This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The starving (and recent gutting) of the public domain demonstrates the institution of intellectual property persists in bad faith. Therefore media piracy is a legitimate means to acquire and consume media.
As the C-suite and its political and paramilitary minions have shown us crime is not about behavior and consequences, but who you are and to whom you bend the knee.
Well, aren't you quaint. Next thing you'll be asking for is seed corn that you can replant year after year from the corn it grows, heated seats in your cars without a subscription payment, replaceable batteries in your battery powered electronics.
Don't forget a subscription free garage opener/motor camera.
I think I got the last one of those, but mine did come with a "free" phone app to open/close the door. The app turned into an advertising platform about 3 years after I put the opener in - no options out, gotta see the ads if I want to use my opener via app.
Pihole?
Beyond the obvious problem of paying but not owning, it's impossible to watch/listen without that data being stored on a massive corporation's server and likely sold to hundreds of advertisers. Last I saw Spotify had over 300 venders they share data with. I've seen sites with over 1000.
So you're not only paying for something you don't own, but you're also paying to have a larger profile in the surveillance capitalism machine.
have a larger profile in the surveillance capitalism machine.
This is why, when I'm not watching, I'll set Netflix to stream movies I like.
This hasn't bothered me at all. I've been _Arr_chiving a lot lately.
I do! I own CDs and vinyls. I collect mainly CDs because they are smaller and need less storage.
Do you just collect the CDs or do you also play them with a CD player? I feel like it's not even worth the hassle of getting a system set up to play CDs compared to a record player because the quality won't be as good.
I've got a good couple dozen of CDs I bought over the years when I hadn't used Spotify yet - moved to self-hosting now - and I was always wondering if I should work on actually playing CDs instead of just burning them
Beyond the "experience". If you rip the CD into something lossless, it should be audibly the same. Vinyl versus CD. People claim "warmth" difference.
It's always been hypocrisy. The media companies only say what part you actually own based whatever is most profitable to them.
Technically, back in the day, when you bought any music wether it be 8-track, LP, cassette, or CD, you were purchasing a single-user license for the music and the media was just how the record companies delivered it to you. That's why Napster and all the piracy that followed it was/is illegal, because you don't own a license when you copy the digital file.
HOWEVER... Over the many decades I've been alive I've scratched, twisted, demagnetized, or just plain old lost hundreds of LPs, cassettes, and CDs. Do you think if I requested a new copy of the music that the record companies would send me a replacement?
No, they would not. So I obtained digital replacements by...other means.
Now that we're all used to digital copies, suddenly that's been the important part all along.
That's why if you want to support artists, you can buy the shit locked down files so they get the artist gets paid, and then just never use them. Pay for them but get your actual files from piracy.
Better yet, if the artist has a website or something like Bandcamp buy from there so they actually get a decent chunk of the money you give instead of the pittance left over after the distributors and record companies have taken their cut.
If buying isn't owning, then pirating cannot be stealing. These corporations are literally herding people back onto the seas. I need to go get myself a new flag with a skull and bones, since I tied my boat to the pier about fifteen-twenty years ago.
That's just it with most of these services - you never bought 'em. You pay a subscription fee each month to use their service.
That is not buying, nor is it ownership.
Pirating is not and never has been stealing. You do not deprive anyone of anything when you make a copy of something.
Copyright is a dumb as tits system of artificial scarcity and always has been.
"Pirating" isn't stealing regardless of anything. It is unsanctioned copying.
I’m stealing this.
And not removing the product from anyone.
Listen, me hearties…
Aarrggh matey!
Gahhh! You two barnacles best be keeping quiet about the high seas, or it's the plank for yee!!
Yo ho, all together, hoist the colors high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars
Never shall we die
We are pirates, yar har fiddle me dee
I have no fear that Amazon will come to my house and remove the books I bought. If they were DRMed ebooks, on the other hand, that would be something to worry about.
I was always more angry about them editing digital publications after the fact. That's some Grade A "Ministry of Truth" BS right there. Dead Tree Media forever.
I mean, a Kobo + Anna's Archive also works without dead trees.
Never forget: Han shot first.
I like the 4K77 versions.
I do, raise the black flag and you can too.
Only way I feel I can push back is by also saving it locally 🏴☠️
🏴☠️
We got frog boiled in the 2010s to accept renting out media. Me and my sandisk Sansa clip still go for walks listening to mp3s. I wonder if devices like this will see a resurgence under the idea that owning it gives you control of your media.
Its a thing already.
Companies like fiio, shanling etc make old skool style players.
E.g.:
