I remember when it was just Hulu for $5 and Netflix for $8. Saved $50 a month from cable. Now it seems we spend more. I have four. Max, Peacock, Paramount and Hulu. Prime doesn’t count because it sucks balls. (Only paying Netflix when next Stranger Things and Squid Game is released). Curious to see what the average Lemmer/Lemming (what do we call ourselves?) has?
One. It’s all you really need. Watch what you want on it for a month. Then cancel and sign up for another. Repeat.
As others have pointed out, you can get a lot of services for free, even if just for a while. Cell phone plans, Target Circle, Best Buy, and other places frequently send out freebie codes or include services with membership.
I want to do that as well but then my question is how do you do Discovery? For example you can find many movies and series on netflix and some might be good and then you find it.
How do you that when there is no input. I sometimes really like to just scroll a library untill I find something interesting to watch.
Plex has been baking in features like that to help you see what is on other streaming channels, etc..
Personally the whole point of Plex for me was it was a container for my existing DVD/Blu Ray collection, while Plex has added some really cool features. Increasingly they keep resetting the dashboard to try and force engagement with new features, it feels a bit user hostile and I've been switching to Jellyfin (same idea but entirely open source and self hosted).
From a discovery perspective, personally I've found good content tends to create its own word of mouth style buzz.
For example at the moment you can't go near twitter, reddit, work, BBC News, etc.. without someone talking about 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'. Recently the risa community kept mentioning Babylon 5 so I picked up all 5 seasons for £20 and watched it through. Similarly the Risa community really seems to love Star Trek prodigy so I'll probably give that a go at some point.
It's not as convenient but it's more socially healthy in my opinion to rely on word of mouth. Since I've started pirating all of my content and streaming through jellyfin, I've found that I'm talking amongst all of my friends more about their interests in docs, shows, movies, etc. I didn't realize how much social commentary had been replaced with algorithms until then.
Personally:
Kinocheck (YT, uploads cinema trailers)
gigguk, Crunchyroll (YT, uploading/reviewing shows)
NZB360 (Android app for managing *arrs and my other related services)
Trakt (Website)
IMDB/TMDB (Website, If I visit them)
I used to have all of them. Everybody got my money every month. Then all the prices went up. Now only one of them gets my money per month. It's not so much the expense. It's the principle.
It was zero for a long time, but now it's one: Nebula. It's $2.50/Mo and run by many large YT creators and comes with no ads or sponsorships. I wanted to support creators and was getting really tired of YT's greed.
None, and every time my coworkers talk about how many they have it seems insane. One has fucking 6 different services. It's not even about the money. I just truly cannot be bothered working out the maze of what is where when an RSS feed will just deliver me the stuff I'm interested in when it comes out from anywhere.
None, I refuse to sign up for any subscription, unless it can be done through gift cards, so I know that I will only spend a static ammount of money when I can afford it.
Have you heard of Privacy? It's an app that sets up virtual credit card numbers and you can specify how much or how many or how often that number can be charged. I mainly use it for "free" trials that want a credit card to bill if you don't cancel after the trial period. I set a $1 limit so the company thinks it's a real card when they do the small feeler charge. Saves me the hassle of remembering to cancel.
You can obviously use it for other purposes, like when you might be dealing with an iffy vendor.
Real-Debrid and something like Stremio is really all you need.
Here's a link to a reddit thread detailing how to setup Stremio, Torrentio and Real-Debrid. The only thing you pay for is Real-Debrid (which is essentially a server you connect to that hosts torrents so that you can stream them directly with high speeds). It costs around 20$ for 6 months.
Game pass, GeForce now, YouTube premium, Hulu, Netflix, Apple, Disney, Max, Amazon prime, Paramount, and Grandma just insisted we sign up for peacock to watch the football games.
I want to cancel paramount and Disney, but some family members really enjoy some shows on it.
I'm quitting Prime this month; on top of being twice as expensive as the rest, the greedy mf-ers are adding commercials with a price hike if you want no commercials. Also quitting Disney+ and Hulu for lack of content and lack of funds. I'll be quitting Netflix next. I quit Paramount+ a few months ago now that I'm all caught up on watching all the Star Trek series.
I got totally fed up with all the shit, content being spread everywhere and not knowing where to go to watch the things i wanted to watch, prices constantly going up all the time, quality dropping like a lead weight.
So switched to iptv. All the channels from uk, us, and a handful of other countries in europe including ppv sports etc. Also has a stack of disney, hulu, netflix and apple+ bundled in. 14usd a month. Installed on a firestick 4k max pro extreme limited edition. Has an epg, biggest pain is waiting for the epg to load the initial startup each day. Takes a couple of minutes. That being said, you can skip the epg if you want to skip straight to a channel.
Pirates ruled the 00's until streaming services cracked down on axxo and the gang, then spent the next 15 years or so destroying media amd convenience. Piracy will have amother day again soon, i can feel it in my wooden leg
I use EPG dot best. They're an EPG provider who give you lots of detailed information about each channel and show/movie and nice clean logos and everything.
You can filter large EPG files from your IPTV provider into much smaller ones that only include the channels you actually watch. The smaller EPG file means that the app uses less RAM on my Nvidia Shield too
It's not free and it's kinda finicky to set up, with a weird workflow, but it works well once that's done
Just Nebula. I do admittedly rent movies from YouTube from time to time as a sort of special thing to do with my friend (a bit less than once a month I think, I don't think I watch them often enough to justify any kind of subscription to them, which probably wouldn't have all the ones I end up wanting to see anyway, and since at the current pace it might be years before I rewatch something if ever I don't think buying is really worth it either in my case), but on the whole, I just have kind of given up watching "normal" TV anymore. There are a handful of shows I liked watching when living with some family that had the subscription, but there's not nearly enough entertainment in just one show or two for me to want to bother buying a subscription to any of them myself, and I've sort of found that except for only one or two shows I get more enjoyment per unit time out of content made by individuals or small teams anyway, I'm not really sure why, maybe because it can be more niche or something.
That isn't to say that I don't spend any money, beyond that one subscription that is, on entertainment or anything, I just generally spend it on games. (And since I like games with thousand hours or more levels or replayability, usually buy them or any dlc on sales, and don't play games with mtx much and never buy any if I do, the amount of entertainment hours per dollar I get there is rather extremely high I suspect).
Netflix because there's always something we want to watch
Disney+ (in the Disney+Hulu bundle with no ads in either. I'll be dropping hulu soon for lack of content) for the kids to get their Disney movie fix, plus it also has quite a few movies/shows we generally want to watch
Nebula because it costs very little and directly supports creators I already watch
Amazon Prime because I order just enough on Amazon to be worth keeping Prime around for plus the video service.
SiriusXM because I live in a rural area with crap cell service and I don't like country music so AM/FM radio isn't a option
I pay $13/year for a domain (that gets used across many self-hosted services), and another $6/mo for usenet access (provider + indexer) giving me access to anything I'd want to watch. Between Emby, Ombi, and the 'arr stack; I can open a webpage, search for new content, and click 'download'; 15min later it's in the library and ready to watch offline.
Currently sitting on a collection of 3500 movies and 35000 tv episodes that's ever growing.
None of the traditiona streaming video ones. I have F1 TV and Spotify. Streaming video and movies are fun, but don't really match with how my brain works.
It's way easier to maintain focus on a a video game for me, since it allows me to determine the pace more and it provides constant interaction. If things go to slow, my brain tends to jump focus to the next most interesting thing and get distracted.
An issue I also have with story driven content is that I start feeling the emotions of the characters extremely hard. If something stressful or sad happens then I'll get very tense, stressed, or sad, which I don't enjoy too much. So instead of a relaxing activity it becomes a very stressful one for a lot of series.
If I really want to see something I tend to take a 1 month subscription and binge it all in that month.
Prime only because it’s included.
Otherwise my VPN and the high seas.
Might consider youtube premium for the family account to get rid of ads but trying to see if I can get Pihole or something working.
Netflix because my husband likes a lot of stuff on there. He's watching star trek prodigy now.
YouTube for music streaming, and the kids & husband watch videos on there.
Disney/Hulu I like the Star Wars and Marvel spinoffs, Clone Wars and Andor were so, so good.
Amazon, if I didn't have family I'd keep this only and I guess use it for music too, I don't actually watch much TV at all but music I want every day, we do have a good community radio station here but if course nobody can enjoy everything they play. Amazon seems to have the most content, not all of it included in the annual cost but huge library.
So most of them are because we can justify with more people using the services, all are family plans with whatever the max number of accounts are allowed.
We do use HBO Max but one of the kids pays for that one.
I need a schedule - one of my coworkers does 2 months Netflix then 2 months Disney then 2 months Max, just loops through them, only paying for one at a time.
Ah ok. I really loved the Google Play Music app, it was the best. Google could tell me who was playing nearby - and unlike Spotify, Google (because Google is creepy) knows what I actually consider nearby, and did not just show bands I listened to, but those I might also like, and was right about that way more often than not. It had better recommendations, YouTube music is still not as good as all, but everyone else on the plan does look at YouTube videos too, so we are getting plenty of utility out of it.
I love it. It’s my go to if I’m bored sitting on the couch. They’ve got a lot of great shows like Game Changer, Make Some Noise, and this new one called Very Important People. If you’re into D&D, there’s Dimension 20. I’m not a big fan of it, but it’s one of, if not the, most popular shows on there.
I pay for Peacock, Netflix, Paramount, and Apple. I get Disney and Hulu free with my phone plan, and I'm sharing someone else's HBO Max, Brit Box and Prime accounts until they say accounts can't be shared anymore. None of the ones I pay for cost too much except Netflix, which I would have canceled by now if my mom didn't watch it so much lol
Reddit are getting pressure from movie studios to doxx people dicussing piracy, I just read about it today. I wish I was fucking kidding. I'm sure if they bribed them, they'd roll right over.
I pay for Hulu and Prime (for the shipping), and get Netflix & Apple TV thru my T-Mobile subscription.
edit: oh, derp. I also have YouTube premium because I paid up for the Google Play Music family plan back in the day, and then it converted to YouTube Music + Premium. Later, I upped my subscription to Google One for the extra storage and phone support and get some okay, ad-free free content on the 'Tubes
Spotify is the only service I actively use. I'm not big on music fidelity, so for my purposes, it provides value.
The Hulu and Disney+ bundle because my mom and girlfriend use it, and it's not worth convincing them to use my Jellyfin server.
Prime Video, just because I have Amazon prime, but I don't think I even have the app installed on any of my devices.
These days, if I'm watching something on my own, I don't even bother looking for it on streaming apps. I just legally acquire a Blu-ray copy and add it to Jellyfin.
I have Hulu/Disney bundle, Netflix, and Prime. I canceled Prime after the commercials announcement but I still have a few months remaining. I will miss it but I won't tolerate commercials in a service I'm paying for.
Next to go will be Netflix after their latest price increase, I will subscribe for a month when I want to watch something on there badly enough.
I just canceled Sirius XM as well, I liked it but need to cut some costs. I figured they would offer me some free months but haven't yet. They did offer $5 per month which should be $60 but is more like $75 after all the taxes and fees. Tired of playing that game so I refused this time.
And I have adblocked YouTube on my TV, phone, and PC.
I get Max for free with my phone, Hoopla free from the library, and my sister lets me use her Disney+ account. The only streaming service I pay for is PBS Passport.
None. I just cancelled our Netflix account a couple months back. We had that account since right after they went public, when it was just dvds through the mail. They really went downhill over the years, to the point where we didn't watch anything on the service for about six months. Add to that them enshitifying all over themselves, and we finally bailed.
Damn, that was like 20 years ago when we first signed up. RIP.
Between my wife and me, we have Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Curiosity, DropOut, and Nebula for videos. I also have one paid Twitch subscription. We could probably stand to cancel one or two.
For music, I have Spotify and my wife has YouTube Music. We have different preferences in sorting and recommendations, and at this point either of us migrating to the other's preferred service would be more work than it's probably worth.
Used to have a couple when they had loads of content on them, now that everyone has their own service and only their own content, and higher prices, I cancelled all of them and set up Jellyfin.
It's just a convenience problem, if a service had actual good content and didn't cost a fortune I'd be right back on it. But no way I'm paying for 10 streaming services.
I pay for Apple Music which I use for 10+ hours a day, and YouTube premium through a family plan which I also heavily use. I refuse to pay for anything else beyond one music source and one video source.
Paying monthly for Apple, Netflix & YouTube TV. Paid for a year of Prime just before they announced they were adding ads. Got a year of Peacock with ads last year for $20. Also have a yearly subscription to Tennis Channel Plus.
I usually rotate a few of the monthly subs every 3 to 6 months to catch up on some shows and movies I've missed, but I'm getting closer and closer to cancelling them all. Too expensive and too much time on the couch.
YT Premium comes with my Google One subscription which gives 100GB storage on their cloud and YT Music (which is, in my opinion, better than Spotify - there are better mixes and Spotify doesn't do great with Japanese songs, which I listen to a lot)
Disney+ because my gf got me into Marvel and I watch the new series' (plus Star Wars and classics from my youth like Kim Possible)
For other content (like the Office), I just use Stremio with Torrentio. Disney+ is still worth it because it's a pain to set up the HDMI every time and I'm peak lazy
Not a streaming service, but if you have a partner you should really look into Regal Unlimited / AMC's variant of that. Movie dates are great and there are always enough new movies to keep you going, plus you can sneak snacks in super easily in a bag (even just a full bag of popcorn lol). You can watch and rewatch like 10 movies in the theater a month if you want lol, plus it gets you out-of-the-house. It's not for everyone, but worth it for us!!
Just cancelled Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Hulu about an hour ago.
Still have Max (included in cell phone plan), Prime (mainly for shipping) and AppleTV+ because it's cheap, and I've had a harder time f successfully getting many of their shows on the seven seas.
For music we're stuck in a bit of a disagreement on what service to consolidate down to. I use YouTube Music because it includes add-free videos and because I was a long time user of Google Play Music (which was awesome). Wife likes Pandora Premium (Pandora has the best 'stations' with per-station thumbs-up/down), one kid has years of stuff on Napster(nee Rhapsody), and the other kid has all their stuff and friends playlists on Spotify.
Two. Disney+ and WWE Network (UK so it’s still standalone).
Always been a Disney fan so it’s a no brainier for me to have access to all the films and shows so easily. And the UK version has Star included so there’s other films to randomly find too.
WWE Network is still the only way to go about it here, £9.99 a month (still, it’s never increased) and that pretty much is half what you would pay for the PLE each month. Plus NXT is now only on there in the UK so more than enough to justify the price for me.
I don't really want any of them, but I seem to get 4 or 5 different streaming services included with other necessary subs I have. As long as they are "free," I might as well use them.
Jokes aside, I used to pay for Netflix and Amazon prime. I quit Netflix ~2 years ago when they raised prices outrageously. I'm still on Amazon prime, though, and I would have quit if it wasn't for my brother who is still using it as a linked account. Especially after I've seen the Oobah Butler video (not like I didn't hear/read about them before, but all those in one video were just enough).
None. Cancelled cable over 10 years ago, download what I want. I haven't seen an ad in ages. I use uBlock and a VPN if I want to watch youtube, haven't had any ads. The only ads I get are on the radio, but it's free, that's the way radio has always worked.
I don't have a Plex server or anything like that, which I honestly should get, but I simply just use free streaming websites like 123.movies. Movies-web.app was great but has had some issues recently. I hope they get it/or already have it fixed because it was a very nice, pop-up free experience when it was working.
Hulu, Spotify, paramount+, peacock, Netflix, hbomax, disney+, prime, for media that's all I think. Many more subscriptions in all though, for cloud storage and compute, various apps, minecraft servers and realms, honestly I need to take stock of it all
SO and I keep the Disney/Hulu bundle because one of my credit cards covers the cost. Everything else we cancelled and I built a little Jellyfin server.
We pay for the student disney/hulu with ads ($7 I think) as well as Peacock ($6) and we have access to a family member’s HBO Max. We quit netflix on principle last price hike and are planning to set up our own server—maybe plex so we can share with friends. We have apple for free for now (came with a TV).
We also pay for gamepass ($18) which I think belongs in a similar spending category.
Netflix and Disney+ are the only two left. I used to also have Amazon Prime and Spotify but I was able to cut out Prime early last year and just within the last few weeks I cut out Spotify after using it continuously since 2009.
I'm trying to de-stream my media, and I would very much like to own the actual files legitimately instead but I think everything is so reliant on streaming these days it can be really difficult to buy DRM-free movies or TV shows. For music I get it from Bandcamp, so I am very appreciative of that. What can't be acquired legitimately.. cough
Just Amazon Prime and Paramount Putz. I'd get rid of the former, but I've heard it's tough to do. Also, I don't subscribe to Amazon Prime for television specifically; that sub is for free shipping specifically. The streaming is just gravy... although with the upcoming advertising attached to shows, it's more like diaper gravy.
I only personally pay for Prime Video and Spotify. But I have access to Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, HBO, and a handful of others.
And whatever I don’t have access to, I have a Plex server running Servarr/Radarr, which automatically syncs downloaded content from Plex’s watchlist. So I can just add something to my watchlist, and it’s available on Plex in the next 20-60 minutes (depending on that particular torrent’s speeds.)
Prime Video (since it’s included with a prime membership), Spotify family (all spots filled), and kindle (if you consider it a “streaming” subscription).
Currently we have 5, but it varies. Once hard knocks is over max is gone until next football season so we’ll be at 4. I think we’re still saving money vs having directv, but not by much anymore.
Currently Amazon (for prime membership and photo backup, mainly) and Disney/Hulu for “free” with Verizon. Dropped Netflix and Max a long time ago. Might get them for a month to catch up on some shows.
Between me and my husband we have: Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium.
Used to have Optus Sports as well but funnily enough my account didn’t auto renew when it was supposed to. I got transferred 3 times trying to renew my account and still couldn’t get anyone who can charge my card. They don’t seem to want my money so I just stopped.
Only Spotify due to convenience and tolerance that they are an European company and not a US one. I'm considering some other like Mubi, Curiosity Steam or Nebula, but none offer languages other than English. Which is a major hurdle to enjoy content with all the family. Thus far, my self-hosted server is way better, but some things we want to watch are particularly obscure and hard to find.
I occasionally hop on someone else's Netflix in my room. She said it was fine. But I only went to watch Leave the World Behind and Rebel Moon because both of those had a lot of praise. After that there's nothing on Netflix I'm interested in.
I have Prime, but I bought years ago without even considering video content as part of it. Plus now it gives me perks for games I play where I otherwise wouldn't spend any money. Honestly I'll probably be keeping prime just for the website and game side alone. The video service was just a bonus.
I had Apple TV after doing a one month trial but other than Invasion and Foundation there's nothing else interested on there. I finished both of those within the month and let it expire.
I only still have HBO because my daughter likes watching South Park.
Not interested at all in Disney/Hulu.
I cancelled Paramount.
So right now I have HBO and Prime. One for my kids and the other for non-streaming reasons.
Cancelled Disney+ when it nearly doubled in price, as we'd only bought it because it was only A$8/mo anyway.
Also cancelled Kayo when they tripled the price over about a year without informing us that well.
For video content? Just YouTube. The rest doesn't really interest me, I have access to a Netflix account but I haven't used in in years, to the point where I'll have to ask my mum what the password is again if I have a reason to use it
Prime because I work in a remote area and buy a lot of Amazon, and HBO Max because one day my cell phone carrier decided to give it to me for no extra charge on my plan.
Oh I know it’s not all of them, but what I guess I meant was all of the major ones. Or at least, all of the ones where my shows are on that I like to watch.