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Netflix Shutters Its Public API
esarjeant (100503) writes "I guess it shouldn't come as a total surprise, but Netflix has gone from not issuing new developer keys to announcing the entire [public API] program will be shut down. It's a real shame they are going to be taking this offline; it spurred quite a bit of innovation for the Netflix service. For major sites that have already gone live it sounds like Netflix will let them keep going, but if you're looking to build the next FeedFliks, then you better look elsewhere."
Netflix Roulette, we barely had time to enjoy you.
type of message.
Just a truism that's almost always proven correct...
Don't give a company anything without a veritable guarantee you'll also receive what you want in exchange. All negotiations are hostage negotiations, it's wise to plan accordingly.
I never heard of FeedFliks, so I went and looked at it. And then wondered why do I need someone else to tell me about how I use Netflix? Or to tell my friends what I like watching?
Seriously, Is this what amounts to "innovation"?
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I've noticed that both Amazon and Netflix seem to make navigating streaming kind of murky, never wanting you to have a good grasp of what is or isn't available besides what they show you as featured titles. I've always suspected that this was done to mask the relatively thin and lame streaming titles that weren't on their short list of high-profile titles.
I've also been surprised at how hard it is to browse the web site for DVDs on the iPad. The web site works, but its so Javascript laden that it makes it hard to use. Third party queue management apps were a salvation. Maybe they're trying to make finding DVDs annoying, too, so that all we'll do is watch the featured streams.
Europe(UK, Denmark) and South America(Chile, Brazil) get the best and latest content compared to the U.S and Canada. Why wouldn't Netflix release all licensed(granted by the content owners)TV and Movies to all regions in the first place? Why play musical chairs with the content? Right, well, because the content owners are always screwing those in the U.S Market and to squeeze as much profit as they can even though they made all their money(to produce the film) back from the Movie theater.
Streamingsoon.com was such a great website giving you info on upcoming new releases and heads up when movies and tv shows expired, but netflix changed the api removed the OData catalog which these types of websites relied on. As usual, the free market(corporate) likes to screw the average joe, look at the ISP bullshit we have to deal with now.
Netflix has a new look but you still can't sort anything under "My List" and instead they give you the "Netflix Suggests" bullshit, FUCK YOU!
Now google chrome is blocking "Netflix queue sorter" that's not in the google store, I have to go with Firefox just to sort. Firefox and IE 8 -> 11 are very slow viewing web pages because of flash player. I disabled flash player and both FF and IE 11 run as fast or faster than Chrome. Hulu and crackle are the reasons I still use flash player I can view youtube just fine with html5.
CORPORATIONS! CORPORATIONS! JUST LOVE TO SCREW THEIR CUSTOMERS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AHHHH, USA, THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE SCREWED!
I've noticed that both Amazon and Netflix seem to make navigating streaming kind of murky, never wanting you to have a good grasp of what is or isn't available besides what they show you as featured titles. I've always suspected that this was done to mask the relatively thin and lame streaming titles that weren't on their short list of high-profile titles.
I've also been surprised at how hard it is to browse the web site for DVDs on the iPad. The web site works, but its so Javascript laden that it makes it hard to use. Third party queue management apps were a salvation. Maybe they're trying to make finding DVDs annoying, too, so that all we'll do is watch the featured streams.
Because they want to "Guide" you to choices that are more profitable. Basic website marketing.
I think you have a point.
Stores or every type found out years ago that the "best" way to arrange their store was not one that make it easy to navigate it was one in which it made its customers get lost and wander around, and pass certain things in certain orders, etc. It does not matter if we are talking about hardware stores or casinos, this is always true, so why not for digital stores?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I want to be able to sort by any and all reasonable criteria, I'm not offered sort options at all in most views. I want to be able to view all lists as a list, coverflow, detail list, etc. XBMC does all this for the files I have lying around, why can't Netflix manage it for a bunch of files it's already got indexed in a database?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Moreflicks lets you see what's available on multiple streaming services based on various "best of" lists (e.g. it's unlikely Netflix will ever tie in to the IMDB top 250 but Moreflicks does) and even has support for countries like the UK. It's sad to see an ecosystem like this being removed without replacement...
Feedfliks was more useful. For example, you could see which movies were going to expire and when, which might influence which movies you watch first. Then Netflix took the expiration dates away.
Ok I can see that that is useful.
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Seeing as they're spending 10s of millions on custom content to stream, this isn't very likely. They just decided they didn't want the security risk of opening their data and the engineering headaches it caused for the low amount of value it gave them. Its unlikely it generated them more revenue than it cost.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Thanks, developers, for bringing an unsurpassed level of adoption to our service.
Now you can take a hike!
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Motto of the 21st Century
It is typical marketing bullshit of trying to maximize profits instead of focusing on the customer experience.
When you search DVDs they don't want to show you it is available streaming.
If you searching streaming they don't want to show you it is available on DVD.
Yeah the idea that they are going away from streaming is crazy. I used Netflix during their early days, DVDs via mail only, and it was fine for the time. But today I only use disc media when I'm forced to. Everything else is either streamed or moved around via some form of flash tech.
That is for day to day usage. Discs still have their use IMO as backup but the idea of using them for my day to day media consumption is something I don't even consider.
All that being said I still see them in use for people who don't have the same technical skills that I do and or specific needs. So it is not like that functionality needs to go totally away but the idea that Netflix is going to go away from their online streaming is again just crazy talk.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
Or it could mean 'Netflix adds wooden window covers to its Public API' I think that would be some much more interesting than closing, don't you? http://www.homedepot.com/b/Doo...
My experience is that they try to move you to streaming if you search for disks, but I have both for my account. They really push the streaming service, which I understand is because their profit is way higher without the physical disk overhead.
I would totally switch, too, if 99% of everything wasn't missing from the streaming service....
I get a lot of "suggestions" for things I've already watched (they love the "watch it again" recommendation under the assumption I'll probably like it because I liked it...), and they don't let you filter out things you've already watched, or things you never want to watch. Instead all you can do is try to train their recommendation system and hope that it actually has some kind of meaning.
Worse, their "new releases" section provides a list of everything released in the last $@#NNNANAS ago, instead of whatever was added in the past several weeks, sorted by week. They are deliberately making discovery difficult, which gives the impression that they are trying to disguise a shallow pool of movies.
Still, they are one of the few services that provides the kind of streaming service that I'm actually willing to pay for - a service in which I pay them, and they show me movies. This is far superior to the BS system that hulu has in which they show stupid ads on the free service, which is fine because you pay with your attention, or you can pay them and watch the stupid ads on your phone or TV, too. There is no option where you are the customer instead of the product.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Their licensing is off and on all the time, a movie you can stream today might seem to vanish from existence next week without a word and reappear sometime in the future when it's relicensed. Their search system used to take you to those pages to see that the movie is not available, then they stopped doing that so now the only time you see a movie page that isn't currently available is when doing ratings. If you don't see it, you won't miss it seems to be their angle.
It mostly means they're a really bad place for information about movies or what actors have done.
vi? Who's that?
I stopped using Netflix a year or two ago, after they said "We have to raise our prices so that we can offer more shows" immediately followed by removing all the stuff I wanted to watch from their streaming library. At that point it was all cost and no benefit, so I just stopped paying, even though the cost wasn't terribly high.
For $12 a month I'd have to watch, oh, maybe 50 hours of TV to make it "worth it". I probably watch two or three hours per month, so I'd value Netflix at about one dollar per month. If they ever offer a service level around there then I'll re-up.
To those of you watching 50 hours a month, awesome, it's an excellent service.