I deactivated my Facebook and Twitter accounts yesterday, which was easy since I haven’t used either for years because it became like wading though the Augean Stables of unhinged hate for Patriots long ago. Amazon, however, is another story. I am a full-time caregiver for my stroke-survivor wife and the ability to get almost anything delivered PDQ has made my life much easier. Also, my wife loves much of the viewing on Prime Video (though almost nothing they produced themselves, thank God.) I’m working hard to put new supply chains in place and it’s coming along. The streaming video is a problem, though; buying from iTunes is just as bad. And, yes, I realize I’m not going to hurt these Silicon-Valley Salazars a bit, but I’d rather not support tyranny if I can help it.
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8 replies on “Pulling the plug on Amazon: This is Really going to hurt.”
It’s tough because their business is convenience. Before they came along, we had to go and hunt down individual places for their individual content, and what the big companies offered was a way to find things that you never would have found on your own. I think, though, that we got along just fine without them before. It’s tough giving up a convenience, but what we can do is watch for anyone who wants to take on these giants and throw our weight behind them.
On a more practical note in the case of replacing video content, if sailing the high seas turns you off morally (especially if it’s something you want to support) try getting your hands on the physical copy. I’m currently hurting because I’ve got 30+ movies on Amazon’s digital site (so like, $300+ worth if each is roughly $10), and it doesn’t look like there’s a way to request a physical copy in exchange. But it’s saving me from a bigger hurt later on knowing that even if they take up more physical space, I’d much rather have my movie library in physical form, because it means I can walk away from these digital sites that much more painlessly.
Thanks, Heidi. I shied away from buying digital content from Amazon when I realized that I could never really own what I bought, just pay the Prime fee forever and think I owned it. Kind of like property taxes, don’t you think? At least with iTunes you can download an MP4 file and play it on a variety of apps.
I’m getting super selective about the entertainment I pursue – it’s been a long time – years – since I’ve watched a movie in a theater – very little of interest and nearly impossible to avoid the Hollyweird embedded messages. What the major studios offer is mainly junk. Few entertainers offer anything in the way of intelligent discourse and star power means nothing to me.
The only streaming service I subscribe to is Amazon Prime, but even there I probably don’t watch on average one movie every couple of months.
Mostly, I read and listen to audiobooks, and video or podcasts.
I watched Dinesh D’Souza’s movie Infidel on Prime Sunday night. Good movie, edge of the seat drama based on a true story. Jim Caviezel stars in it – won’t be long before he’s blacklisted, no doubt.
We all need to be selective consumers of everything – not making a fetish of it or obsessive, but taking the time to choose wisely based on some research. Throttle the big players one less consumer at a time. It’ll add up.
Good for you, Philip! I am in the same boat as far as streaming video. I absolutely LOVE the Firestick by Amazon. It will be hard to give up. I am thinking of switching to using Roku which, from some quick research, seems to be a US based company based in California. I know the Apple phone has to go eventually. I was ready to throw it in a lake after what they did to Parler, and switch to a cell phone with a Linux OS (I’ll put the link below for cell phone I found that doesn’t use Google and Apple systems/apps).
After a little more thought, my Apple phone and iPad are already paid for and so ditching them now just burdens me and doesn’t hurt them as they already have my money. if I am smart about, it I can stop getting updates from Apple and make sure they don’t get anymore money from me by not buying anymore apps or anything. same with Amazon Firestick. Already paid for. But I don’t use Prime so I don’t see how I am supporting Amazon any longer just by using it – I just won’t purchase any more videos from them. I would like to close my Amazon account though to send a signal that I am through with them.
So, I think I will continue to use my devices that are already paid for until they need replaced and at that time I’m sure we will have more options that will be produced because of people no longer wanting to deal with these corrupt businesses. It is frustrating because I really want to send a message that I am done with them but feel I can spend my money in better ways right now — like building an arsenal!
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If you know what you’re doing – “sailing the high seas” for your entertainment is a good way to go.
Yeah I’m talking about Pirating programs and movies. But – remember – you need a good VPN, and a couple of other tools for encryption to keep you safe.
I mean – I love the Mandalorian and think the people behind it just might save Star Wars. But I’m STILL not going to give the dirty mouse my money. I swore after I watched Endgame in the theaters that – as GOOD as the Marvel movies had been – Endgame was – well – the END. And a good place to leave things. So I didn’t need to spend any more money in theaters supporting a company I’d grown to hate.
Wow – little did I know how ironic that choice was going to be in the following year. I think the last movie I saw in a theater was Ford Vs Ferrari. And that may wind up being the last movie in ANY theater I ever see again! There IS no more local theater here anymore!
Good man. Nothing like giving your future/present oppressors less to work with.
Yeah, losing Amazon was tough but better than keeping it. We are just watching good conservative news/talk on Rumble and watching DVD’s again. I have never looked into a Roku device or Hulu so I can’t speak for them. Suddenly I’m wondering if there’s still a RedBox anywhere in my small town.
On the bright side of things I lived a great life before Amazon I plan on continuing that tradition.
Good Luck and God Bless
Hello Phillip!
I know what you mean. I cut Netflex right around the time that they started taking in Obama. I knew then that things were going very bad. To make things even worse, Hollywood was getting so much worse now that I don’t think it is even bearable to watch their stuff anymore.
I’ll tell you what I did though. I ended up getting a little server program called Plex. The Plex network itself hosts a variety of movies, but not near what Amazon nor Netflix does, and it also allows you to create your own smartTV movie server.
It does take a little bit of technical know-how though. But it is always fun to learn new stuff. I keep mine on a little tiny box called a Raspberry Pi which can sometimes sell for as little as $5, the Plex software is free to install and use, and I store all my personal movies and shows on a little NAS device, which is simply a storage device which connect to the network and is accessible through network drives.