Apple TV Streaming Service Receives Price Increase

[Dirk Pieters]

Nothing beats a good book from the local library!

I used to buy a lot of books but switched to a Kindle about 12 years ago. In those days the price for a famous novel (something like the latest Stephen King) was a lot cheaper on Kindle compared to paper. Which makes sense, no printing costs, etc. But those days are gone too.

I read about 2-3 books per month, depending on the season, so reading has become an expensive hobby. I now fill my Kindle wishlist with books that look good and find them elsewhere.

It’s wrong and I know it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It would pretty quickly start saving you money to get a used Mac Mini to be your media server.

A very good point. Mac Minis make tremendous servers and they barely sip any power while doing it.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I used to buy a lot of books but switched to a Kindle about 12 years ago. In those days the price for a famous novel (something like the latest Stephen King) was a lot cheaper on Kindle compared to paper. Which makes sense, no printing costs, etc. But those days are gone too.

I read about 2-3 books per month, depending on the season, so reading has become an expensive hobby. I now fill my Kindle wishlist with books that look good and find them elsewhere.

It’s wrong and I know it.

Don't forget you can often rent digitally from your local library.
Integration is available on many e-readers - I think on Kindles?

(not sure as my e-reader is a Nook)

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Well, using Home Sharing is my scenario. I'm not familiar with other scenarios so I don't speak to them. Call that cherry-picking if you want.
FYI, where you are it would cost you $0.18 USD per month to leave a Mac on standby, and about $1.44 per month on idle if Plex doesn't work on standby (Home Sharing does). It would pretty quickly start saving you money to get a used Mac Mini to be your media server.

I'm not familar with home sharing and we use plex because we can stream externally when travelling and the interface is rich and intuitive. I bought a Plex Pass Lifetime back in 2017 and haven't looked at anything else.

 

[webkit]

Not in the US but was offered 2 months halfprice when I tried to cancel over here.

If they had more shows I wanted to watch I'd probably stay. The long season breaks don't really encourage yearly subscriptions, i.e. Severance, Pluribus, etc.

The offer was in the U.S. too:

Apple Offers 54% Off Apple TV+ for Two Months to Stop Cancellations

Apple is aiming to keep Apple TV+ subscribers from canceling, offering a discounted subscription when customers threaten to stop paying. If you cancel your Apple TV+ subscription, you may see a pop-up that drops the price of Apple TV+ to $5.99 for the next two months, before the $12.99 per...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Dirk Pieters]

I do like the choice of some of the scifi series they've chosen to make into shows but...something about all their productions has this sameness to it and I don't like it. Hard to define.

I’ve always had similar thoughts about Apple TV but could never really express why: “a sameness” is quite a good description. 👍🏼

I sometimes feel Apple picks the books they turn into series because the book in question fits that very mold of sameness.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

Don't forget you can often rent digitally from your local library.
Integration is available on many e-readers - I think on Kindles?

(not sure as my e-reader is a Nook)

Pretty sure we don’t have that here. I think the Kindle ecosystem had some sort of renting at some point and a subscription (Prime?) that includes thousands of books.

But that just shows my country isn’t eligible, which is weird because we can get Prime tv. I have no idea if paying for Prime tv also activates Prime on Kindle for books.

If they want people to consume content legally they could at least make it easier to do so. The entire in-this-country-but-not-in-that-country kerfuffle is getting old. It’s 2026.

 

[turbineseaplane]

If they want people to consume content legally they could at least make it easier to do so.

I totally agree.

I don't fault anyone for acquiring content however they choose to given the environment and options and value being presented by so many providers.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

I totally agree.

I don't fault anyone for acquiring content however they choose to given the environment and options and value being presented by so many providers.

My daughter reads as well and she’s very much into paper books. So it’s not all bad.

All the stuff we watch is legal too. Can’t be bothered to spend time downloading and then suffer the (often crap) Airplay experience.

 

[turbineseaplane]

My daughter reads as well and she’s very much into paper books. So it’s not all bad.

All the stuff we watch is legal too. Can’t be bothered to spend time downloading and then suffer the (often crap) Airplay experience.

Glad to hear it!

I still don't fault anyone for getting content however they are ok with.

I promise you the companies in question, in control with the scale and the leverage, are doing all kinds of questionably legal things up and their down operations --- in service of hoarding all the value.

By all means, stake out whatever moral ground one cares to, but it's a one way thing when it comes to these companies.

 

[subjonas]

I do have a Mac Mini M4, I might look into seeing what it would take to migrate my Plex Server from PC to Mac.
I would need to attach external storage as I have over 12TB of media, but it might be worth looking into.

Perfect. Of course, it would only save you electricity if it actually offloads usage from your PC. If you're going to be running your PC all the time for other things anyway, then it might not save that much money. It would probably only save you significant money if it allows you to leave your PC off or in standby for a lot of the time.

 

[webkit]

I don't fault anyone for acquiring content however they choose to given the environment and options and value being presented by so many providers.

So, if someone feels the price of a particular product is "too high" (for them) then it should be perfectly fine for them to get that product however they choose including through illegal means such as pirating, shoplifting, etc.?

 

[NJRonbo]

I still hate the idea of releasing a new Ted Lasso season

The previous season's ending was perfect, his story was over.

I'm not re-subscribing for Ted Lasso lol

New season is not that good

 

[subjonas]

I'm not familar with home sharing and we use plex because we can stream externally when travelling and the interface is rich and intuitive. I bought a Plex Pass Lifetime back in 2017 and haven't looked at anything else.

That's definitely an advantage of Plex. Home Sharing is only local, but it works for me because I don't often consume video when I'm out of the house, just sometimes on trips. But I have my devices set to automatically keep favorite content synced, and I'll add new content when I buy it. Or if I'm going on a super long trip, I'll take a portable drive that usually stays connected to my home Mac and syncs my library, and that way I can at least access the whole library with my MacBook.

 

[turbineseaplane]

So, if someone feels the price of a particular product is "too high" (for them) then it should be perfectly fine for them to get that product however they choose including through illegal means such as pirating, shoplifting, etc.?

We all have agency and I will not weigh in on what others decide to do.
It's not my place to do so.

My broader point is that there's a lot of gray in the world (vs black & white binary choice), and these companies take full advantage of that.

If an opportunity to discuss this in the Political area of the forum presents itself (where the rules of discourse are more relaxed) let's make a point to discuss this further, as I do find it interesting and worth exploring. Not much more can be said in here, however.

🤝

 

[quietstormSD]

Apple TV is really only worth it if you get it for free with a free trial or something. Just binge watch and dump. Nothing is worth keeping all year round (unless you get it for free).

 

[iDento]

While it is the best streaming service I’m subscribing to, it’s not worth more than $14.99 a month. If they raise the price again, I’ll just reuse my NAS, Plex, and Torrents app.

 

[GermanSuplex]

As a shareholder.

Thank you!!! 😂

I’m skeptical shareholders even know what Apple TV is. Most, I imagine, are trying to figure out how to further drive up the cost of RAM. At least the important shareholders. Then you can get people used to today’s higher prices so they can be the new “normal”

 

[Jay Bly]

Yeah, my dad and I watch silo and the F1 racing. I’ll probably keep the Apple TV, but definitely getting rid of Apple one. I’ve got enough of my own musical library. I don’t need to pay for one.

 

[Jay Bly]

For such a small catalog that’s pretty steep.

I mean now that they got the F1 stuff that brings in some people plus the baseball brings in a few. Honestly, if they can keep up with bringing some catalog movie titles and what they’re doing recently, they might have a chance.

 

[The Game 161]

naturally. glad i paid mine annually

 

[k1121j]

While it is the best streaming service I’m subscribing to, it’s not worth more than $14.99 a month. If they raise the price again, I’ll just reuse my NAS, Plex, and Torrents app.

Same. I ditched plex for jellyfin.

 

[mk313]

I used to buy a lot of books but switched to a Kindle about 12 years ago. In those days the price for a famous novel (something like the latest Stephen King) was a lot cheaper on Kindle compared to paper. Which makes sense, no printing costs, etc. But those days are gone too.

I read about 2-3 books per month, depending on the season, so reading has become an expensive hobby. I now fill my Kindle wishlist with books that look good and find them elsewhere.

It’s wrong and I know it.

Not sure if it's available where you live, but many libraries offer kindle book borrowing. I used to buy a ton of kindle books, but now get them through the library.