It’s 2007. A brand new streaming service, Watch Now (later to be renamed Netflix like its DVD mailing predecessor) has hit the air, boasting all your favorite shows for a fraction of what cable costs, and without any ads. Streaming is the future! Its crown can never topple!
Fast forward to 2024. Streaming has taken over, but things have never been worse. Between all the services fighting for the rights to various properties, you may be subscribed to upwards of 7 services, all with pricey monthly payments, and still not have access to everything you want to watch. Plus, they’ve started running ads. What the hell.
We’ve tallied up the minimum cost of the most popular streaming services and found that the average consumer could be paying $54 a month with ads (and far more without them) to have access to everything they want to watch, and costs are rising by the year. Plus, there’s no guarantee your favorite show is there to stay: series are moved and removed seemingly at the drop of a hat. That’s just unrealistic for most of us, especially students. Thankfully, there are solutions! In order to improve the future of your media consumption, you may want to take a look at the past.
Alternatives to streaming
When you’re facing a hefty fee regarding your streaming services, you can choose to grin and bear it, cut back, or look for alternatives. There are a few services that are free (with ads), like Tubi (my favorite), but they can have limited content. Alternatively, if you have a collection of digital media that you already own, you can upload it and view it on a media server like Plex. Plex is free, with a paid tier that you “probably don’t need” according to makeuseof.com. Never use these servers to store nefarious pirated media; that is a crime, and you are a sick and irredeemable person if you do this.
The other major option is to return to physical media. Most people think their local library is just a place to get books, but they can have so much more than that. Many libraries let you borrow DVDs to watch for free. The King County Library System currently has 568 DVDs and nearly 3,000 streaming videos available, including new and popular titles like the award-winning Poor Things and classics like all seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series. You can even gain access to streaming media through your library, with services like Hoopla and Kanopy.
If you aren’t finding what you want at your local library, you may want to look towards owning physical media.
Physical Media
The perks of having a collection of physical media are many. Starting a DVD collection may seem like a big step, but it’s worth it to get into.
A major perk of owning your media outright is that no one can take it away. Shows and movies are constantly being removed and shuffled around various services, making it nearly impossible to keep up. If you own the things you want to watch, it’s as simple as popping a disc in and pressing play.
We spoke to several students who collect physical media to get their thoughts on the topic. Junior Connor Serrato says he got into collecting because a lot of his favorite movies aren’t available to stream. “Having a physical copy of the movie means you can watch it whenever you want, for as many years as you want, without having to rely on Netflix or Hulu, and you don’t need WiFi to watch it!” Senior Kai Witwer echoed these sentiments when talking about their extensive collection of Studio Ghibli movies, saying, “I don’t have a way to stream them, so I like not having to pay every time I want to watch a Ghibli movie.”
Connor and Kai both got into physical media because their families were already collecting, but they have some great advice for people just starting out. They say that thrift stores like Goodwill are a great place to start, but it might take some time and luck to find what you’re looking for. According to Kai, “You aren’t always going to find the best music or movie selections, but you can get a lot of good quality movies and music discs at a super low price because people don’t always realize their value.” Connor also recommends looking online, as he’s managed to hunt down some good deals from various sellers like eBay, Mercari, and Facebook marketplace. “It’s really rewarding to find something you’ve been searching for,” he says. Who knows, you may even find your new favorite movie in a Goodwill bargain bin!
Now, none of these solutions are perfect. There’s a high likelihood that you’ll still have to subscribe to a few streaming services to watch everything you want. However, consuming mindfully and seeking other solutions can cut your bill down to a fraction of the original cost without sacrificing your entertainment.
