The other sideloading example is Telegram - some channels are simply banned by Apple/Google, but on Android it's possible to sideload the unfiltered app (even though RT is still banned there in EU, for example). Yes, 90% of those banned channels are irrelevant, but it infuriates me beyond anything that I don't have any control over my phone and can't decide myself what is available.
In an economy in recession with awful wages and banks falling over, only just recovering from a pandemic, is it surprising that people want to spend less money?
On another note: content creators aren't individuals, they're small businesses with employees and contractors like any other and if that business is unsustainable, no matter the reason, then that business failing is the free market working as intended. Every business needs to adapt to the realities they face.
All of the services that I’ve used don’t change 30% less if you skip Apple. I’m sure there are examples where it is cheaper.
At one point in time very recently I had to actually call newspapers and magazines to get a subscription cancelled. These were well known like Economist and WSJ.
Get sponsored by something worth buying and I'll watch the sponsor reads. Hell, get sponsored by something that isn't actively a scam and I'll watch the sponsor reads. So long as people are shilling Raid Shadow Legends and Established Titles I'm gonna skip that crap.
If one can truly do whatever they want on their computer, whenever, then I don't see any compelling reason to hide.
Is it because you have something to hide?
Most people have a sense of modesty…
On the toilet it's clear a person can expose themselves to by-passers if the door is open, but I can't think of a similar taboo on HN, or even internet forums in general.
In Europe, there are gambling sites constantly running their youtube ads, tagging them as "Family" category so you can't disable them in your Google ad settings. Not to mention outright pornography sometimes.
Not going to pay for the privilege of disabling gambling and pornographic ads being shoved down my throat, it is a very low bar. Once Google actually starts monitoring what ads they show it becomes a non issue.
You see it as entitlement, I see it as empowered consumers rejecting business practices they don't like. If more people had the technical skills to do it, they would.
And what would happen? Would the entertainment industry collapse? No, it would adapt and stop doing the things that are driving consumers towards piracy in the first place. The businesses that don't adapt will die. The only reason they can get away with it today is because of the prevalence of anti-consumer walled gardens like iOS and Android, and increased consolidation thanks to the informal legalization of monopolies in the US (at least for tech/telecom companies) which results in consumers having very little bargaining power.
The classic example is Steam. Before Steam, PC game piracy was an epidemic because actually trying to buy a PC game was a nightmare, but nowadays only the really cheap/impoverished consumers do it since it's so much easier to just buy it legally on Steam, and you get a ton of other benefits, like cloud saves, fast and safe downloads, achievements, social features, etc.
We again got to a point where you have to be subscribed to like 4 different providers, so torrenting is looking good again.
There will be people who will steal this and that, always have, always will. A tiny percent of this is just cheap, the rest is likely from poorer countries, and the (mind you, completely made up) value of these goods weren’t made for them - sure that $2 app really is cheap for you, but that is not globally true. (And it’s not like downloading that file cost anything to anyone). How do you fight against that? By making a good service and you make up a reasonable price.
I'm really curious about when you think this was, and what you mean. They started out shipping DVDs at a loss and took a very long time to become profitable--or to start the streaming service we know today.
Really says a lot about your product if this is the reaction of your would-be customers. To me it sounds like people are voting with their wallets and willing to inconvenience themselves just avoid to said service.
The film/music industry survived the napster/torrent age by giving people a better deal. That deal is slowly overdue for a revisit apparently.
So blocking ads is pirating in your opinion? I'm sorry, but I have better things to do than deal with malvertisment or watch the same old adverts for the latest VPN honeypot or online casino.
The fact that people consider the mere circumvention of advertising as piracy shows very well that the forced propaganda of the content mafia in front of their inferior films serves its purpose...
Don’t want ads on YouTube? Buy Premium. Feeling righteous for doing the equivalent of sneaking in the movie theater is immature at best, bratty at worst. Be better.
I pay for YouTube Premium to block ads. Content creators get paid more from me than from people who watch ads. Then they go and insert even more promotions inside the video. I don't feel even a little bad for automatically skipping that promotional content. It's my phone. I'm not going to sit through ads if I don't want to. You complain about entitlement while arguing that content creators are entitled to my time. They are not.
Pirating YouTube, Spotify and games as well as torrenting seemingly make up 90% of desires of an alt store. I expect this from 14 year olds, it’s frustrating to see it on HN. “I need to not only block all ads on YouTube but all sponsor reads too. They’re sooooo annoying!” Grow up. Content makers need to be reimbursed. YouTube Premium subscribers and sideloading enthusiasts have very little overlap.
The side loading crowd is its own worst ambassador. Entitlement to free entertainment is an ugly look. I want to hear about useful, legit stuff that Apple prevents from being on the App Store.