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Blix started To enforce its new rules, which prevent users from remotely accessing a personal media server without a subscription fee.
Previously, people outside the server owner’s network could access the owner’s network Media library through Plex Free. Under new rules announced in March, a server owner needs a Plex Pass subscription, which starts at $7 per month, to give users remote access to their server. Alternatively, anyone can remotely access someone else’s Plex server by purchasing their own Plex Pass or card. Remote monitoring corridora subscription with fewer features than Plex Pass that Plex began selling in April starting at $2 per month.
Plex’s new rules went into effect on April 29 Plex Forums Posted by a Plex employee that How to geek Spotted today, the changes will roll out this week, with a subscription required for people who use Plex’s Roku OS app for remote access. A Plex employee added:
Plex started as Mac port for Xbox Media Center project In 2009 before evolving into a media server company, and more recently, a Broadcast service provider. Its new remote access rules will be a test for the company, which has been challenging longtime users with several changes over the past year, including higher Plex Pass prices, and ushering in a new world. Officially licensed movie rentalsAnd an introduction Social features And a Redesigning mobile applications.
Plex has previously Confirm Its need to keep up with “increasing costs”, which includes providing support for multiple devices and codecs. It also said it needs money to implement new features, including integration with Common sense mediaA new “dedicated server management application” for managing server users, and an “open and documented API for server integration,” including custom metadata proxies, according to a blog post in March.
In January 2024, TechCrunch reported that Plex was approaching profitability and had raised $40 million in funding (Plex raised $50 million in growth equity Tour in 2021). In theory, the new remote access rules could also increase subscription revenue and help Plex backers see a return on their investment.
However, Plex’s evolution could isolate legacy users who have relied on Plex as a media server for years and those who don’t care about subscriptions, FAST channels (free ad-supported streaming TV), or movie rentals. Plex is unlikely to give up its streaming business. In 2023, Scott Hancock, then Vice President of Marketing at Plex, He said Plex has had more people using its online streaming service than its media server features since 2022. For people looking for software packages that focus more directly on media hosting, Plex alternatives, Like Jellyvinlooks increasingly attractive.
This story originally appeared on Ars Technica.