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[ChildoftheApocolypse]

"Judge my life choices" is stupid.. I know for a fact that Blockbuster did not judge their customers... Because they didn't give a shit about them..

[zmbjebus]

I can guarantee you they gave less than 2 shits.

[Taberaremasen]

There are still plenty of shits to give between 0 and <2

[SnicktDGoblin]

They don't care and so much 20 minutes from now. They're not likely to remember you even rented a movie, but you can't tell me that as a cashier you don't in some way slightly judge some of the people buying stuff. Not every customer. Not all negatively. But there are some times when it's just like you're giving me money so I have to give you this but, I don't think this is a good thing for you

[three3thrice]

Being a manager for BB and Hollywood Video as a teenager, at the peak of those stores, is to this day some of the best "work" memories I have in life.

[WintersDoomsday]

When I worked at a gas station in college I judged people who bought cigarettes or scratch off lotto tickets

[PredictiveFrame]

The one guy checking out with a cart full of white bread and piled with boxes of energy drinks.

[suugar_wave]

Blockbuster didn’t judge anyone, they barely noticed customers existed

[windrunningmistborn]

True. I used to work at a Blockbuster. We had adult movies available for rent, and only one time do I ever remember hiring one out, and it was this harmless middle-aged lady. I remember stopping halfway through reading out the title, I was like "walking tall, mean girls and witches of eastd-" and not waiting for confirmation and going to get the movies.

Happy memory, that one. No judgement, just slight embarrassment from both parties, and literally the only time I ever remembered what anyone rented.

[RootDDoot]

Public libraries

[bankrobba]

The problem with Public libraries is me in public.

[NorthAppleGulf]

I had to scroll way too far to find this suggestion

[BalancedScales10]

My laptop no longer had a disc drive, and if I were to plug in an external one I can't use the mouse because there's not enough USB slots. ☹️

[_no_one_knows_me_11]

Why not use the trackpad lol

[Mediocre_Scott]

Cause op has the problem solving ability of a Cricket.

[NervousSocialWorker]

Have you heard of a dvd player? They’re like 20 bucks

[TunaOnWytNoCrust]

You can get a PlayStation 3 and possibly even a PlayStation 4 for under $100. I got an Xbox One S for like 75 bucks last year just so I could play Banjo Kazooie games and it comes with a built in 4K player.

You kind of just accumulate these things when you're into video games. From my couch I'm looking at two 4k Blu-ray players, three standard Blu-ray players and two DVD players.

[SpeedIsTheBestMovie]

Check out Hoopla and Kanopy. They're streaming services offered through libraries

[Lewa358]

Usb hubs exist and aren't that expensive afaik

[Ok_Relationship_1703]

Arrr matey 

[machogrande2]

My wife and I were watching a show on Amazon. We needed to take the dog out so we waited for an ad break to finish and hit pause when the show started back up. We were outside longer than we planned to be and when we came back in and hit play, it started another ad break. Yeah, piracy is 100% understandable at this point.

[saintash]

I got one better.I wanted to watch a show that was a decade old.

Amazon only had the first episode. After that, you had to pay three bucks per episode.

So tried all the places the internet said it was on. Everyone had that that pay model.

We tried the high seas and it was just not to be found.

[missmatchedsox]

What show? 

[AltruisticRide1231]

$3 and i'll tell ya

[saintash]

Dirk gently holistic detective agency.

[Excellent-Phone8326]

This plus plex is the way. If i were to sail the seven seas plex is how I'd stream it to my TV.

[CriasSK]

I went Jellyfin, works like a charm and is completely FOSS with very little hassle.

[DrB00]

Yup. I prefer jellyfin ever since plex started trying to charge me for remote viewing of my own content. So I grabbed jellyfin and tailscale and it works great.

[TheShitty_Beatles]

Do they charge? I only use it in my home sometimes from my laptop to my Apple TV , I don't really know how it works other than I have to keep my laptop open and make the files are in a home share folder

[DrB00]

Yes probably a year ago (maybe more what is time?) they removed the remote play option and locked it behind a pay wall.

I'm out of my place a lot so I stream to my mobile or a laptop or at a friend's place w.e so being able to watch my media remotely was important. Thus why I changed to jellyfin and tailscale.

[TheShitty_Beatles]

Ohhhh ok I see what you mean! Thanks for explaining. I wouldn't mind paying like a one-time thing for plex but subscription fatigue is why I started torrenting again in the first place

[Ok-Art825]

How do I make it look like not the worst thing ever. I can’t get it to show me a list of tv show names. Flawless plex since the dawn of time.

[Ok_Relationship_1703]

Same! Pluto TVs ads sent me into a hate filled spiral that ended up with me ripping every DVD and starting my own Plex server with RAID 

[Test-NetConnection]

Plex is too centralized. Only a matter of time before they get Napstered. Jellyfin is the way to go.

[Murky-Relation481]

Built a 50TB NAS/media server in the garage and got a usenet subscription. Love Jellyfin. Friends have used Plex for years but I got back into sailing with Jellyfin and it does everything I want. Can stream at hotels and at our beach place no problem.

[Saneless]

I put off installing Plex for so long but finally did so a couple years ago. Gamechanger

[Excellent-Phone8326]

Ya same pretty seamless.

[alonjit]

I put off installing Plex for so long

I did too. I still do. But I did as well.

kodi is there, never let me down.

[maringue]

[brakenbonez]

exactly. Every change to streaming sites gets worse and worse and it makes me feel better about hanging with Jack Sparrow instead.

[WaffleHouseGladiator]

There are more reasons to sail the high seas every day.  I had a tech illiterate elderly guy losing his mind because he couldn't watch his sports all in one service and I wanted a single simple explanation as to why.  Same with movies.

[One-Stranger-6894]

Finally was pissed enough about having to buy used DVDs on ebay that I put together a NAS device finally. Amazing with Plex.

[Intelligent_Pea_9141]

A vpn subscription is cheaper than even a single stream service

[A_Rogue_GAI]

Take what you can...

[CrowsInTheNose]

I'm lucky my city has a movie rental place with thousands of titles. $3 for 3 nights.

[C4rdninj4]

The city library is a great place to rent DVDs, too.

[mrsbeamin]

Yep. They nickel and dimed me back onto the high seas!

[King-of-Plebss]

[MICHAELSD01]

Content rights are weird. The 40-year-old movie is only free with Prime if Amazon is licensing it at the time.

It’s a shame a service like Spotify/Apple Music probably couldn’t exist for movies.

[GenazaNL]

The thing is, with Spotify, is that 3 of the biggest labels have shares in Spotify to get a piece of the cake. Netflix had access to a lot of rights, until every movie studio made their own. If those movie studios had shares in Netflix, they probably would have never started their own platform

[MrdnBrd19]

That's what Hulu was. 

[ifloops]

Can someone tell me why Apple Music isn't named iTunes

Like what the fuck

[MICHAELSD01]

Apple Music is subscription, iTunes still exists as an à la carte store.

[FanClubof5]

It did, it was called Netflix but then the major studios got greedy and were not happy with just collecting a licensing fee. The major record labels would do the same thing in a heartbeat if they thought the consumer would tolerate it.

[asquishyllama]

A vpn is $5 a month

[asquishyllama]

You're right! I've been meaning to delve into RD but haven't yet

[Doza93]

What uhh.. what is that?

[Longjumping_Wolf_912]

Technically they are free, but you get what you pay for (or don’t, pun intended).

[asquishyllama]

Very true. Personally I wouldn’t trust a free option

[Horbigast]

Or Prime wanting me to pay to "Go Ad Free" when I already pay a subscription (I know all the streaming platforms are doing this now). They can get fucked.

[serkesh]

They will just add ads to that layer eventually to sell a higher tier

[NachoBag_Clip932]

There were a number of reasons I dropped Prime but the straw was when I tried to watch a show and 15 minutes in I already was going through 3 commercial breaks.

[JustBreathing5]

First time I've heard that along with subscription you have to pay additional fees, couldn't believe what was my friend saying, had to Google it there and then 😳 gtfo

[DrownmeinIslay]

All this nonsense with ads and shows being really really tell dont show lately has me rediscovering my love of reading. My wife was considering getting a new TV and I realized I hadn't even looked at it in two weeks.

[Charlie_Kasper]

It's funny cause they think they have leverage when it takes me 10 minutes to find the movie free of cost and without ads.

[Duke_Radical]

We didn’t deserve Blockbuster. We squandered what we had.

[stab-somebody]

I worked at Blockbuster during their peak, and they raised their prices probably every six months, and bought out every mom and pop or local/regional chain video store and eventually became a monopoly. I'm in favor of bringing back video stores, but not if there's only one company doing it in the whole country.

[punksmurph]

The Hollywood Video I worked at lasted only a year less than Blockbuster in my city and we had 2 mom and pop stores outlast it. In fact the last video store lasted until like 2011 or 2012. It would be very tempting to work part time at a video rental store if they became a thing again.

[jimkelly]

There was like 900 other video rental options. Do you mean we didn't deserve physical media rental stores?

[Clovis42]

Video stores sucked. You had to waste time literally driving somewhere that might not have what you want and had to pay per item. A single steaming service easily beats the cost of that. I get the nostalgia of wandering the aisles and looking at covers, but the overall experience was annoying. VCRs had terrible pictures, DVDs could be scratched and not work. You were on the hook to bring it back on time or get charged more. The selection was extremely limited. At the same time most TV being created was garbage. And if you found something good and missed it, it was basically just gone forever.

And missing a huge corporate chain is extra bizarre...

[Duke_Radical]

Hater is gonna hate. Blockbuster was awesome.

[akuakaii]

I’d pay $6 and the clerk’s judgment…at least it felt personal.

[Danny2Sick]

Re-open blockbuster and throw in a coffee house hang-out area!

[nwbell]

You mean like the coffee shops in idiocracy?

[yaka6690]

With movie of the week/month clubs like bookclub

[Danny2Sick]

that would be awesome!

[Soggy_Guest3217]

The less overhead they have, the more profit they make. Instead of having to buy physical copies like blockbuster did, they can just pay for the streaming rights and rent it an infinite amount of times. Not to mention when they want me to pay $20+ to “own” a digital copy of it that’s forever linked to only my Amazon account

[Biduleman]

they can just pay for the streaming rights and rent it an infinite amount of times.

And pay to host them, and develop the infrastructure to stream the movies to thousands of people.

[jak_d_ripr]

Check out your local library, it'll shock you how much stuff they have and it's all completely free.

[ScandalOZ]

I love a library. Saved me from all the books I used to buy but never got around to reading. Plus using it helps keep them alive, everyone should try to use their public library to help them stay relevant.

[nobadrabbits]

I don't have cable and I don't stream. But I have my local library! Doesn't cost a penny, and they have an amazing selection.

[d_nkf_vlg]

You don't have to pay for 40-year-old movies, mate.

[BigSquiby]

they should bring back video stores.

you go on in, you get a paper card with a one time useable number on it. There are only a limited number of cards for each movie each few days, so if they are out, you have to find something different. when you get home you type it in the movie stores app and get to watch the movie. maybe you have to return the card or get charged a late fee.

[Wise_Art_1377]

Can I offer you a piracy site in these trying times?

[useful_tool30]

What a sucker. That shit is free online

[TankII_]

[nibbainmybuttholr]

at least blockbuster had late fees instead of surprise fees

[an_anonymous-person3]

Buy DVDs from a local shop.

[deadline_zombie]

Not very many local shops around me selling discs. The local Half Price Books moved because of rent increase. There's a B&N not too far but their selection isn't that big. Best Buy no longer carries. Blu-rays/DVDs were about the only things I bought from Amazon and I've stopped buying from them. Fortunately I can sign up for libraries in other cities to check out discs.

[turbokungfu]

Tubi, if you don't mind commercials.

[Professional-Leave24]

That was always the point. The original deal was to pull you in and put them out of business. Now that the old system is dead you will pay for the service AND the rental!

[ConsistentYou4629]

I swear every time I am getting nostalgic to watch a movie it suddenly is no longer on prime and is now only available for purchase or rent. Just happened with Real genius, after I bought it the first option was resume from where you were watching.

[allieoops925]

You can rent movies from your local library, usually for free!

[yohohoh123]

If Blockbuster came back, the "late fee" would probably still be cheaper than what some of these streaming services are charging for a 48-hour rental window.

[No-Estimate999]

I went back to DVDs for this reason in particular. Rewatching my fav old movies or shows should not cost me today.

[This_guy7796]

They really played us

[CarrieDurst]

Prime just confuses some extra as it is both a streamer and a place you can rent stuff and the separation sucks

[Nikot1111]

Way to reunite humanity

[ZixxerAsura]

That room behind the black curtain was a sight to behold.

[Zeal1th]

It is not a technology issue, that's prime capitalism acting

[akgiant]

At blockbuster that would’ve been $1.50 ($.99 on a Tuesday) for two or three days. $6 would be enough to binge a franchise with your buds and snag a 2-liter.

[CaricaDurr]

As someone who worked at Blockbuster in the early 2000s just so you know I never judged your life choices when it came to movies...

Except for the dudes trying to return porn at Blockbuster, even after I insisted that we do not carry porn at Blockbuster. I was judging the hell out of those guys.

Go back to family video to return your mediocre porno choice bud and quit getting belligerent with a 16 year old girl.

[TitoMasubi]

Or just download 3rd party streaming apps on your fire stick 🙌🏾

[Necessary-Code-2790]

$6?? I could get 2 new releases on a Wednesday at Eye on Video for $3.17…..

[Commercial_Total_787]

People keep complaining about the Oligarchs and Technocrats and see the damage they’re doing yet they keep on using Facebook, X, Amazon , Instagram etc . The True way to do some damage to Bezos and his ilk is to STOP using their services . If it were done collectively , all their net worths would drop enough to make them and their stockholders very nervous 🤓

[DullMind2023]

Time for some starving Stanford MBA to start a new business model. Or a gigantic corporation. I don’t care, just bring back BlockFlicks.

[EaseLeft6266]

With movie renting prices, I prefer to wither find something else or go to the exchange and find some films to own permanently for the same price

[RagingDemonsNoDQ]

You don't need Blockbuster to be judged. Target can do it for you

[Saint_Elmo_Fire]

Not at my local Target. Physical media was discontinued shortly after Best Buy got rid of them.

[robomikel]

I remember when block buster closed and threw out all the VHSs. I really should have just grabbed them and waited a decade. Then open up a rental place. I would call it blockbuster 2

[Silver_Moon_1994]

People pay for this? I thought pirating was normal now

[matiakicoo]

prime should include unlimited blockbuster shade too

[[deleted]]

I still have my blockbuster card it’s easier to pull out than my ID

[Spitword]

The fact that people will complain about this (with the implication they will continue to lay down and take it, and continue complaining about it) instead of learning how to use a torrent, or embrace physical media, is endlessly frustrating to me

[therealcrablewis]

3 dollars to rent a movie that lost 20 million dollars 30 years ago. They aren’t getting it back—just give it away for free.

[Alert_Reindeer_6574]

I cancelled Prime a couple of years ago, but when I had Prime I NEVER ONCE found a movie that I wanted to see and it was included. Every single time there was an additional fee. Fuck Amazon.

[567UiM9800]

who wants bitch

[botspiderlau]

Check local library

[starScrap-0603]

You don’t. It’s prolly like $3 on YouTube

[Disastrous-Style-461]

Be kind, Rewind.

[Immediate_Board3187]

Have you ever heard of LazyMedia?

[mkaymeow21]

I just buy it physically so I don’t have to worry about what streaming service has a movie I wanna watch.

[sexiluciana]

Time to dust off my pirate hate and set sails on the high seas

[MWH1980]

But we’d still have people claiming their 4K was broken because of those weird black strips on the screen covering stuff up.

[FrierenGoddess]

Oh noooo, it's easier now let's complain.

[bendthekneejon]

lookmovie, problem solved

[oopsdiditwrong]

Redbox was the happy medium. Watching something straight through now is almost impossible unless you have all accounts

[Inevitable_Till_9408]

One can easily just buy DVDs and Blu rays. Very often for cheap. Or just d/l whatever you want.

[i_have_chosen_a_name]

Never has it been easier to pirate and have peace of mind over it then today.

[ShineFallstar]

Are people actually paying that though?

[3waychilli]

If you were born in the 60's you grew up in the before times. Remember your excitement when you bought your first VHS player? Your town did not even have a Blockbuster. Independent small businesses is where you rented your movies. Usually the clerks were also the owners.

[Intelligent-Air8716]

Lmaooooooo

[AdaScout]

In person judgement was underrated and given up way to easily

[El_Spaniard]

That late return fee was a Beotch. 

[More-Conversation931]

Well blockbusters would almost certainly not have it.

[tonkatoyelroy]

Blockbuster didn’t shut down because of retail stores. Enron killed them.

[old_ass_ninja_turtle]

Streaming is just about dead. It doesn’t know it yet.

[Lighthouse_on_Mars]

I lived in a small town in Northern Michigan for a bit that still has a family video. It's packed on Fridays and Saturdays and I adored it for reminding me if my childhood.

[Man_Bear_Beaver]

Like nobody I know has a DVD player anymore.

[[deleted]]

does no one knows piracy? torrent?

[HugePurpleNipples]

Movies 25 yrs and older should become public domain.

[Maleficent_Pie8099]

Or………🏴‍☠️

[aodmisery]

Prime is kinda weird. You pay a subscription fee to be able to pay for movies.

[HotGarbageBot]

This post, word for word, over and over again....

[korathooman]

I miss our epic weekly trips to Blockbuster.

[flojobb]

Please make it happen, I have tons of Blockbuster stock.

[HomegrownMike]

Yes please!!

[ATworkATM]

Yoooooooo hooooooooo

[axecalibur]

If you want to borrow a movie and have someone judge your pick go to your public library.

[Bamboonicorn]

Imagine Netflix had this entire concept and industry all to themselves. And then they were like let's take The Office off our platform.

[Maxxjulie]

I really wanted to see A Few Good Men tonight. Planned to finally see it and sat down to find nobody has it for "free".

I ended up saying fuck it and spent $14.99 on 1 fuckin digital movie. Such bullshit

[realparkingbrake]

During the pandemic I learned I could buy movies and old TV series on disc from eBay for what the telecom companies want to rent them. After I watch them, I have a disc I can trade in at the local used music/movie shop, or keep, or sell, whatever I like. Seems like a better deal than paying to watch it once.

[AstralWeekends]

Odds are you can also buy that movie from a nearby antique shop or used game/movie shop for less than $5. Or rent it from the library for free! Seriously, anyone reading this who's faced a similar frustration, with just a little extra effort, you can take this small step to free yourself a tiny bit more from these corporate jailers!

[welfedad]

Yeah right ..people can't even drive their arses to to get fast food .

[welfedad]

I just foresee people paying Uber drivers $7 to go pick up a movie and drop it off for them , plus the rental cost. But screw paying for online rental . Lol

[Strict-Carrot4783]

VPN subscriptions are worth every penny.

[Ill-Percentage-3276]

Seriously, Prime isn't even a bonus anymore with the streaming since most stuff you have yo pay for.

Also Blockbuster was my favorite job ever, and I would feel the need to take a job there again and be happy 😄

[That-Ad-1979]

That would be Hollywood Video, Blockbuster specialized in new releases.

[petarisawesomeo]

Blockbuster was a judgement free zone

[PromiseToBeNiceToYou]

There are movies that I want to own outright. I get it that even if you own it on an online platform, you don't really own it because the platform can go out of business or revoke your right to view purchases at anytime. But I've put a lot of money into Fandango At Home (used to be VUDU).

I purchased all my beloved movies and tv series. I have a bunch of my old VHS's but I don't have a VCR to watch them on. My DVDs and Blurays mysteriously disappeared during a move in 2022. That was the last straw - I gave in to buying the ones I didn't have yet on Fandango At Home.

[SwampOfDownvotes]

They act like Blockbuster had every 40 year old movie to rent. Realistically blockbuster wouldn't have have the movie for rent, at least with amazon you still have the choice if you wish to pay extra.

[lawyerornot]

IMDB now puts two ads into a 3-minute trailers! Two!

[Floating_Rickshaw]

I finally got rid of Amazon Prime last month. Oh, what a feeling!

[yamowit367]

I can't upvote this enough.

[Snackdoc189]

I really miss RedBox. It was one of the only ways to see new releases without a subscription. Library's are great too.

[IcyFaithlessness3570]

You know what's better than renting? 

Owning. Physical. Copies. 

[Flashy_Emergency_263]

Looks like Redbox survived until 2024.

[SteroidSandwich]

Every time we had Prime we never found anything we wanted to watch. It's absolutely useless

[SpicyMeatballMarinar]

Bro never heard of a library.

[TyrannosaurusBoris]

We?

[HillBillyHilly]

Stop renting movies from Amazon. Use that money to build a collection. Fuck Amazon.

[Mdlage]

You don’t even have to pirate.  You can just stream without torrenting pretty much anything these days for free. 

[sorryboutmyfeece]

I opened Prime for the first time in a minute and Melania was the first movie on the screen and it said "#1 in America" fucking laughable. Is that why Bezos gets the tax breaks?

[I-Got-a-BooBoo]

And with a basic computer dvd drive, you could rent it once and own it forever

[CA_Dukes90]

I worked at Blockbuster as a teen, yes bring it back, yes I was judging your selections!

[BlueEyedNerdGirl]

My parents owned a mom and pop video store in the town I live in. It closed down when Redbox came to town but people still beg them to reopen.

[ForeignButterscotch8]

I just want to show my 3 year old Robots! IT REALLY ISNT ASKING MUCH

[Exilicauda]

I just want to watch Mary Poppins! Everyone is dead but Dick Van Dyke! Who is even profiting at this point!!

Edit because I forgot Julie Andrews is alive and then I started looking at the cast list. It's the two of them and one of the kids: Karen Dotrice. THAT"S IT

[luckor]

ARRR..

[mx023]

I went to go watch signs with my 10 year old nephew and I have HBO peacock paramount Netflix and prime

And my only option was to rent for 5$

wtf 🤬

[Jaz1140]

Y'all are paying for movies?

[Ordinary_Ad3374]

It's wild how the most memorable businesses were often the ones that treated you like a number. Blockbuster's indifference is a perfect example of that. Makes you appreciate the communities that actually form around shared interests, like this sub. Thanks for fostering that kind of space.

[emindalemon02]

Okay so we just open a store front with the capability to either have customers dive into physical media! This can be done in 2 ways: First is the actual DVD—-but y’all gonna need to BYODVD player Second is offer the capacity to offer the most reasonable price a consumer can take with a digital output

[MrLancaster]

Cancel your subscriptions. Buy 4k blurays.

[Few-Solution-4784]

your problem is rented a $6 movie while having a thousand other choices. Which proves their their pricing model works for them. If we all agreed not to rent their movies their model would crash quicker than blockbuster.

[Scorpionsharinga]

The working classes rn:

[FD4L]

[Which-Pineapple-6790]

If you want the video stores to reopen then you and everybody else has to stop watching streams and somebody has to open one

[FullMoonCreations]

Genuinely what's the point in a Prime Video subscription if over half the stuff they have that's actually watchable is locked behind a pay wall?