Amazon Family also requires sharing payment methods as a way to verify people are at the same household. With a trusted person (actually at the same address or not) that may not be a big deal but for a lot of people that's a showstopper.
Also the invitees allowed up to four other Amazon accounts to benefit. Amazon Family only allows 1 other adult...
I have one account, and it's logged in on almost every device in the family, including TV. We all just use the same thing. All of us aren't even in the same city
Next they'll crack down on folks logged on in more than one location.
Netflix does this, and when my wife and our kid visit my in-laws over the summer the device in one of the two locations loses access a few days before they return. This year I stopped watching Netflix (and logged one of our TVs out) halfway through their trip so as to be sure kiddo would be able to watch Spidey-whatever on the flight home. I'm genuinely not trying to game their system, and would rather pay for access than not, but shenanigans like that are at some point going to send me back to the high seas.
I used this. I have my own account, but I get the benefits of a family member. That family member no longer lives with me and we're not close enough to share a billing method.
I was surprised to have benefitted from it for quite so long. It's been nice.
It didn't include Amazon Prime Video, so I might get it long enough to watch whatever it is I'd been wanting to see there. (I wanted to catch the last season of Mrs. Maisel. I've heard good things about Man in the High Castle. And I ought to at least try out Rings of Power. But I'm not sure there's anything else.)
The big problem is this is an underhanded way to force people to register their family structure with Amazon. No doubt this is so they can make the right recommendations for you, or worse, use it for advertisement targeting. But who wants to give up that kind of sensitive info to a faceless megacorp?
Except people were previously more likely to have used this to share with people outside their home.
The effect is lots of people losing access they once had before. Whatever the technicalities of the change, it's likely going to be a major one for most people that share accounts.
Readit News
From the HN guidelines:
> please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
On topic, it seems like Prime Benefits Sharing is being replaced by Amazon Family. I don’t understand why or what the differences are.
The change means lots of people are losing access they once had and will have to pay if they want to continue using Prime.
It's a significant change from the previous feature.
Also the invitees allowed up to four other Amazon accounts to benefit. Amazon Family only allows 1 other adult...
I have one account, and it's logged in on almost every device in the family, including TV. We all just use the same thing. All of us aren't even in the same city
Netflix does this, and when my wife and our kid visit my in-laws over the summer the device in one of the two locations loses access a few days before they return. This year I stopped watching Netflix (and logged one of our TVs out) halfway through their trip so as to be sure kiddo would be able to watch Spidey-whatever on the flight home. I'm genuinely not trying to game their system, and would rather pay for access than not, but shenanigans like that are at some point going to send me back to the high seas.
I was surprised to have benefitted from it for quite so long. It's been nice.
It didn't include Amazon Prime Video, so I might get it long enough to watch whatever it is I'd been wanting to see there. (I wanted to catch the last season of Mrs. Maisel. I've heard good things about Man in the High Castle. And I ought to at least try out Rings of Power. But I'm not sure there's anything else.)
A lot of people are phrasing this as no more sharing with different addresses. But is also restricts a family living at the same address.
You can still share with other members of your household. (one other adult and up to 4 children)
The effect is lots of people losing access they once had before. Whatever the technicalities of the change, it's likely going to be a major one for most people that share accounts.
It's really that simple. They wont. More subscribers will come, Amazon will increase in market share and the enshitification will continue.