Hi and hope all are well today. First, thanks in advance for any / all responses. Second, apologies if this isn’t the best place to ask this question.

I’m curious if anyone, has moved completely from using an AppleTV to something else. Current use case for the ATV is a few streaming apps (Crunchyroll / HiDive, Tubi, etc.) and Apple Arcade (a few casual games).

If you did completely switch, what did you decide on using? Did you go back to buying movies / using a DVD/Blu-Ray player, setup a mini PC and stream from websites / rip music and movies, use a gaming console instead, etc.?

Exploring options and entertaining thoughts for right now. Again, thanks and have a good day / evening.

Edit - 2024/01/01 - Just wanted to thank everyone for the lively discussion and resources (links, recommendations, etc.) related to my question.

  • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
    620·
    10 months ago

    A trillion dollars is hard to make without selling data, but fair enough.

    • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      91·
      10 months ago

      It isn’t that hard when you convince a globe that your luxury phone is the only status symbol that matters.

      Apple isn’t perfect, but the premium you pay on their devices does mean that they wrap the data mining bat in some padding first before they beat you over the head with it. Microsoft and Google just keep adding more nails.

      • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.comEnglish
        38·
        10 months ago

        Do you have any examples beyond your own preconception?

        If Apple were secretly doing this without user consent this would be a pretty huge liability for them.

        • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          7·
          10 months ago

          Well, I worked for them for quite a while and never saw or heard anything that suggested a large scale data collection program existed beyond the usual analytics that people can opt out of. I’m on a plane, so I don’t have the time to do a deep dig at the moment, but for a quick anecdotal test, I’d say you could just open the menus of a Microsoft computer, Google computer, and Apple computer, and tell me who seems to be shoving more targeted ads down your throat.

          Sure, if you use their Apple TV streaming service or other equivalent media thing, I’m sure they collect data, sell, and use it, but that is a far cry from some of the really invasive moves we’ve seen from companies that produce ad supported hardware/software.

          The contents of my computer should be mine because I straight up own it. If I’m connecting to a subscription service that I don’t own, then I have a slightly lower expectation of total privacy.

          • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.comEnglish
            41·
            10 months ago

            Agreed with the main points you said. It’s one thing for a company to collect hardware data and usage stats for their services but to compare Apple to the likes of Google and Roku which make a majority of their profit on collecting and selling data, then there needs to be evidence of data collection beyond that.

    • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.comEnglish
      61·
      10 months ago

      Then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to provide me with some examples, considering the other listed companies literally do it openly as a major part of their revenue stream.

      We should absolutely be upset with the shit Apple is doing, but right now you’re just being contrarian with a false argument.

      • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        10 months ago

        Go to Google and search for “is Apple selling data”. Have fun reading about how, yes they have been caught doing it in the past and are still being suspected of it. You’re naive if you think just because it isn’t public knowledge yet that one of the cruelest companies on the planet isn’t in to some other nefarious crap.

          • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
            32·
            10 months ago

            I’m not the one going to bat for a trillion dollar company simply because they said “trust me, bro”.

            Even if you it opt out on Apple devices they continue to gather data. Why do you think they do that? Fun? They just collect it like Pokemon?

            There only “feeling” I have is pity for naive users such as yourself. As long as Tim Cook keeps telling you it’s safe you can rest easy knowing you’re 100% not being lied to.

            • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.comEnglish
              3·
              10 months ago

              lol I give you a source that refutes your “Apple bad” argument and you have to resort to going after me personally because you have nothing left.

              The data collection you mention is device and usage stats, which basically everyone collects. But that was never the issue, which was selling user data for profit. The source I provided compares what Apple and Google collects and determines Apple does not do this.

              You can also look up revenue streams for both companies and clearly see that while Apple does not consider this as a revenue stream, it makes up a significant portion of what Google brings in every year. At that point I think you just have misdirected anger.

              • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
                12·
                10 months ago

                You know what? You’re right. Everything I said was wrong. Apple is a wonderful company that doesn’t do enough “bad” to be considered as such. How foolish of me to think otherwise. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive such a foolish, moronic soul as mine for not understanding just how amazing Apple is. In fact, I’m going to dump all my open source software, my phone and everything else I own that can be replaced by an Apple product so that I too may live in the same walled paradise you and billions of other users do! Thank you so much for showing me the way!