You
install our free app, we take care of the rest!
We tag the content in movies: profanity, violence, etc. Then you can decide what you want to see or not.
When you stream a movie you have access to, our free app will edit out the parts you don't want.
Sit back and relax while you enjoy your movies! Increase your family entertainment options!
Take back control of your living room! For free!
Why is this awesome?
- You can stream edited from several online sites (Amazon Pay, Amazon Prme, Youtube, etc.). The good news about that is that it means if you already have Amazon prime, then many of our edited movies are "free streaming edited" to you. (If you don't have prime don't worry, we also support a large number of "rent/buy" movies, including many new releases!). You can also get a free Prime 30 day subscription if you'd like to binge some edited goodness :)
- It opens up the possibility of more movies you or your family can watch, another "entertainment option" as it were. You can watch movies without worrying about what might accidentally be in them. Sit back and relax! Want to watch a movie and tailor it for the youngest in the room so the whole family can watch together? Now you can! Find something that bothers you in a movie? You can tag it and edit it out for just yourself. Find an a movie not yet in our system, for instance a more rare movie? You can vote for it!
- We provide rankings for how wholesome movies are, so you can search out wholesome entertainment for you and your family!
- Our system lets you watch new releases edited online, including Disney etc! Plus want to watch an obscure older film, that nobody else knows about so it will likely take some time to make it to the top of the list? You can subscribe and vote for it.
- We have tried very hard to respect copyright laws and even Terms of Use of websites, we hope to provide you a functional edited streaming option for years to come.
How much does it cost?
Our app and filters are free! You only pay your streaming subscription or rental/purchase cost to Amazon.
(Note: Amazon Prime has a free 30 day trial, watch some entirely free edited movies!)
Play it My way is Free, you can use it as long as you like without paying a dime. Some people would like to "support the cause" and soon we will be offering a "premium subscription" option (that goes alongside the free one) for $4/month (filters are the same for either).
This will come with heightened customer support, access to advanced features, and option to vote for which movies we edit next.
Contact us if you'd like to start a premium subscription and help everyone out!
By getting a premium subscription, you're helping support those who can't afford it, and increasing the amount of goodness in the world!
If you'd to support us in other ways than money, tell your friends, like our
facebook page, and subscribe to our email announcements by putting in your email address:
How do I install it?
Click
here for instructions.
How do I watch it on my TV?
One option is to plug into your TV another connection, one from your computer/laptop to your TV and watch it there. It works in HD.
You could for instance run a long (
10',
25' or
50') HDMI cable from your computer to your TV.
You can remote control your computer from your couch using the
chrome remote desktop app on your mobile device.
Another option is to purchase an "android tv" (around $40) and install the Play It My Way Android App.
Another option might be to purchase a "Home Theater PC" that supports the Chrome web browser, or repurposing an old laptop/desktop as a dedicated viewing device.
So is this legal?
The (Family Movie Act of 2005 (FMA) ("EXEMPTION FROM INFRINGEMENT FOR SKIPPING AUDIO AND VIDEO CONTENT IN MOTION PICTURES") says in regards to filtering that a private household can make (or use a technology to make) limited portions of the audio or video content “imperceptible” as long as it comes from an authorized copy of the film and doesn’t create a permanent altered copy.
Play It My Way doesn’t create a permanent altered copy (there have been a few court cases that have ruled that changing playback “in flight” doesn’t create a new “version” of the film), and rather than streaming movies on our site (and having to worry about all of the licensing/distributing/other hooplah there) we only filter movies that you can already stream legally through other services. These streaming services have paid their dues to Hollywood, and the law protects your right to skip or mute limited portions of it. We only provide the technology that allows you to do this automatically, and stay out of the streaming business.
We try to respect the Terms of Use of companies and only filter movies from streaming services who seem to allow our program in their Terms of Use. We also only support legal streaming services so that the studios always get their dues (and even more dues with more customers). We also refuse to skip ads for the same reason, see below. We even attempt to obey copyright laws by writing our own reviews and using our own tags and not copying other websites' content. That being said, we are not lawyers, take our advice with a grain of salt, and only do which you think is moral, ethical, fair and legal. We encourage you to examine the issues yourself, including Terms of Uses, and only use this program if you feel it respects them.
In short, we believe that we are legal, but without legal advice we hesitate to say so definitively.
Some studios have mentioned before in legal proceedings that they're not averse to "secondary editing" (given that no "second copies" are created or distributed). (i.e. like what Play It My Way provides, a second copy is never created). Historically studios also have seemed to be OK to allow airplanes to pay them money to watch officially "edited" versions of movies, so hopefully they'll be all right with letting people pay them money to watch edited versions in this instance as well. In essence, we are allowing film makers to target more target audiences, and make more. Hopefully they're OK with that.
We attempt to obey copyright laws by writing our own reviews and our own tags and not copying other websites' content.
In short, we believe Play it my Way to be legal, though we're not lawyers to tell for sure.
We'll be up front with you, we don't have any formal contracts or agreements with the movie studios, nor with Amazon, nor Google, in this endeavor. It's just a browser plugin that "helps you playback" your movies, so you can control which portions it shows. We encourage our users to purchase movies legally and stream them legally and privately, and we believe you should have the ability to playback only the portions you want, of movies you have the rights to watch. Using a browser plugin to watch movies edited doesn't seem incompatible with the terms of use of some major streaming companies. Though if companies contact us and tell us to stop, we'll stop, and send our customers elsewhere :)
We did write a
letter to Amazon (to their "contact us partnership" portal) saying "hey, we're going to do this, let us know if you want us to stop" and haven't since heard back. Though certainly we're small fish at this point. If at some point they do get back to us and respond, we hope it will be something in the affirmative (we mostly just bring them traffic after all). If they respond in the negative, we will try to find another provider that is more accommodating and send our paying customers there :) For us it seems it makes Amazon's movies/prime movies an even more compelling offering, and their Terms of Use don't seem to forbid it as an option, and that's where it stands today. We also don't have a contract with the movies studios or with google for its chrome web browser, though it does use a chrome extension to provide the editing playback today. We believe it is just "scripting" a legally streamed playback. Hopefully everyone ends up OK with this arrangement.
We couldn't actually figure out how to contact the Movie Studios to get their feedback on this, but hope they'll also be amenable, as well.
So is watching edited movies moral? Ethical?
We flatter ourselves by believing so. Let us tell you our take on it. Imagine you're going to a play in a theater, but, feeling a bit under the weather that day, and you know an upcoming scene might make you a bit sick. Is it OK to walk out for that scene then come back? Or is it OK to "look at the floor" in the theater and not watch when something happens in a movie that you're not comfortable with? Is it OK to walk out during the closing credits of a movie and effectively "skip" those last few scrolling credits? We think so. But again, ony do what feels right to you here :) For some parents, it's OK to watch unedited movies themselves, but then if they want to watch them with their kids, to dial down the intensity a little. This also works well for that. Power to the people! :)
Another take on it: for instance if it's a PG movie but you just want to be able to watch and "avoid any surprises" (for instance, the one single profanity in it) you might consider that an ethical option. Or to create a "toned down" version of scary scenes of a Disney film, so that little kids don't have nightmares but can still "watch with the family" you might consider that an ethical option.
Another take on it: sometimes Hollywood inserts some bad scene just to "get a rating" as it were. Why not watch it comfortably without that bad scene? They want your money in the end, and you're, in essence, giving it to them by watching their movie, albeit edited. My other theory is that maybe Hollywood producers just "don't realize" the tastes and affections of some people out there (to them, profanity is hum drum, for instance). We are providing the ability of the masses to tailor-fit movies to themselves instead of everyone having to fit in one bucket for a release, as it were. But do whatever you feel is appropriate and ethical, and also allows others the same privilege :)
Does using this send a wrong message to Hollywood?
There's definitely a debate as to whether you should watch some "dirty" films, edited, at all. That's your call of course. Some films, even edited, still have a "dark feeling" about them, so use your best judgement even with edited versions. We provide an "wholesomeness" rating for each movie, which may be useful to you in your quest for wholesome recreation. We'll leave that one as a personal decision, if you feel we shouldn't then don't let us force you, just don't watch the movie. For those that "want" to watch these movies cleaned up, we do offer this as an option. As to whether it sends the wrong message to Hollywood, my personal hope is that we can show them "yes lots of people are watching these edited, you should tap into this market!" that kind of message. Maybe we'll be able to show them, or maybe we'll end up sending the wrong message, we hope not. But we're not sure either.
How do I uninstall it?
Right click on the little icon in the upper right, choose "remove from Chrome." We're sorry to see you go, please leave us some feedback so we can improve for future users!
Can it edit Netflix?
Well...to be clear, we started down that road once, and even created a working prototype, but we decided to no longer include that functionality because it seems like its use might violate parts of the Netflix customer Terms of Use ("no injection of code" or something, which is how we control their player). We hope to launch a "Netflix" drive someday and convince them of the utility of this program :) If that doesnt' work, we hope to eventually create some kind of work around. For now we will recommend to our users that they purchase their streamed media from other sources that seem to allow it (ex: Amazon). Hopefully someday, feel free to
vote for this feature!