Disney+ Following Netflix

This morning my oldest daughter set all of the grandkids down to let them watch "Home Alone." Being lazy, I just logged into my Disney+ account and started the movie there. The kids enjoyed "Home Alone 2" last night and so it only seemed fitting to watch the first installment of the series today. I then headed out with my two sons for an entertaining morning activity. I didn't get a mile down the road before Disney+ decided to stop the movie and ask for a subscription verification. My daughter just found the movie on my Amazon Prime account and automatically charged me $4 so they could continue the movie. I am a little miffed as I do own a copy of the movie and now have to pay to watch it again. I'm not mad at my daughter though as it is only $4.

The reason Disney+ kicked my daughter off is because they are following Netflix and cracking down on multi-home account usage. I actually don't have my own Disney+ account and have been piggybacking on my son's. At the time I started doing that, Disney said it was perfectly fine for up to 8 accounts regardless of household. Now it seems they realize that is why the streaming video service continues to lose money.

If you are sharing a Disney+ account with someone else and all of a sudden discover you no longer have access, now you know why. I'm not sure if I will sign up for my own account as my wife and I don't watch a lot of television on our own. I will have to look at how often my grandkids are here and see if it warrants getting an account. Until then, I'll utilize the other 2 video streaming services I get for free: Amazon Prime and Netflix, thanks to my T-Mobile account.

Multiple Streaming Services

This morning I went to spend 30 minutes on my indoor bike for my morning exercise when I noticed one of my streaming music services wasn't working correctly. When I go for a ride outside, I never listen to music as I need my sense of sound to keep from becoming a hood ornament. Inside it is a different story. If I don't have music, I have a very difficult time exercising. I have tried watching movies while using an indoor bike but music inspires me the best.

Naturally I closed my music app and reopened it. That seemed to work for 2 songs and then it busted again. At this point I decided to try my secondary streaming music source and used it to finish out my workout. It is times like this that I am glad I have both Pandora and Spotify streaming music accounts.

It is also good to have multiple streaming video accounts. There are a number of times that I will go to watch a movie only to discover problems. Sometimes it is a function of my Internet connection being too slow because everyone on the block is watching movies at the same time. Other times it is just the streaming service having issues. In any event it is nice to have multiple options. When my Internet connection is slow or goes out completely I have a huge library of DVD and Blu-ray discs that serve as a nice backup to keep me entertained.

We all have our favorite places to go for streaming services. Sometimes we spend a lot of time customizing our accounts so that recommendations are exactly what we are looking for each time we connect. This makes us reluctant to look at other vendors of similar services. Ultimately it is nice to have a backup service just in case your favorite is down for some reason. It isn't necessary to sign up for every possible solution but having at least one alternative is a good practice.

How to Shelter in Place

Yesterday I got the news that all of my coworkers in the Bay Area are being asked to shelter in place because of COVID-19. I have been working in Salt Lake for the past week with indications that this might happen. Fortunately I don't have the same restrictions and so I can still leave my home. There is not much to do as all of the public places are closing down, including the ski resorts. I do have the option of backcountry skiing where I can hike up a mountain and then ski down it. I did that this morning before work and it is helping save my sanity.

I looked into what it means to shelter in place and discovered that you can still take your dog on a walk or go for a hike. There is a restriction to stay 6 feet away from anyone else while you hike but you are not stuck in the house for the next 3 weeks. It kind of cracks me up because you will need your spouse to leave the house and then you can follow at 6 feet or be subject to a misdemeanor infraction. Never mind that you are welcome to sleep in the same bed once at home. At least it is not like France where they have banned family get togethers.

So how can you pass the time during the shelter-in-place restrictions? Well I work for a video game company and am hoping that a lot of people will resort to playing video games. Who knew that being a nerd is the perfect solution to this difficult time in world history? Just remember to buy them online instead of from a physical store. If you prefer to own the disk for the game, you can always order online. It is my understanding that shipping company employees are exempt from the shelter-in-place restrictions.

Ok moving past the shameless plug for video games, what else can one do? I just got an e-mail from one of the national movie theater chains letting me know they are shutting down all theaters across the country. Fortunately NBC/Universal announced that they are making all of their upcoming movies available on a number of streaming services. Personally I would much rather view a new movie in the comfort of my own home instead of at a movie theater where I always seem to get the seat in front of a kid that insists on kicking mine throughout the entire movie. Sure it will cost something like $20 instead of the usual $5, but as long as you have someone to watch it with, that beats the cost of movie tickets. You also can pop your own popcorn, assuming you have any.

If you are having trouble coming up with ways to spend your time at home, just think about doing your taxes. My daughter has been busy with work at the ski resort. Since the resort is shut down, she got on the computer this afternoon and got taxes taken care of. It seemed that a lot of things got in the way of her filing her taxes and the loss of her job gave enough of a nudge to get it taken care of.

How you spend the next 3 weeks is completely up to you. I plan to spend more time with my wife, practice guitar, and hike up mountains to ski down as long as I can.

Disc vs. Streaming

Recently I mentioned the Disney+ video streaming service. After playing with it for a while, I now have to ask myself what to do with all of the Disney DVD and Blu-ray discs I have. This is not a new problem as I originally owned them all on VHS video cassette. Over the years I have systematically replaced all of my favorites with the DVD and Blu-ray equivalents. Now I don't need any of them as I can get them all on Disney+ wherever I am in the world.

The move from physical copies of media is something the music industry faced over the past decade. Go try to find a CD of your latest favorite song. It can be tough because people have stopped buying CD discs. For a while, people were buying individual songs on services like iTunes. Now everything has gone to streaming. If you want to listen to a specific song, you just go to YouTube and pull up the music video which may or may not actually be a video.

I don't plan to get rid of my Blu-ray collection of movies any time soon. There are a number of my favorite movies that are tough to find on any streaming service. I am still looking for one of my favorite movies on disc that I used to have on VHS. Most people would think it is not that great of a movie but I really enjoyed it as a teenager.

I am also waiting how long it takes for people to tire of paying the monthly fee for access to movies. If you watch a movie several times a week, then paying for the streaming service makes sense. However if you only watch once or twice a month, there are some people that will justify pay-per-view, owning a disc, or owning the digital rights to favorite movies.

Ultimately I think the movie industry will follow the music industry and we will stop purchasing physical discs. While my current preference is to own physical media, I may be in the minority soon. The writing is on the wall.

Waiting in a World of Instant Gratification

This morning I got a text from my wife commenting about how it is tough for one of our children to wait in today's society of instant gratification. My oldest daughter put her car for sale on a popular website in Utah. She has started commuting more and wants to switch out her perfect snow car for something that gets a bit better gas mileage. My daughter listed the car last night and is frustrated that it hasn't sold yet after only a few hours. I had to laugh that she had such high hopes for selling her car so quickly. In order to do that, you have to price it well below what it is worth.

My daughter's experience highlights a trend in society today. We are so used to getting things almost instantly that we forget that certain things take time. If you want to watch a movie, there is no need to go anywhere like we used to have to. Simply log into your favorite streaming service and you can watch it on any number of devices. Want to send someone a quick note, text them and you will usually get an instant response. Most people are more likely to respond to your text message than they are to answer your call.

Contrast those immediate things with those that take time. When you are creating a masterpiece, you make sure everything is perfect. If you want to get the most money for the car you are selling, wait until the weekend when people have the time to look for new cars. Remember that some things are not instant and take time.

Bored on a Boat

My oldest son is staying with me on the boat this evening. He has actually been here all week and this is the first night we have gotten back to the boat at a reasonable time. We could have gone sailing but were just a bit too late. We made dinner and then cleaned up. Now he thinks there is not much to do. I suggested we turn on the TV, but he wants to watch a movie.

The funny thing is that we have 3 computers on the boat and my son says he is bored. Furthermore we have a pretty good Internet connection. If my son was serious, we could stream a movie to one of the computers. Instead, he is just sitting at the table playing games on his smartphone. All I can do is laugh as there is no reason to be bored.