stock market and don’t see how investing in them would make it free.

          • PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 hours ago

            Don’t bother, this is terrible advice. The idea I guess being “if you bought some of their stock each month, it’s gone up enough that if you sold it at some point, it would cover the subscription”.

            As if that’s a thing people can know ahead of time and use for decision-making. The only people who try to do stuff like this routinely get fleeced by “the market”. Random average consumers are not out here using stocks to their advantage in this way, it’s not a thing.

            It’s very similar to saying “if you just throw X dollars into a casino every month, Y thing becomes free!” - no, no it doesn’t lmao. It could, maybe, but of course it never does cuz that’s not what a casino is for, it’s for other people to profit, not you. Stock market is surprisingly similar.

            • locuester@lemmy.zip
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              5 hours ago

              This is terrible advice.

              Investing in companies whose products you enjoy is a very reasonable and successful strategy of investing.

              The entire stock market is not a casino where random shit happens. There are conservative investments too.

              Are you trying to prevent people from enjoying the fruits of capitalism? I don’t understand why you’d do that.

              • PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                4 hours ago

                Your comment above implied an active investment strategy, which is for losers and suckers.

                I’m not saying the “random” nature of the casino is the similar part. I’m saying the baked-in way the average Joe loses in comparison with the casino operators - that’s the similar part.

                Either you’re advocating active investment (“I have a hot hand today at the casino! Or any day I choose cuz I know how to do it!”), or you’re saying “well a conservative investment strategy is a useful thing for most folks” - which has fuck-all to do with paying for a specific monthly expense? Namely the Netflix subscription from your comment?

                Your original comment was fucking stupid and misleading, now you’re just doing the thing where you instead say fairly reasonable stuff that isn’t half as controversial. Take the L on your bad take, is what it is, apologize for it or just be quiet.

                • locuester@lemmy.zip
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                  2 hours ago

                  I disagree. I think my original comment was spot on. If you find a product that you like, investing in the company that makes it is an informed strategy.

          • locuester@lemmy.zip
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            5 hours ago

            By investing some extra money with them, you’re owning a piece of the company.

            If/when the company goes up in value, your shares in the company are worth more. The inverse is true as well.

            If you’re in the US, check out brokers like Charles Schwab or robinhood. You don’t have to have thousands of dollars to get started.

            • MacAnus@sh.itjust.works
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              42 minutes ago

              Thank you for the explanation, I get it now!

              And thanks for the advice but I wouldn’t do that… I don’t believe investing is ethical.

              The company you invest in has to turn your money into more money somehow, and more often than not that ‘somehow’ is by fucking over workers, nature, or customers.

              I know you only meant to help and I could be wrong, but I do believe we should try to prevent people from ‘enjoying the fruits of capitalism’ as you put it.
              Or atleast let them know that capitalism doesn’t grow fruits and all you can do is enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor.

              There’s no such thing as free money, and 90% of the world population would be a lot better off if people would quit trying to get some.

              • locuester@lemmy.zip
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                14 minutes ago

                Investing is simply loaning capital to someone so they can build and pay for things which generate production.

                It’s like if your town wanted a park, but you didn’t have the money, you’d borrow it from someone and pay interest. You’re borrowing from investors, who lend to you with expectation of yielding extra for them assuming the financial risk. That scenario is more like a municipal bond, but similar scenario for the stock market.

                If you want to start a farm, or buy a house, or build an apartment building for your town, you’d need investors to pull together capital to pay for it. In most small business scenarios, the investor is a bank. But for some small businesses starting up, who need large amounts of capital and are high risk, they raise money through others in exchange for a piece (shares) of the business. Over time, the business if successful would go public - which means opening up those shares for the general public to trade.

                I understand the “people shouldn’t make money” argument, but it’s a proven effective way to grow. Its flaws seem centered around when politicians are in bed with the investors. Then crooked shit happens. We have systems in place to protect and prevent, but they simply aren’t working in the United States anymore due to widespread corruption of our government.

        • Luke@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          you can’t beat them, join them

          Saruman was not supposed to be a role model.

          • locuester@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            Saruman wasn’t supposed to be a role model, true. But neither was the guy complaining about rising prices from his couch while the free market delivered infinite content on demand.

            I can hate the game and offer advice on how to play at the same time.

    • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      No, but back in 2012 no one expected the amount and quality of the content to go down so drastically either.

      You’re continuously paying more for less.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      They expect to at least get the same service for their money. Instead, it’s gotten worse while also getting more expensive.

  • deathbird@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    I don’t mind paying for things, but it was already ridiculous. This is too much even for me.