Jesus, reading comprehension is hard to come by eh? How have so many people struggled to actually read this?
They aren't requiring payment, nor are they requiring you to sign in or create an account.
They are transitioning from an old API to a new one. The new API (and the site itself) is ad supported and rate limited; 5 downloads per day unauthenticated, double that for a free account, or 'VIP' accounts have higher limits and no ads.
It's not authenticated access only, nor is it paid access only.
It doesn’t say any of that information about non-VIP accounts, go read it yourself, and the information you quoted about anonymous accounts is also wrong.
edit: I won’t be receiving any replies from this commenter. If anyone wants to say I’m wrong, feel free to provide a screenshot from the blogpost proving it.
There's six big ass bold numbered paragraphs detailing the differences between the 'VIP' (paid) users and 'non-VIP' (free) users.
There's also a link to the REST API docs where the first thing it details is exactly how authentication is handled. Specifically: an application looking to interface with opensubtitles will have an api key embedded by its developer and without logging in further will have 5 free downloads/day, that can then be expanded by the end user logging in with their (free or VIP) account.
That documentation lists anonymous accounts (not signed in as a specific user) as rated limited to 5/day. That doubles to 10 for signed in (but still free) users and grows further with VIP.
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.
Though that's not fully 'unauthenticated', as the above is discussing the use of a developer API key. Though that would be built into whatever app is being used.
Title is a bit misleading. Starting with 2024 the site will be moving to a new API. The payment is too be able to continue to use the old API a while longer (for software that can't be changed yet).
Additionally, it’s just a limit on how much you can download. You can still get 10 subtitles a day for free.
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.
How... how could you possibly start trying to profit off of a major resource for accessibility to movies. That's scummier than scummy. Fuck you OpenSubtitles, you're the fucking Elon Musk and Steve Huffman of deaf people everywhere. Get absolutely fucked.
I swear I read a thread here (on lemmy) recently that one of these subtitle sites was embedding ads in the subtitles. Now that takes things even further than scummier in my opinion, especially since subtitles are for availability.
I mean I've been a pirate for a WHILE and you generally do see ads on opensubtitles subs. Generally it's opensubtitles saying you can advertise with them, or credits for subtitles that stay on the screen for way too long, but this has been a thing forever now, I don't recall a time when this wasn't done.
I don't think I can take the moral high ground on it seeing as...well, I am a pirate lol. We out here doing our best to stay afloat, opensubtitles included.
Correct. They now embed ads directly into the subtitles. There is a python program to strip those ads out, but doesn't work with Plex directly. It can be setup with bazarr, but that requires sonarr and or radar...
This will just create new competition for them. I have been watching anime for several years and never once had to go through opensubtitles. Most releases now have the subtitles integrated so what is the value they bring to the whole thing?
Edit: I just realized I'm replying the one an only db0, you are the best, cheers!
See, I get when YouTube or some such are asking for some kind of payment, since transcoding and delivering all those large video files is expensive as fuck. Yet, Open subtitles delivers text. Fucking. Text. The rest is done for them for free by the users. No, folks. You ain't getting any money.
My wife is deaf, and I take this VERY fucking personally. This is predatory to an already (unfortunately) overlooked demographic of movie lovers, I will absolutely rally against this bullshit.
Lost me right here. Personally I'm not ever going to pay for a service where the work done by volunteer users, for free, is filling some random person's pockets. An argument can't even be made a la RedHat here - there's literally no value being added to the volunteers' work by OpenSubtitles...
OpenSubtitles literally has pulled a shXtter here IMO
Accessibility features are already scarce and paywalling them seems to be a trend that's going on, like how reddit closed it's API so blind users couldn't even use it anymore. The /r/blind subreddit needed non-blind mods because their native app doesn't support accessibility.
Why do you take this personally? Just use opensubtitles.com instead of their old opensubtitles.org?
They are only changing the old .org API, because they are moving on to their new website and REST API that they've been working on for a while. The new REST API is still free for 5-10 subtitle downloads a day.
I don't really know what the best or most popular website is because this one has never really led me astray. That said, I don't need to use them too often, so your mileage may vary.
Am I the only one for whom "open"subtitles.org hasn't worked in years? I literally cannot find the download button, like in those okboomer memes. Never used the API. Switched to subscene.com and haven't had problems since.
Making a burner account isnt that hard and hardly a shittification in my books.
Just a measure to ensure the free api access is correctly monetized which is a valid reason for a service to me.
Would you work for free for your workplace without a compensation beyond a $5 bill and a pat on the back at times because your boss felt generous?
Would you work for free for your workplace without a compensation beyond a $5 bill and a pat on the back at times because your boss felt generous?
Misleading question. These kinds of communities are volunteer-fed, so you are basically asking me if I would work for free for a charity, which is the point. Things change notoriously when the boss then decides to monetize the entire thing for themself and not for you.
man, they've change so much since 2017, where they were giving VIP membership out for free as a Christmas gift. Now they're making it so can't access the API for free anymore as a Christmas gift to themselves lmao
Now they're making it so can't access the API for free anymore
No, they're not.
They are switching from the old API to the new API. You can pay to continue using the old one, use the new one for free (max 5 downloads per day), or pay for less-restricted access to the new API.
Many pirates will pay for newsgroup access. People also pay for hard drive space, power for servers, hardware, etc. Pirating doesn't mean people are never paying for anything. That said, I won't pay for subtitles. I'll just wait til the community figures something else out.
As far as I understand they are shutting down open subtitles.org API, but the jellyfin plugin uses the .com version. The free account there is limited to 20 downloads per day via API
People are getting the their pitchforks out but I think they are misunderstanding. Opensubtitles.ORG is being replaced by opensubtitles.COM. They just are stopping access to the ORG website. I have already migrated to the COM website for a while. And a 20 downloads/a day limit for free users is very reasonable.
Is it? It's a simple text file, the download costs them close to nothing. 20 subtitles per day is laughable, especially because other people make the subtitles.
"Subtitles downloaded by VIP members are free from any embedded ads, offering a cleaner viewing experience."
I haven't used opensubtitles much but have been considering setting up bazarr, using a source that embeds ads in subtitles would be a non starter for me.
I would even be totally willing to pay for increased download limits but not if it means supporting putting ads in the free subtitles.
I didn't see anything about it being free. I also didn't pick up on whether or not it was moving behind a paywall, just that you could buy a vip subscription for 20% off
I think in the email they sent out they mentioned that each IP would be able to download 5 per 24 hours and "registered users" 10 per 24 hours. Paid members would be restricted to 1,000 per 24 hours.
It's 15 bucks a year for VIP, if I understood it correctly, then I am of the opinion there is nothing here to get mad about for "regular users".
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.