{"id":76842,"date":"2024-05-05T09:02:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T09:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=76842"},"modified":"2024-05-05T09:02:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T09:02:10","slug":"subscenes-demise-is-no-surprise-but-millions-of-app-users-face-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=76842","title":{"rendered":"Subscene\u2019s Demise is No Surprise But Millions of App Users Face Disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"confused\"<\/a>After two decades online and maybe even a few more under Divxstation branding right at the beginning, veteran subtitle download site Subscene.com has finally thrown in the towel.<\/p>\n

In various guises, linked to specific geographic regions, perhaps as many as 50 domains can be linked to Subscene over the past twenty years. At a time when legal streaming services didn\u2019t even exist, Subscene offered subtitles for large libraries of movies and TV shows in multiple languages. <\/p>\n

Making content accessible to non-native speakers, in countries where legal streaming services wouldn\u2019t arrive for a decade, didn\u2019t just help people to understand movies. For those hoping to widen their horizons, subtitles became opportunities to learn new languages. For the deaf and hard of hearing, subtitles represented a new connection with the wider world.<\/p>\n

Competition \u2013 Finally<\/h2>\n

Things are, of course, very different today. While a disappointing number of legal streaming platforms still fail to provide acceptable subtitles on all content, Netflix releases often arrive with subtitles in dozens of languages. That seems likely to have played a part in reduced levels of traffic at Subscene, leading to a fairly quiet announcement two months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi everyone, i\u2019m very sorry to be [writing] this, but Subscene cannot continue for much longer,\u201d the site\u2019s owner told users.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has not been paying for itself for several years now, visitors are falling, and maintenance cannot continue. I am amazed at all your administrative work with the content which is the primary reason that I have continued paying for the site for this long. Thank you all for this journey we have been on together. If I can do anything for you let me know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shutdown in 24 Hours<\/h2>\n

On May 2, 2024, Subscene\u2019s owner posted to the site\u2019s forum to confirm what had been mentioned at least eight weeks earlier. Subscene would be shutting down for good.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"subscene-24\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Some Subscene users complained that 24 hours wasn\u2019t enough time to back up subtitles they had uploaded to the site. Others expressed concerns that a giant subtitle collection shouldn\u2019t just disappear without an effort to preserve it. The reality is that efforts to preserve the contents of Subscene had been underway for some time.<\/p>\n

Archiving, Hoarding Data<\/h2>\n

Soon after the first announcement two months ago, indicating that Subscene would close down, members of the \/r\/DataHoarder subreddit had quickly sprung into action. They produced a full 90GB+ database, which they say<\/a> even includes deleted subtitle files, and then made it available online via a regular .torrent file, a magnet link, and for the Usenet fans, an NZB file.<\/p>\n

As mentioned on their Wiki<\/a>, Archive Team sprang into action<\/a> with the 24-hour shutdown period underway yet still managed to retrieve almost everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was announced on 2024-05-02 that the site would cease operations within 24 hours, and that a \u2018takeover plan was not possible\u2019. No reason was given for the sudden closure. A DPoS project was started 2024-05-03 13:56 UTC and was able to grab most subtitles before the websites demise later that day at 2024-05-03 21:11 UTC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data Saved But in The Wrong Place for App Users<\/h2>\n

Users who prefer to use mostly Android apps for their movie and TV show fix, often have in-app access to subtitles. As the image below shows, Subscene.com is regularly used as a source for those subtitles.<\/p>\n

\"app-apk\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Since the site\u2019s URL appears to be hardcoded in many cases, only an app update will be able to point to a new location. Even then, open access to the files isn\u2019t guaranteed and will only become more complex if there\u2019s not enough centralized interest in creating or curating new subtitles for the latest titles.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no suggestion from the site\u2019s operator that Subscene has faced recent legal issues but nevertheless, blocking injunctions and personalized mentions in industry reports to government have played a part in the site\u2019s history. <\/p>\n

According to a message on the site\u2019s main page, that history ends here.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"subscene-gone\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two decades online and maybe even a few more under Divxstation branding right at the beginning, veteran subtitle download site Subscene.com has finally thrown in the towel. In various guises, linked to specific geographic regions, perhaps as many as 50 domains can be linked to Subscene over the past twenty years. At a time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}