Exciting news for who? Only the site owner is excited that a free resource now requires a subscription

“Yay! Now I have to pay another subscription! I’m so excited! Let’s celebrate with them!” - nobody

  • ɔiƚoxɘup@infosec.pubEnglish
    3411·
    1 年前

    I have no skin in this game but I think it sounds like they need to change their name from “open subtitles” to “closed captioning”

    Edit: stupid STT

  • ilega_dh@feddit.nlEnglish
    20514·
    1 年前

    Gather all the worlds subtitles under the guise of being “open” and then bait and switch when you’re the largest subtitles database out there.

    The free API had a limit of 20 subs/day, you’re not going to tell me those server costs were significant.

  • Tag365@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1365·
    1 年前

    Why is it called “OpenSubtitles” if you have to pay for it to use it in any capacity?

    • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      123·
      1 年前

      Probably because anyone can contribute to it. But you have to pay to use them.

      Kinda like another website that recently made this change…

    • model_tar_gz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      69·
      1 年前

      It’s “Open” in the same way that OpenAI is “Open”.

      “Open” ≠ “Open Source” or “Open Access”. It’s more like: “Open for Business”.

        • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.mlEnglish
          41·
          1 年前

          According to Wikipedia, it’s a non profit with a for profit subsidiary. Interpret that how you will. Nothing shady or deceptive here.

          Anything involving software that uses the word “open” in its title should be legally required to be open source.

  • Ludrol@szmer.infoEnglish
    13011·
    1 年前

    REST API docs

    Your consumer can query the API on its own, and download 5 subtitles per IP’s per 24 hours, but a user must be authenticated to download more. Users will then be able to download as many subtitles as their ranks allows, from 10 as simple signed up user, to 1000 for VIP user.

    I think it’s reasonable move. They have Legacy API that cost them a lot of manhours to maitain and they decided to cut on costs and replace it with a new thing. Sadly they decresed amount of api calls from 20 to 5 [needs citation]

    I think they don’t have good PR guy to better communicate the change

  • voxel@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    664·
    1 年前

    well it has been deprecated for a few years, and they’re basically asking you to play for continued support.
    they have a new REST api, but you still need the old one, pay up because otherwise there’s no motivation to keep it around.

  • Zoidberg@lemm.eeEnglish
    572·
    1 年前

    So what pisses me off in these cases is this: they didn’t contribute with the data. They’re a convenient aggregator, I give them that, but the data came from third parties. If you want to start charging for convenient access to the data you should at least make all data before you started charging available in a bulk download for free.

    • Stumblinbear@pawb.socialEnglish
      211·
      1 年前

      You just need to move to the new API, which is free, the old one is still available temporarily if you pay

        • Stumblinbear@pawb.socialEnglish
          111·
          1 年前

          Yeah but the basic “give me my subtitles for this specific movie” very likely still works just fine, because… that’s like the whole reason they exist

    • beefcat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      1 年前

      They aren’t charging for convenient access to the data though, they are charging for bulk access. The limitations of the new API should not impact people casually pulling in subtitles with VLC when they watch a movie, which is the purpose the API was intended to fulfill.

    • irotsoma@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      1 年前

      They’re just doing what discogs did with music. They’ll create contracts with media companies to allow them to claim that all the info in their DB is copyrighted. Eventhough most of it was user created, it is technically mostly copyrighted data. And then they’ll start the legal campaigns to eliminate any competition. They’ll progressively make it more difficult to access and more difficult to update or get things corrected and it will become frustratingly bad but the only game in town.

    • dellish@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      1 年前

      So… They’re following the Reddit business model? Let’s see how that works out.

  • macniel@feddit.deEnglish
    491·
    1 年前

    contribute to a greater cause

    For the greater good, that is their pockets.

  • marx2k@lemmy.worldEnglish
    44·
    1 年前

    lol I got that emaik and read that exactly the same.

    Someone should hire that author for a large corporation’s pr department

      • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
        20·
        1 年前

        Always has been. I’ve no clue why they got hold of an org domain. At first they were more like early years wikipedia. Today most subtitles don’t sink with almost any release and their hashes are inconsistent.

  • Tetsuo@jlai.luEnglish
    33·
    1 年前

    I had issues in the past with opensubtitles serving malware through fake download buttons on the site.

    You had like 6 different buttons to download with only one legit.

    Sent them an email and they removed them…

    I hardly trust this site and really don’t appreciate they use open in their name and pull up shit like this.

    I wish we had some sort of P2P sub hosting… So we don’t have to deal with sites like opensubtitles.

    • Moonrise2473@feddit.itOPEnglish
      2·
      1 年前

      Well, the fake download buttons that give you malware is all part of the experience. This very email continues later with this:

      Unlike non-VIP users, who might face offers, installers, and redirects before accessing subtitles, VIP members have a streamlined and hassle-free download experience.

  • Emerald@lemmy.worldEnglish
    321·
    1 年前

    Image Transcription: Email

    OpenSubtitles

    Dear Redacted,

    Exciting news! OpenSubtitles.org is undergoing a transformation, retiring the original API by the end of 2023. Fear not, as this paves the way for the advanced OpenSubtitles.com REST API. We also understand, in some scenarios there is no way to use new API yet, so original API will be avaliable from New Year only for VIP Users.

    Change is Good: Introducing the 20% Black Friday Treat!

    Celebrate with us! Enjoy a 20% discount on a one-year VIP subscription until November 24th, 2023, so you can use original API. Elevate your VIP experience on both www.opensubtitles.org and www.opensubtitles.com. Instead of 15 USD per year you can get this deal for 12 USD.

    VIP Advantage: Unlock Exclusive Benefits

    • Usage opensubtitles.org API
    • Ad-Free Web Experience
    • Direct Download Links
    • Higher Download Limits
    • Ad-Free Subtitles
    • User Profile Visibility
    • Contribute to a Greater Cause

    Seize this limited-time offer and become a VIP member today. Enhance your subtitle experience - ad-free, seamless, and with higher download limit access.