Articles about Plex

Plex is making some massive adjustments, and users -- both free and paying -- are going to feel the impact. Sadly, the company has announced price increases for its Plex Pass subscription, a new “Remote Watch Pass,” and a decision that will end free remote streaming for personal media collections.

Starting April 29, 2025, the cost of Plex Pass is going up. The monthly plan will jump to $6.99, the annual plan to $69.99, and the Lifetime Plex Pass will more than double to $249.99. However, there’s still time to grab a lifetime subscription at the current $119.99 price before the hike kicks in. Plex says these changes will help fund future improvements, such as an integration with Common Sense Media, an upgraded server management app, and a new open API for server customization.

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Kodi has long been a favorite for media enthusiasts, offering a customizable, open-source platform for streaming and managing media libraries, but it's not without its frustrations. The setup process, particularly installing and managing add-ons, isn't as intuitive as it could be, add-ons frequently break or becoming unsupported, and performance problems like buffering and crashes are common, especially on older devices.

If you’re searching for Kodi alternatives, you're in luck. There are several media center platforms that provide excellent options for streaming and managing your content. Here’s a look at the top 7 Kodi alternatives, along with key features to watch out for, and the download links you'll need.

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For those of a nostalgic bent, the recent revival of Winamp caused flutters of excitement. But for anyone who is uninterested in whippin' that llama' ass, Plex has just announced that its own music player, Plexamp, is now available free of charge.

Previously only available to paying Plex subscribers, the Winamp-inspired Plexamp was the fruit of Plex Labs -- the company's experimental playground for its developers. The standalone music player app has now been unshackled, and is free for all Plex users on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and even Linux.

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Plex has emailed its users to warn about a security indecent it has become aware of. While the subject line of the email refers to a "potential data breach", the body goes on to talk about suspicious activity and a third-party gaining access to part of a database.

The company says that the exposed data included emails, usernames and encrypted passwords. Although all passwords were secured and hashed, all Plex users are required to change their security credentials out of an "abundance of caution".

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If you are a fan of pirating TV shows and movies, you have undoubtedly used Plex over the years. If you aren't familiar, the service uses a server/client concept, where you store your media on one machine and then stream it to another device. While Plex technically can be used for legally-obtained media, I predict that many (if not most) of its users are watching pirated content. Look, I'm not judging... I'm just trying to be honest.

And now, the Plex Desktop app and new Plex HTPC client app are both available for Linux -- but only from the Snap Store. Don't like Canonical's snaps? Don't worry, according to a blog post, the Plex developers are planning to roll out flatpak versions eventually too. Before anyone starts arguing about snap vs flatpak, let's just celebrate another big win for the Linux community overall. Okay?

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Some four years after adding support for podcasts, streaming media service Plex has announced that podcasts will no longer be available through its apps.

While the company insists that, "we're big podcast fans here at Plex", it says that it is "sorry for the inconvenience" of dropping support. But for anyone who has been using Plex to access podcasts, they may well agree that killing off the feature is the kindest thing to do, but it has irked those who paid for a Plex Pass subscription to use it.

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Jellyfin 10.7.0, the open-source pretender to Plex’s media-streaming crown, has been released. What started out life as a fork of the last open-source release of Emby (3.5.2) is rapidly evolving into its own, distinct media server with the added advantage of being completely free.

Version 10.7.0’s highlights include extending SyncPlay support to TV shows and music in addition to movies, redesigned OSD and Up Next dialogs and new PDF and Comics reader functionalities. Behind the scenes, things have undergone major changes with the promise of "significantly improved web performance".

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Over the years, video games have certainly gotten more beautiful, but that doesn't mean they are more fun. In fact, I would argue that gameplay has gotten worse over the years. Younger gamers would be well-served to play some games from decades of the past. Forget graphics -- fun is what really matters.

Today, Plex launches a retro video game streaming service that should make playing older titles even easier. Called "Plex Arcade," it currently only offers games licensed from Atari, so we are talking really old-school stuff here, folks (think Centipede and Combat). At $4.99 month ($2.99 for those with Plex Pass) it is rather affordable. Unfortunately, there is one big catch -- Linux users are being left out.

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Banking is great for the bankers, but not so much for their customers. For many people, dealing with a bank can be a nightmare -- full of overdraft fees, poor service, and terrible location hours. Quite frankly, even the customers with huge balances aren't making out too good these days, as interest rates are almost non-existent.

And so, Google is looking to reinvent banking with a focus on regular folks -- the ones that aren't wealthy. Called "Plex," it is a special mobile-focused bank account coming in 2021 that does away with the predatory fees that seem to target middle- and lower-class people. These fees are why many people in America don't even have a bank account -- a sad reality. No, Google isn't becoming a bank with Plex -- it is instead partnering with several financial institutions to offer these accounts.

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If the phrase "it really whips the llama's ass" means anything to you, you clearly remember the heady days of WinAmp. Now media server and management company Plex has come up with its own take on the classic software.

Called -- slightly uninspiringly -- Plexamp, the player is available for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux. The company has also released a new app for managing Plex media servers: Plex Dash. This is great news for Plex users, but there's a slight catch in both cases.

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Plex has introduced a new free streaming service which you can use to watch a range of TV shows and movies without paying for a Plex Pass subscription, or having to pay for things on an individual basis.

Of course, "free" comes at a price. Ads. Plex says that it is going to be streaming "thousands of free movies, TV shows, extreme sports films, music documentaries, Bollywood musicals, and more" but content will be punctuated with ad-breaks. Free streaming is available in more than 200 countries, which will be appreciated by people in parts of the world that tend to miss out on such services.

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As 2018 comes to a close, I find myself doing much reflecting. Linux consumes much of my thinking, and sadly, this was not the year that it overtakes Windows on the desktop. You know what, though? Windows 10 was an absolute disaster this year, while the Linux-based Chrome OS has slowly become more and more mature. Other desktop Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora, continue to get better, and Android remains the undisputed king of mobile. As we all know, Linux powers many servers around the globe too. So yeah, maybe it isn't the year of the Linux desktop, but the open source kernel still had a superb 2018 -- I raise my glass to it.

One of the most refreshing aspects of Linux in 2018 was the popularity of Snaps. Canonical revealed that the containerized packages have been a smashing success. Today, the Ubuntu-maker highlights what it feels are the top 10 Snaps of 2018. No, it is not based on popularity or voting, but seemingly, just Canonical's opinion.

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Hot on the heels of TIDAL arriving in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 users, Plex has announced integration with the high-quality music service in its media tool.

You don't need a paid-for Plex Pass to enjoy TIDAL in Plex, but there are special subscription deals available if you do have one. There's also no need to have a server set up -- you can access TIDAL from within the Plex apps.

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Microsoft is having a terrible time lately. Sometimes it feels like the company wants to sabotage itself. The most recent debacle is its flagship product -- Windows 10 -- deleting user files. Even worse, the company ignored user feedback that it was happening! Quite frankly, after such a scary thing, I am not sure how people can trust Microsoft's operating system with important data.

Thankfully, you do not have to use Windows. These days, it is easier than ever to use Linux instead. There are plenty of great apps available for operating systems like Ubuntu, Fedora, and more. Canonical's containerized Snap packaging makes it even simpler to both install Linux apps and keep them updated. Today, a very popular app, Plex Media Server, gets the Snap treatment. In other words, you can install the media server program without any headaches -- right from the Snap store!

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Continuing to increase its appeal to cord-cutters, Plex has announced a new on-demand streaming feature. Plex Web Shows is launching in beta and includes curated content from independent creators like Epic Meal Time, ASAPscience, Household Hacker, People are Awesome, and The Pet Collective, as well as brands including GQ, Saveur, Epicurious, and Pitchfork.

Plex Web Shows works across a range of devices -- web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Windows, macOS and more --  and does not require either a Plex server or a paid Plex subscription. Like Plex News and Plex Podcasts, content is not only curated, but includes smart, custom recommendations based on preferences and watching history.

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