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.

  • sj_zero
    16•2 months ago

    I started on Plex and even considered a lifetime Plex pass, but I felt like it was more interested in showing their content than my content. It was a lot of effort just to show music and movies.

    My family and I use jellyfin every day now, and a key thing is it starts off boring but it shows your music, your movies, your books, your photos.

    For folks who migrate who were paying, consider a donation to projects you make heavy use of. They don’t usually have big companies behind them and can use the help.

  • @[email protected]English
    4•2 months ago

    I feel like people getting mad at this shit don’t even use plex. I run my server on lifetime pass. Have it on my Nas with overseer, radarr, sonarr, all that shit. Just a couple of months of not having subscriptions for me and my family pays for plex. If you log on plex once a month this shit ain’t for you to worry about.

  • AlbumEnglish
    20•2 months ago

    This email is talking to you as a user of other libraries not yours, not as a server owner.

    “Alternatively, server owners can purchase a Plex Pass, which will grant you continued remote streaming of libraries that you have been given access to.”

    As communicated previously, Plex pass users also get the benefit of the “Remote watch pass.”

    • ScrubblesOPEnglish
      3•2 months ago

      No, I’m a plex pass holder, and the (now two) users who have received it only use my server. They still got the email.

      • AmbiguousPropsEnglish
        8•2 months ago

        It doesn’t matter that they got the email, everyone did. You need to read it further and see that if a server owner has a Plex pass, the users do not need to pay.

      • Saik0English
        16•2 months ago

        Okay? But they’re not holders… and their access to servers is changing and hinges on YOUR status. It’s not unreasonable to notify them about this change.

      • MaggiWuerzeEnglish
        2•2 months ago

        And as a Plex pass user nothing will change for you or your users.

  • @[email protected]English
    45•2 months ago

    Thank you for posting this. I thought it was just me.

    In my case, one user actually lost access entirely to my libraries, the updated app was trying to force him to buy a personal pass, even though I have a Plex pass.

    I had him reset his app and clear cache, to no avail. I ended up having to REMOVE his access to my libraries, and then reshare them to him, before he could access them again.

    He was quite upset at Plex during the entire process.

    Then the next day, he got this same email, and was frustrated all over again thinking he was gonna have to fight it again.

    Really terrible customer service here, very sloppy. Aside from the fact that this is a greedy cash grab, it’s just being done poorly.

    Jellyfin still isn’t feature packed enough for me to switch to, unfortunately.

  • @[email protected]English
    7•2 months ago

    I have plex set up with cloudflare tunnels, with the url configured in plex under Settings > Network > Custom server access URLs, does this mean that my users will no longer be able to view content inside the plex app or app.plex.tv? The enshittification is real

  • @[email protected]English
    21•2 months ago

    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

  • @[email protected]English
    12•2 months ago

    I’m done with Plex - They won’t get my recommendations. My holdoff buying PlexPass were the little bugs that always mattered - Pausing for more than a few minutes HARD locked up the stream, the stream had to re-init to load subtitles, and then the MAJOR issue with “What files is Plex NOT seeing” and other indexing issues. I paid for my Android app, happily. But now, telling me I can’t stream my own media, after paying for the app? Y’all can F right off with that. I’ll be finally setting up Jellyfin ASAP.

  • @[email protected]English
    27•2 months ago

    People are saying switch to jellyfin, which I’m all for. But you’re expecting a service which will make remote access easy like Plex ur kinda fucked.

    I mean if have to set up wireguard or whatever for Jellyfin you could just do the same for Plex?

    Again go to jellyfin either way, proprietary software can suck my gurl cawk, but either way you need a VPN or open ports.