That's all folks, Plex is starting to charge for sharing
That's all folks, Plex is starting to charge for sharing
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.
I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.
To be crystal clear to anyone getting this email: if the server admin has a Plex Pass, users need to do nothing to continue as normal. The streaming pass is only for users who aren’t connecting to a server that has a Plex Pass.
What I find shitty about this is that it’s being indiscriminately sent to every Plex account. There’s bound to be lots of people who don’t understand what this means who will be tricked into buying a streaming pass they don’t need at all. I’ve been getting messages from my users all day asking wtf is going on, and I’m getting tired of trying to convince them to just ignore the email.
the people giving their bandwidth away for free now want money to pay their bills?
To clarify, I disagree with needing an account (sharing my email) with Plex in the first place, and personally would not purchase what is essentially a CDN or VPN depending on how plex distributes your content to your end users. However, from these comments it seems like this was a free service they offered and now want money for it, because it is not profitable. Enshittification? Sure, but not unexpected. Apparently this doesn’t affect you if you stream locally either.
This does complicate things though since now users have to consider paying a subscription for network security or begin distributing OpenVPN configurations to people. In some cases it won’t be possible, like on your TV.
I’ll share my secret: configure your VPN so only select traffic is sent down it and if you’re on iOS, AirPlay it to the television if it supports it. Or you can connect a raspberry pi up to it.
Yeah if I didn't buy lifetime pass for like $50 years and years ago I'd be done with Plex probably.
Glad I switched to Jellyfin last year.
Just buy a Plex Pass, damn. If you really like the software and it does everything you want, but you just want all the features for free then move to Emby or Jellyfin or whatever. I do hear Emby and Jellyfin have some good qualities but I haven’t tried them myself.
Personally, the lifetime Plex Pass was one of my best purchases ever, but if you’re against paying for it, then you do you.
Deleted my Plex account as soon as I got this email, using the account link in said email, so hopefully they see the connection.
They sent the same message out months ago, and sent it again recently to all users. Nothing has changed since the first email. Plex pass owners that run a server are fine and can still stream to their users.
I guess lots of people missed or didn't get the first message/outrage on fediverse the first time it happened.
Took me a bit to realise people are still talking about the same thing and that this isn't new.
I'll move over to jellyfin once the features ease of use and security parity is there. Or if Plex becomes a security issue by being hosted in the states. Until then I'm going to keep milking my Plex pass lifetime account from 10 years ago.
