• infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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    1 hour 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.

  • deathbird@mander.xyz
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    13 hours ago

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

    • CodingCarpenter@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours 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

      • locuester@lemmy.zip
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        17 hours 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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          5 hours 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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            2 hours 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.

    • Luke@lemmy.ml
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      17 hours 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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        2 hours 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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        17 hours 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.

        • Luke@lemmy.ml
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          13 hours ago

          you can’t beat them, join them

          Saruman was not supposed to be a role model.

          • locuester@lemmy.zip
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            6 hours 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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      21 hours 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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      19 hours ago

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