This is a new change because not enough people find their VIP features worth the money.
I’ll be moving to TMDb instead. And you should know that Trakt would not exist without TMDb open and free database and API.
Honestly I expected something like that would happen. It’s a bummer. $60 a year is insane.
Are there any other services that support scrobbling?Letterboxd unfortunately does not offer public APIs but TMDb does.
I guess all that is needed for TMDb is somebody enthusiastic enough to code a scrobbler for it.
Doesn’t the arr stack use tmdb?
Hopefully somebody more skilled will. Now I can’t help but wonder what’s the business model of TMDb?
The blog post in their forums is titled “Freemium Experience: More Features for All”.
Also, they quietly doubled the price for VIP accounts in September (used to be $30/y)
Reading that announcement and the list of their VIP offering is so weird. $6/mo for spoiler free browsing whatever that is, 100+ items on list, notes and collection (!) and then some technical features like iCAL/RSS and CVS export and of course a VIP badge next to your username. It seems to me they are targeting some social media revenue streams but struggling coming up with features that would motivate VIP so instead they cut back on what is already there. My guess is next step is locking down the API and then bullshit like influencers livestreaming reviews. Yeah, I’ll move to TMDb and keep moving to something self hosted should they to go sludgy.
I agree with you about the API, it seems to be one of the first things to go.
Though, killing it would be expecially dumb in this case, as it is what made trakt famous in the first place. It’s really useful to have a scrobbler for every major service, and I use it for a dumb side project.
I’d really like to know what else they think they are adding with their service that is worth $60/year. The data comes from tmdb, the trailers are youtube links, reviews and lists are created by users (when they are allowed to). Sure, they package it all together, but I wouldn’t call the website a masterpiece of neither form or function.
I hope that the current backlash will make them (temporarily) revert the change, but this is still a clear signal of the path they are willing to take. I’ll be looking for other services.
January 21, 2025
Updates
(…)
- New limits in place for free users:
- 2 personal lists.
- 100 items on watchlist, personal lists, and collection.
Source: https://releasenotes.trakt.tv/
- New limits in place for free users:
