Post #38661 · Elektrine

Playing devil’s advocate, I understand one point of pressure: Plex doesn’t want to be perceived as a “piracy app.” See: Kodi. kodi.expert/…/mpaa-warns-increasing-kodi-abuse-po… To be blunt, that’s a huge chunk of their userbase. And they run the risk of being legally pounded to dust once that image takes hold. So how do they avoid that? Add a bunch of other stuff, for plausible deniability. And it seems to have worked, as the anti-piracy gods haven’t singled them out like they have past software projects. To be clear, I’m not excusing Plex. But I can understand such an unspoken motivation.

Open ##38901

@roofuskit@lemmy.world 2025-12-07 18:26

TL;DR: $ $ $ $

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@Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 2025-12-07 19:03

There is only one reason. Greed.

Open ##39220

@LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 2025-12-07 20:35

If jellyfin was easier to use and had the same options as jellyfin, id switch over. But I’ll keep my Plex lifetime pass as long as I can until they make all lifetime passes null in the next 2 years and make us all pay monthly.

Open ##39491

@barcaxavi@lemmy.world 2025-12-07 20:37

Not for me. Before Plex I was browsing folders on my TV and I actually had to organize everything, plus find and download matching subtitles. It sucked so much. I got into self hosting because of Plex and ran it on a 2015 Shield (both the server and the player) for ~8 years. Just moved the server to another machine this year. Still happy premium user.

Open ##39499

@NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 2025-12-07 20:57

I never stopped using Kodi

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@Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 2025-12-07 21:23

Open ##39684

@zephiriz@lemmy.ml 2025-12-07 21:45

3 Things stope from using jellyfin 100% of the time. 1)TV tuner is janky and loading a guide for local channels is garbage. I like watching the morning local news and jellyfin just does not cut it. 2)I want sub accounts. They used to have something similar but took it out for security reasons. I want to log all my TVs into one account but then have each user select their profile. So I can easily have a restricted profile for say kids then another for my parents then one for me then one for SO under the same roof. It will track each persons watched profile so when someone watches ahead it doesn’t mess with someone else’s. On the same note, controller/ HTPC remote configs feel janky. I know its there but its not a smooth and easy as Plex. This goes along with above for anyone who says just make another account. You try entering half decent passwords with small HTPC remotes or controllers. If they could fix these things I would ditch Plex all the way. But as it stands I use Plex for my TV and jellyfin for my phones, tablets, PC.

Open ##39748

@GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 04:19

oh look, another jellyfin circle jerk.

Open ##40640

@dawnslayer@piefed.social 2025-12-08 04:35

Moved to Stremio + A debrid service. I’m good.

Open ##40676

@kieron115@startrek.website 2025-12-08 04:38

Sure, you can disable a lot of features from the home page, but even the remaining bits push you toward Plex’s ecosystem with things like recommendations. And I’ve even seen people complaining about needing to re-disable promotional content after updates. It’s simply a shady business. If anyone would care to tell me where I’m being pushed towards Plex’s ecosystem I’d love to understand what the flying fuck he’s talkin about. The only thing I could find that could generously be called part of the Plex “ecosystem” are the social features. Also I’ve had a server for 15 years and I’ve never had to re-do my customization from an update.

Open ##40682

@Redtrax@lemmy.ml 2025-12-08 11:36

Stopped using Plex and moved to jellyfin around 12 months ago and have never looked back

Open ##41324

@DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 13:10

There’s only one reason, money.

Open ##41501

@Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2025-12-08 13:44

You guys are still using plex? My media is all pirated anyway, I just make it publicly available on a webserver. Access control? Why would I care, I stole it.

Open ##41601

@Briguy@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 14:02

Serious question. I have been using the free version of plex for years and been happy with it. I have no desire for remote access and I never consume media on my phone. I just use it to watch TV shows and movies in my living room. I don’t want anything more from it so I’m fine with the free version. Is there anything else I’m missing out on my not using jellyfin? I’ve considered it but to me it doesn’t seem to be worth the effort to switch if I’m happy with the free Plex. But I’m willing to have my mind changed

Open ##41664

@melfie@lemy.lol 2025-12-08 14:07

I prefer open source, but if I’m buying proprietary software, let’s do it fairly and sustainably. Don’t charge me a 1-time fee and then enshittify what I bought because your business model isn’t working. On the other hand, don’t charge me multiple times for the same software with a subscription. The most fair arrangement to both of us is to sell perpetual licenses for a specific version that doesn’t restrict my usage or require me to use it online and then charge fees for newer versions. If your newer versions introduce massive improvements, then I might give you more money. It’s also fair to do free upgrades for a period of time and then charge for major upgrades.

Open ##41682

@boaratio@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 14:38

Capitalism.

Open ##41770

@EonNShadow@pawb.social 2025-12-08 16:20

I use Plex for audiobooks and TV shows primarily. The fact that you can’t (or at least can’t easily) scan library files from Plexamp is utterly insane to me. Especially after they made audio libraries completely unavailable on the regular Plex app. I’ll probably switch to Audiobookshelf or something else down the line.

Open ##42154

@scarabic@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 18:23

I hate headlines like this. I’d love to hear the REASONS WHY Plex are doing all of this. But no, it’s just “4 ways in which Plex now sucks” which we all know already. Before someone says “the reason is money” we need to ask: do the developers of Jellyfin not use money? Before someone says “enshittification,” we need to ask: does this mean Jellyfin will soon have the same problems? We all seem to love Jellyfin so I think we need to understand the actual reason why, or this will just continue happening.

Open ##42515

@opossumo@lemmings.world 2025-12-08 20:30

I never felt comfortable with Plex, glad I’ve got JellyFin.

Open ##42834

@dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 21:14

I’m going to call it like I saw it, a very long time ago. You have an “open” product that is basically purpose built to make data hoarding and piracy practical, yet it requires a login with a central service. I don’t care what justification anyone thinks makes that worthwhile or even a good compromise. Signaling to any corporate entity that you’re in possession of such a thing is a bad idea to begin with. They shouldn’t even know you exist. That information, along with anything else you do with the product is compromising to you and can be sold for money if aggregated with everyone else’s data. If you find this rant out of place in our modern world, I’d like to point to the concept of shifting baselines. This didn’t used to be normal and nothing short of greed continues the behavior. The technology before this ran/runs without anyone knowing. Consider VLC, or XBMC.

Open ##42995

@flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 21:40

Plex has been off limits to me for along time. Just the fact they want to require auth with their central service for something I use for reasons rights holders would love to sue me into third world poverty over (muh Linux ISOs) is enough reason. Them demanding that auth hook into the server makes me uneasy about what sort of metatdata they are currently, or could exfiltrate later on, should they want to or be demanded to. Whole thing stinks of willingly being part of a honeypot.

Open ##43065

@x00z@lemmy.world 2025-12-08 21:52

Nobody talking about Emby? Why not?

Open ##43099

@PhAzE@lemmy.ca 2025-12-09 00:31

Meh, I went into plex settings on the server and just turned off all the bloat. Its all on one page. Not a big deal.

Open ##43557

@Psythik@lemmy.world 2025-12-09 02:10

Stremio + Torrentio FTW

Open ##43794

@Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 2025-12-09 04:14

One reason: It’s not FOSS, and because of that, the Capitalist profit motive will always push the creators towards enshitification. The same forces act upon FOSS too, but the difference is that FOSS has structural immunity built into it. If the software enshitifies, it can be forked and maintained by a community that values software freedom. We’ve seen it happen time and again. Terraform, CentOS, RHEL, The Xen Hypervisor, etc. When companies try to take freedom away from FOSS, they fail, because their users and maintainers are empowered by FOSS licenses (especially restrictive ones like the GPL) and can fight back. With proprietary software, the users are powerless, only the owners have control. Don’t trust promises, good intentions, or corporate slogans. Trust free software and the open ecosystems they thrive in. PS, Jellyfin is amazing ❤️

Open ##44099

@minorkeys@lemmy.world 2025-12-09 04:42

Business. It’s business. Business has inescapable behaviors that manifest anytime it touches anything. It trades user experience for profit seeking. It’s not even complex. Profit always comes at the cost of product value and the purpose of business if profit. It always is, it always will be.

Open ##44171

@HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2025-12-09 04:50

Goodness, how am I supposed to store and stream more entertainment than I could watch in a lifetime now?

Open ##44190

@sommerset@thelemmy.club 2025-12-09 07:08

Clients suck on non plex

Open ##44511

@finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2025-12-09 07:20

It’s sad but at least it’s still competition where desperately needed.

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@obinice@lemmy.world 2025-12-09 08:40

The thing it replaced… XBMC? O_o

Open ##44689

@Doorknob@lemmy.world 2025-12-09 09:25

If they were going to get enshittified, they should’ve been smarter about it to gradually introduce lock-in. The switching cost of going to Jellyfin is almost zero. Did it in an afternoon about a year ago. Ya done goofed, Plex

Open ##44784

@Allero@lemmy.today 2025-12-09 14:05

It’s a commercial product, what else could you expect?

Open ##45383

Replies (40)