- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
I may have missed it, but does he (or anyone else) have recommendations for options to simply pay for content and get high quality DRM free files (edit: I mean legally)?
And how much of a pain in the ass is it to buy DVD box sets and rip them? Presumably that’s legal for personal use? Is that the only way? :(
I have some additional frustrations with Netflix:
- they have removed some shows that I like
- if you travel to another country, you can’t always watch the same shows— even if you downloaded them within the app
- they completely remove some episodes: the episode of community where they play Dungeons and Dragons, and (other streaming services) remove the Michael Jackson Simpsons episode.
- extremely user hostile way to browse content. They always move your list around and show the same show in multiple places
- I absolutely hate how all these streaming services auto play to the next episode. You can often change this behaviour. But my partner sometimes casts it to our TV and the damn app (Disney+ in this case, I think) changes the interface just as you get to the credits. I want to sit in peace and let the credits play, and discuss the episode. But it tries to shove another one down your throat, presumably to “maximize engagement”. (I get it for content that you’re binging or are re watching. But this is horrible if you’re just watching an episode during dinner and don’t want to have to scramble to stop the autoplay as soon as it ends)
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Fuck a corporations but let’s not act like piracy is the modern version of Robin Hood or righting a huge injustice
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No, it’s just stealing stuff. I’m a shameless pirate, but stop pretending that this is some noble resistance. The reality is that its a luxury someone is selling for a price, and we don’t want to pay the price, so we steal it. You could always just not consume it. That would be the noble move.
They’re assholes so I just don’t give a fuck.
It’s not stealing, it’s unauthorised redistribution. They don’t lose anything from piracy, except for potential customers, which is a pretty intangiable concept. Don’t think it’s even remotely as bad as going into a tech store and taking all their DVR’s, or even literal piracy by chasing down another boat with guns and taking their cargo.
I mean yeah it’s selfish, but it is definitely righting a huge injustice:
There is literally no customer centric way to watch these shows, or most modern media at all. Where can I literally buy shows that I can then resell. Where can I get a subscription service that’s focused on giving me the best content possible and not trying to squeeze value out of me by influencing what I watch or selling my metrics or up selling me to a bigger plan after killing the previous plan or any number of other dark practices. Where can I buy DRM free offline files of these shows so I can watch them on an airplane on my own hardware without Internet?
It’s fucked up that there is literally no way for people to buy their entertainment and not be fucked over more for trying to do it the legal way and spending money. And piracy needs to exist as a breaking point to stop these companies from getting even worse.
If you are a gullible consumer whose devices are always connected to the internet, you don’t notice you’re getting a worse service. Unfortunately, way too many people are falling for this.
Luckily, at least PC gamers are largely outspoken about DRM and there are pretty popular platforms that cater to them. But console games and media (other than some e-books)? No end of DRM in sight.
at least PC gamers are largely outspoken about DRM and there are pretty popular platforms that cater to them
I fear the day that’s no longer the case. Feels like gaming is becoming more “proprietary platform first” with every year.
The Steam Deck has helped bring it to light. I loved the Hitman games, for example, but I won’t buy the studio’s 007 game if that has the same always-online-singleplayer shite.
At some level it happens due to people wanting stuff for free… but if it’s the consequence of that is that works are preserved and disseminated, that’s more valuable for our culture than when companies vault them and lose them, or when they never release them at all, like Warner has been doing lately.
One might say that these companies have all the right to make these works unavailable, but this is clearly a situation where the “proper” is more detrimental than the “clandestine”. After all, the way these companies handle it, when the ridiculously excessive copyright length is over and the works are supposed to cease their artificial monopoly and be returned to the Public Domain from which everyone takes inspiration, there might be nothing left. A DVD is unlikely to last 100 years.
This is not a matter of life and death but culture has its value.
Most people don’t have the understanding to fully appreciate the consequences of the current system of “free” services. That’s why it’s the job of governments to put robust consumer protections in place. The Europeans have been making some moves in the right direction, lately. Unfortunately, they also increasingly have been veering towards totalitarianism in their moves to enforce mandatory trusted certificates, weakening of encryption and other hare-brained schemes.