reprodev

That's for the explanation from a Jellyfin user. It's really appreciated. I'll pass that on and let them know as they are still playing around with different apps but that has been their daily driver for about 6 months now I think

Thanks for adding to this discussion especially around PlexAmp as there really isn't too much out there. I've been using PlexAmp for about a year now as a daily music player and someone else in tech who uses it all the time was telling me something similar about this whole lyrics situation which is why they just got Spotify to save the clicks.

I really miss this feature from when I was using Amazon Music before but I could never really figure it out so just learnt to live without but TIL that it's not just me and them setting it up wrong to begin with. I use the Android Player and Desktop app on my MacBook and as part of the Plex Pass I'm happy enough.

Can I ask if you or anyone else have tried any other players for it as my buddy who uses the Jellyfin (FinAmp) version of this for iPhone seems to have a lot more of a feature set than me?

Thanks for this as I really don't have a lot of knowledge of Emby related things other than bits here and there but nothing about real people's experience on it.

I think we may have had a similar path I did the Samba share thing from my Xbox from XBMP the XBMC as they started to become more of a Dashboard replacement with a crossover cable to begin with way back when.

Really glad that you found your flavour of media player when you did as I've seen Emby as a Smart TV app as much as Plex but never really had a full idea of how it fared.

Thanks I'm glad it made sense as the Remote Watch Pass and the Jellyfin founder exit was the thing that really formed this article in my head to begin with.

I really appreciate the friendly chinwag too I've enjoyed it. I didn't want to overload the article too much but I think going forward with the other ones I've already planned I'll have to bear that in mind to try and capture more of that nuance as a lot of these truly aren't. I've also really enjoyed the different viewpoints on here and I've learnt a lot more about to be challenged in a good way about how other people are using Plex in the real world and not just my sometimes echo chamber of a circle.

Hi OP here, thanks for reading this and really I'm really glad for your take on this. I get the whole "you need a time machine" to get a good deal and I've definitely missed out on some great ones over the years. I guess this is more for people who already have the deal and for those coming into it fresh today as the information especially from LLMs is so all over the place when I've had folks tell them that ChatGPT said this and not that.

I tried to balance it as best I can with me already having that lifetime licence and it's kind of unfair to those who never got it. Maybe it's just a precursor of things to come within tech as people try to monetise things monthly on roadmaps which promise massive potential rather than having faith in their original products.

I still think it's a great deal and I hope that came across but $750 now vs $119 when you got it is definitely the point where you have to think about the alternatives out there.

I'm lucky to have the years of XP and watched it go from a great alternative to also being something that has suffered from feature creep as it tries to be everything to everyone. This doesn't mean my opinion is any better or even more right than anyone else, it's just my opinion having been through some major touch points in tech history. Even trying to explain the price changes and things that you don't get for the monthly fee to others sends me in circles as it changes so frequently.

That unlimited updates thing for a low price is the main reason why it's such a great deal and as time goes on I truly hope it keep innovating as best it can maybe leveraging those brand deals it has which were built on the initial consumer trust it built so well.

No problem at all and thanks for giving me your point of view on it. The 5 year plan seems a bit strange, again I understand that Plex and it's not too bad of a deal but I think the changes being so quick have really taken a lot of folks by surprise me included.

The Remote Watch Pass explanation was just a bit confusing when it first got announced. I was helping someone build their first one and they are now having trouble with accessing from off their network to do some automation with their Watchlist. I ended up just telling them to buy it for the month and see how it went as it seemed like it was just a paywall issue. Turns out it was something to do with their Windows setup in the end but something that just worked now being so obfuscated takes away the ease of setup and really confuses more than informs.

If you have the Plex Pass then anyone connecting to they shouldn't need the Remote Pass it so that's probably why you haven't had any complaints from people accessing yours as long as you have it. It's more for people who are sharing their library without it so if you have a few people accessing then I don't think it's unfair to ask them to chip in a bit to future proof you but I think we'll be having similar questions in 5 years time when this one expires for people who picked it up.

I'm still a really big fan of Plex but it's getting harder these days to actually recommend it while the pricing is really all over the place. My advice these days is just get it now and assume the price for things will go up and not down.

I've updated that now and done a quick check so it's actually linked to the devs properly. Much appreciated and thanks for reading the article

Thanks for the heads-up I'll get that changed now

I have to say if Jellyfin could nail the library sharing then they would definitely be a much bigger alternative to Plex users on the fence imho

I'm definitely curious about those that moved over to Emby from the XBMC days.

Did you try anything else before hand or just go straight to Emby? I have to say I never really gave it a proper chance

OP here. Thank you for posting this I didn't really think about that for the article. This looks like a great way to see it for those on the fence.

If you don't mind me asking what client are you using and server setup are you using. Any tips from someone who has been using it for a decent chunk of time?

I think that's put it maybe a bit better than I did. I moved from running XBMC then a bit of Kodi to Plex but was really stubborn about it. Once I made the move over because my new Smart TV had the Plex app I was sold. Jellyfin hits that sweet spot of being what Plex was but I hope they manage to weather the storm of losing a lot of their core team from the beginning.

OP here. Thank you for reading and it was something that's been brewing in my mind for a while. I agree with you and didn't really know how to approach it becuase I've got a lot of really good things to say about Plex and sure as hell have benefitted from the lifetime license.

Recently, I've been asked more and more by friends and family to set up Plex for them as it's "free" and "easy". I do the basic setup or walk them through it. Then they want to share to their libraries to others or just watch off their connection and hit the wall of having to have a subscription.

Then they bring me Jellyfin as the alternative from something they saw on XDA. I'm not too quick to help them set that up just because of the current state of it and having to find them players on their various devices. As you mentioned, I've been spending pretty much be spending all my free time helping them set it up but I think Plex being so cost prohibitive now so Jellyfin will start to become the defacto option as what we'll be tweaking for those of us that act as IT support.