If you really have no interest in hosting your own content, though, you probably want a dedicated streaming service instead of Plex.

When you are ready to grow your Plex library, you could always check out the public domain and other free (legally!) media you could be downloading with BitTorrent. But even if you haven’t been obsessively collecting video files as long as I have, you’ll still find things to watch on Plex. Of course, this works best if you have a ton of movie and TV show files on your computer. You can even stream that content to all of your other devices - essentially turning your movie library into your own personal streaming service. They pull in all of your audio and video files automatically attach metadata (name, genre, etc.) and provide a powerful app for watching the content. Imagine taking all of your ripped DVDs, TV shows, and music, and organizing them into one convenient library that is categorized and searchable. I’ll talk about Plex’s free streaming content in a minute, but I want to explain the cooler feature - the Plex media server - first. What You Can Watch on PlexĬalling Plex a streaming service is like calling “The Walking Dead” a show about gunfights: It completely misses the point. In addition to the core media server features, it offers perks like streamable content. Plex offers a free app and a premium paid subscription called PlexPass. mp3 files - which makes it a little different from many of the services we cover here on. This service is aimed primarily at those of us who still have hard drives full of DVD rips and. What that means is that it will help you host your own online server full of movies, music, and more. What Is Plex?Īt its core, Plex is a media server app. Those without their own stash of media, however, won't need this service. Our Take: For those who want to turn their own media files into streaming content, Plex is the best choice.

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