cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639
I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That’s it folks. I’ve been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.
They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.
I’ll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I’ve been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it’s time to make it production ready.
Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.
And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:
- YES I know I’m unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
- My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don’t understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn’t have to, that’s why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
- Plex is still removing functionality. I don’t care that “People should pay their fair share”. If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that’s completely okay. They are removing functionality.
- “But they have cloud costs”. Remote streaming is negligible to them. It’s a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That’s it.
- “Good luck finding another remote streaming” - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that’s a separate conversation). All “remote streaming” is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported “free” content that they’re probably losing money on.
In short, I don’t care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They’re removing functionality that has been free for years. I’m not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.
Totally agree with this. Plex has been drifting away from what made it great — the whole “own your media” ethos. I’ve been slowly moving my setup toward Jellyfin too, and honestly, it feels so much more in line with self-hosted values.
If anyone still wants a simple, lightweight media streaming option (especially for Android devices), CloudStream APK has been surprisingly solid no paywalls, no cloud lock-ins.
not a plex user but someone burried the lede here… to me, this is the neon sign that says GTFO:
we noticed that you’ve accessed libraries in the past
what business of yours is it to notice my private comings and goings?! what other actionable intel do y’all keep in your logs?! bye!
Jellyfin. I’ve been waiting for Plex to do this for years. Enshitification is everywhere.
As someone, who started with jellyfin, I never saw the reasons for the existence of Plex. There is no difference and people pay for it?
Hey Plex users, save your money and buy a coffee for the jellyfin team!
Should have use libre software from the start my guy! Jellyfin / Kodi let’s go
I got the same email.
I haven’t had plex installed for over 7 years, and I’ve NEVER used the shared libraries feature.
We noticed that you’ve accessed libraries from friends and family in the past
They’ve apparently noticed activity that’s never occurred.
Others in another thread are trying to convince me that the email is wrong, that my Plex Pass should mean everyone gets to stream for free. The email, however, kinda indicates otherwise. So who knows what’s going on over there, but either way - I’m done
Only the server owner needs a plex pass, it says that in the email.
The email you posted specifically says if you have PLEX Pass users can stream for free.
The email says that if the admin/owner of the plex server you stream from has a Plex Pass then nothing changes.
I don’t quite understand your confusion, they sent the email to everyone with an account. The email indicates clearly that if a server owner has a Plex pass, the users do not need it. The email is not “wrong”.
My users are upset, and that makes me upset. I’ve been fielding calls and messages from them for the last hour where they’re worried they have to start paying. So yeah, I don’t really care that it doesn’t apply to them, Plex sent an email that to the average user looks like they need to start paying. That was a shitty move on their part.
They could have done a banner on each client if they connected to a non-plex pass server and said “Hey starting in a few days, this won’t be free”, and left plex pass ones alone. They could have narrowed the emails down to “If you’ve connected to a free server in the last year”. It appears that they just blasted it out. I know for a fact that one of the accounts has never connected to a free server.e
And all of that is ignoring that it was free for a decade already, so why is it suddenly a “premium” service. So yeah, they bungled the entire situation, and I’m out.
You shouldn’t blame Plex for your or your users illiteracy
I thought illiterate user friendliness was plex’s number 1 feature? That’s what half the comments in here are saying.
Your users shouldn’t be upset because nothing has changed for them. It shouldn’t be the end of the world to tell your users that nothing has changed. None of my users have reached out.
I’ll agree that they should have only sent it to affected users.
Your users might be more upset that you’re pulling the plug and will require technically involved setups such as tailscale for Jellyfin. Gotta pick your battles.
Your users are upset? Either they’re damn entitled, or you’re charging them like one of those “streaming” services.
Who gets upset with an email when it clearly states what’s going on regarding the Plex Pass.
Funny to hear all the complaining from people about Plex. I’ve been using it for years and bought a lifetime pass years ago because I wanted to support them. If you’ve been using it for so long and loved it, I question why you never bought a pass?
Instead of taking a minute to just read the entire email, they decided to go immediately to the internet to complain. Then when people explained to them multiple times what is going on they decided to argue with them instead of ya know reading the email. The internet is alive and well.
Per the email text and Plex’s policy, they are correct - only Server Owners need the Pass.
That said I moved to Jellyfin months ago when they announced it.
Except I have a pass and my users are still getting the email. So either they’re incompetent sending out the emails, they are trying to trick my users into thinking they need to pay, or they’re lying and they will need to pay eventually… All of those reasons tell me it’s time to stop using Plex.
Yeah, they shot an email to everyone with an account, it’s pretty normal. It explicitly says:
Alternatively, server owners can buy a Plex pass
Which is pretty clear language
Can I still watch for free from my pc to my tv locally through the Plex app?
Seems like it was only a matter of time.
20% more will jump to Jellyfin. The other 80% will entrench and talk even more about how great Plex is. I mean Jesus, $250 to watch pirated movies. lol wtf
It was only a matter of time. Plex is a Series C startup, employs 100+ people, and has taken substantial VC investment. Those investors are expecting exponential returns, and a “one-time lifetime payment” will never sustain that sort of growth
It seems like multiple things are being conflated here and I’m not sure what the reality is because I’ve never used Plex.
Some people claim this has something to do with Plex needing to pay for NAT traversal infrastructure. Okay, that seems sort of silly but at least there’s the excuse that their servers are involved in the streaming somehow.
But their wording is very broad, just calling it “remote streaming.” That led me to this article on the Plex support website, which walks people through setting up port forwarding in order to enable “remote streaming”! So that excuse doesn’t really seem to hold water. What exactly is being paid for here then? How do they define what “local streaming” is?
What was the appeal of Plex anyway?
I’ve only ever used jellyfin and have no complaints.
I avoided plex and went with jellyfill because it’s free/libre software.
Wonder how long before those 2.99 a month figures will last. I give it a year before there’s no seperate remote streaming package and the only remaining one is >10$. The main appeal of Plex was not paying. It’s used by pirates. The goal is content for free. It’s no longer free. I don’t care at all if random people can use my Plex server. If they are unwilling to adapt to a new platform, then I guess they’ll resubscribe to Netflix. Most of them never unsubscribed from Netflix to begin with.
This was the end for me. Used Plex for almost a decade. I’m off to Jellyfin. It’s actually almost no change whatsoever to integrate it into my home setup.
The beginning of enshittification.
Prices will keep climbing, functionality reduced in favor of service tiers, and of course ads, ads, and ads.
Fuck them, glad I switched to Jellyfin years ago.
