Whether they are electronic books, comics, games, videos, music you name it. A free non-DRMed format is a must. For music it has to be lossless like CD, wav, flac or monkeyaudio, else no sale. For books unprotected .epub is preferred, since they are just glorified zip files with a specific structure allowing me to correct typos easily. Same goes for .cbr/.cbz, which are luckily in the ">2000 pixel height minimum" region now, so the quality is nearly as good as print. Most comics released now are even in the 4000 pixel height region, which are en par or sometimes better than print. PDF is sort-of OK too. For games my GOG library is way beyond my Steam/Epic/EA/Ubi library for the exact same reason.

I love my gog library, over 370 games now and I have full control over them. I used to have steam et al, but no longer; my drm-free stuff will keep me busy until the heat death of the cosmos.

Where suppliers feel free to interpret 'lifetime' as they like.

The lifetime of a fruit fly in most cases.

It's doesn't work at all, you say?

Completely busted, even?

Would you go so far as to say your kit is dead?

... Well, it's past its lifetime then, no? No coverage for you!

Unless they can get onto my NAS and delete all my non-DRM-infected non-device-specific files then... yes? Anon obvs.

/Removing the DRM from the free audiobooks Audible offered me was a PITA.

The Mike Brewer virus that has infected DMAX Spain? I'd happily pay a substription to stop him being broadcast.

Ed China got out, maybe you can too.

I have a lot of physical books. What I've noted is there's only a few I actually go back and read again (mostly the Disc world novels). So why would I want a mountain of books that I've read once and then don't read again? Having them in e-format is much better in that regard.

I have a lot of physical reference books: These I do go back to and... reference. If there are updates/new editions, I might have to go get another copy... but if I got them electronically, they'd update automatically.

This is the other side of the benefit to the consumer. The detriments are obvious: You don't own the copy, you can't resell it, can't share it.

But for novels and films: How often do you really go back and read or watch them again? So how many do you really need to keep?

I'm a collector, so I know why I want to 'own' things: It's how I am. But I've been seeing the downsides of that view: The many bookshelves, the boxes of books, the 'oh, I should go read that again'... and yet I carry an e-book reader (well, two if you count my phone) and it has over a hundred e-books on it - quite a library, and I've not read all of those. Same for films: I have a collection of films in electronic format that are quite convenient to carry, watch and pause.

The downside is I don't own them: They can be removed without my knowledge or permission, and I may not get any form of compensation for it.

But is the tradeoff worth the risk? Well, if I'm only reading the book once, yes. If I only see the film once, yes. Especially if it's cheaper than getting the physical copy.

This isn't true for everything, however: Software is an entirely different matter as that's something we'd use daily. It's a tool, and it has ongoing value to us. Having that removed from us can be quite harmful - especially if they're insisting I 'upgrade' to a new version, often with a cost to the upgrade, and the new version isn't fit for what I need it do to (Yes, M$, that is very much aimed at you).

So I'd say it depends: Is the thing that we don't 'own' really that important to us, or is it a case that we won't miss it if it's gone? (or even, be happy that it is?).

That's where the concept of owning rather than renting, or renting rather than owning, becomes a significant part of the purchasing decision.

Same here for physical books. Some of them I've read many times and will read again. For the rest I'm reading my way through them and deciding which to keep and which to give to family, friends or charity. I rarely buy books now and when I see something I'd like to read I try to get it from the library, although I will buy a hard copy of those I really like.

I tried Kindle and it was great for when I was doing a lot of international travel and work but like the author of the article I used Calibre to get a version I could keep. I haven't read anything using Kindle (app or device) for many years.

As you say, it's a tradeoff. But that said: I have an awful lot of books, all of which I have read more than once: if it's not worth reading twice, out it goes. Same for music: everything I own I have in electronic form, but also in the original CDs. Games I don't have, and few films; collecting them ain't my thing. But if it were...

Geographical permissions are bad enough: I can't watch the BBC in Germany because of rights issues. Which is, on the face of it, ridiculous; an extension of contracts and rules made long before the internet was a usable thing. I can't watch certain videos on a DVD player for the same reason: region locking that prohibits me because my player initially played something from a different region. Crazy.

I'm about half-way through my occasional retirement project of getting all my books into a digital format - unencrypted epub, naturally - because I consider the hassle involved worth it against the possibility of some arsehole deciding I don't own any longer something for which I paid, but appreciate the convenience of ebook readers (I prefer Kobo). The snag is it's a lot easier to rip a CD or DVD than a paper book...

I have hundreds of books. Mainly tech related. They are on the shelves. I didn't read them all, some just once. But I keep looking at them when I am thinking about something or I am bored. Sometimes I pick one out and read random few pages. If there is a topic I face difficulty with I roughly know where I have a book that may help.

I tried many e-readers and it's just not the same experience. It's not immediate. You can't flip pages and seeing what's on them while flipping, you can't put a few books side by side (well you can buy multiple e-readers...). You can't easily make your own annotations or slip a page of your notes.

I charity shopped 2/3rds of my books, used the shelf space for other books to be easier to get to.

I was not going to read them again, so free the space.

Of course hobby based text books started to fill the space.

Got some really nice photo books I just like to pick up and browse.

Will be culling more in future.

But like you TP stays, as do more modern SF authors I like, such as Alastair Reynold or Richard Morgan.

DVDs are well culled, 50% gone, BDs only 10% dumped, games about 25% gone.

> So, what can you do about this trend for all the ownership power going to the company?

Stop giving them money.

Same here for DVDs - I rip and convert to mp4, put them on the NAS and then the discs go in folders as backups. Newer stuff on the streaming platforms isn't available in many cases, but I'm OK with that so far and they might bring DVDs out when the streaming rates slow to a trickle but realistically the writing's on the wall for DVDs. Not sure what I'll do then; I don't subscribe to any streaming services, but I've got 17TB of mp4 to keep me occupied.

I'm ripping BluRay as well. Bought a license for MakeMKV (bit of irony there) and then I handbrake the files that come off.

...I always make a point to buy any book I intend to read more than once in dead tree form. Not only do they ensure that I still have them should Amazon decide to do something to stiff me out of reading things I paid for in the future, but they do a lovely job of making my living room look nice and feel loved in.

I leave it as a exercise to the reader how I fill the kindle.

Kindle

Pulp style books on Prime or Kindle unlimited, rad once then return, like a library book.

That would be true if something like BitTorrent didn't exist. You can download almost anything there and in formats (PDF, EPUB) which no vendor can erase from your machine.

People were stupid buying into Amazon's web of lies in the first place, so they deserve to get burned. It's no coincidence sales of CD's, DVD's and Blu-Rays are increasing again. People don't want the streaming services to take their rights to see a show away from them.

Prime Video often shows a new series it has for a limited time and then pushes it over to one of their extra-subscription packages. They did this recently with The Last Of Us , it was only on the regular service for about a month.

And, of course, this sort of nonsense and the supposed "exclusivity" is used to push streaming services, so they won't be interested in releasing video in shiny disc form, which is a shame as a fair amount of interesting new content is being made by streaming companies.

I paid £35 for TLOU and it still works fine on my older console.

SP games are usually still safe if BD is in your hands.

We have an Amazon telly thing - or more correctly, my wife does; I wouldn’t touch it with Zuk’s if it was up to me) - and it’s a source of constant annoyance for our kidlet that a cartoon he watched last week suddenly requires paying some random quantity of money for. Being asked to pay £15 for a 40 year old film is another fun thing they try.

Amazon is a complete rip off - we (again, my wife!) pays for the Prime thing so it’s taking the piss to have to pay twice).

I like Netflix (for now) - with that, you pay your money and that’s it; you’re not expected to pay twice. Same for Disney+ (though I think that particular subscription might be reviewed next time round - I think the prices have gone up quite a bit - need to check).

It’s no surprise that torrents are still alive and well with the kind of shit Amazon pull, and I’m amazed their shitty piss-taking doesn’t get more press.

are conveniently available at discount prices in used bookstores and private sales.......

I recently bought a random job lot of DVDs for £40 on eBay and there was enough interesting stuff to make it well worth the money. I suspect there will be more and more DVDs coming up for sale as people's DVD players die and they convert to to streaming.

Nice to find another "Thin Man" fan.

A film, some bribes went out and the BluRay was cancelled and only a HD-DVD was done.

Yes I did email them and told them I got the HD-DVD rip off TPB, cpnverted it and played it off the hard drive of my PS3, mentioning I was going to buy the film but could not play it.

TV, FTA channels start the series, then the scum buy the rights and stop me watching, TPB to the rescue.

One series I loved I had pre ordered the DVD before the TPB release was out.

Never seen those episodes on broadcast due to that..

I have really culled my book collection as I was not not going to read them again, but keep the books I reallly want to keep.

I look at this more philosophically.

No, you do not "own" your books, movies, or anything else. You hold no implicit right over their contents, nor are you the creator, proprietor, or, well... owner, of its primary source of value to you. You do, and shall continue to in perpetuity, own its copy.

And even that copy's ink may fade, may its pages decompose, may its film color, may its bits rot. Even for the original, it shall cease to be just as easily, and its creator and true "owner" often even faster.

When does something become truly "owned"? When does the concept of something shift from a copy to a derivation? When does a work become a new work? When does the ship no longer belong to Theseus, and instead its numerous maintainers, craftsmen, sailors, and deckhands?

Is it our ability to chose? Is our concept of ownership an invention in the minds of living creatures? If I were to say, "I made this", the only one to stop me would be other people to say I did not. If no one were around to see me make it, and no one else claimed to make it, and perhaps I truly did believe I made it, then would it not belong to me? Would I not have made it and would I not own it?

I digress. Ownership over the physical is simple from both a philosophical, moral, ethical, and legal perspective: after the initial fuzzy process of owning something should occur; should that something be in your posession; and should you have been given the right by that material's owner to become of its posession; then you now own it in physicality. Not in totality, but just enough to allow you the freedom to experience it.

And this is where the equivalencies of perspecrives diverge, as your school of thought, relevant legalities, and other such trivialities, detetmine what you may do with what you "own". But, if not in full—if not unrestricted except to make the claim that you yourself own it in entirety, do you truly own it? Without the ability to say that you so truly own it without restriction, do you double truly own it?

You may think that my words facetious, my philosophy simplistic, or my positing disingenuous. But nay, dear reader, for words are coming out of my mind and being impressioned into this digital format by the force of my fingers so driven by the complex electrical spiderweb of neurons and synapses that make up my nervous system, so that they may be stored for an indefinite time on a platform of which I have no control, under a terms of service that were too long, didn't read; for the edification and elation of another—for you. And alas, I own these words. Maybe.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I cancelled all my streaming services. all my daughter liked to watch from the paid ones were snow white, alice in wonderland, aladdin and little mermaid and once I ran out of stuff to watch there I realised I was essentially paying a monthly subscription fee for like 50 year old films, the local CEX has those at £1.50 per DVD so that's paid for itself already. likewise i have several boxsets I'll sit through, or buy something from a CEX style shop for pennies, watch it then return if i want to like xtravision all over again.

I still have my SNES, NES, game boy etc. they play as good as the day they were released with no loss in gameplay. The PSP for example games work locally, but the free online bonus content for example has to be ripped and placed onto the memory card since the servers are long-dead, and that just shows that if you rely on a server for anything, it's not yours. It exists at the whim of beancounters deciding it's past profitability or the company going under and its servers with it.

But this is the future everyone signed up for. Did it in droves as well.

could result in a discussion that never ends.

Just look at the lengths Disney goes to, to keep control of that little rodent creation that helped build their empire.

There are sites that want you to sign over your copyright to them in order to post on their site. Thankfully in the era of digital photography, I nearly always have multiple copies of almost the same shot burt even so, it wrankles with me to have to give away all rights to an image that I took.

The same goes for the written word. If you are not careful then you can easily lose all rights to your next blockbuster novel.

These companies who are moving to subscription only are playing the copyright game. You pay me every month/day/year/hour or else. I own the copyright so pay up or else.

This is all why I only have one subscription left and that is Adobe PS. If I could replace Lightroom with something that actually works then that would be it for me.

I've recently dumped VMWare and replaced it with VirtualBox. At least at the moment, it is free to use for me. How long that will remain is in the lap of the gods.

quote

"There are sites that want you to sign over your copyright to them in order to post on their site. Thankfully in the era of digital photography, I nearly always have multiple copies of almost the same shot burt even so, it wrankles with me to have to give away all rights to an image that I took."

do what I do, downsize the picture to 1000*600 using a 'good enough' photo tool, then they can have 'rights' to that image.

While you're still sitting on the spiffy 24 megapixel original.

As for the whole "drm vs physical media' debate, please remember that in this country you can make back up copies of the media you've bought for your own use.

So its perfectly legal to buy Lord of the rings extended 3 volume version. and then rip all 6 discs to your network storage box

This is why PIRACY is our only hope.

I use Linux and open source software only at work. I have paid perpetual licenses for some useful commercial software that I can actually download and then activate WITHOUT INTERNET CONNECTION. (yes, such software still exists. For example Total Commander and Terabyte Image For Linux.)

Everything that is "leased" or "owned by the seller" is a NO-NO. Music, video, books, software, etc. If I buy something, then I crack it so it can be REALLY MINE.

When I buy a game from Steam I only buy the discounted ones (10 euros or so) knowing that they are leased, not bought. And this is why I don't want to pay more than 10 euros for such games. I'd pay the full price for games that are actually mine to install and play, like the old ones from the 90s, that I still own and sometimes like to play. (the original Diablo, Diablo 2, Doom, Quake, Warcraft, etc)

Otherwise, Amule and Torrent are there to help.

......I want a physical copy which physical copy is under my control. End of!

Physical book, eBook, DVD, MP3, PDF.........whatever........

I particularly like eBay for getting old CDs, DVDs and books. Bookfinder is very good too. I don't like anything about the streaming model from either the business or technical point of view. It's designed to screw the consumer and kill the secondhand market.

Anyone who thinks they own their relatives burial plots "forever", are in for a rude awakening.

Indeed anyone who "owns" a leasehold property.

In fact owning a PC is like being a freeholder.. You own the land. You don't own what is built on it.

I'm not saying it's right. Just that it is.

There are titles in my Steam library which are no longer listed to purchase, but it seems Valve retain an option for me to download and play at any time. Removed content only seems to effect you if you haven't previously purchased it.

Wish I'd got the Poker Night games when I had a chance though.

Sure, if I want to watch a re-run TV show originally produced in 480p, streaming is just fine. Not so if I want a full immersive experience with my home theater. Audio quality sucks compared to Dolby Atmos from a 4k Blu-ray and having a movie pause for buffering totally kills the experience.

Killing off physical DVD / Blu-ray media will only hurt the entertainment industry financially.

No wonder people pirate stuff. You pay for the streaming service, then you go to watch something you saw on it before only to find the streaming service no longer has it. Another beef I have with the streaming services is that people can't afford the multitude of streaming services that would be required to watch everything one likes. At $10 or $15 each, it quickly adds up. Then there is the conttent that the right owners decide to pull from the market for the hell of it. Recently I wanted to watch the Disney film Song Of The South. Disney no longer sells it. I read somewhere they decided it wasn't PC so the quit selling copies of it. I went to my old friend Usenet who had a copy in 1080p. Now I have a copy I can watch whenever I want.

I can understand why the software people want to make their stuff available via a subscription only model. They get you paying over and over and over again in perpituity. Customers find it hard to accept because we've been buying software and owning the copy we bought since people started buying software 50 years ago or so.

I do buy CDs and DVDs. When I get them, I take the internal drive I keep in a drawer, plug in the USB adapter, put the disc in and rip the contents. When I'm done the disc goes back on the shelf. Also thanks to CSS I can get them from anywere in the world. A few months ago I bought the Are You Being Served box set from a seller in the UK for much less than that same seller wanted for it in the US. Even with paying the shipping from the UK it was cheaper. I know it's the wrong region code to play on a US DVD player, but the computer doesn't care. Now I can watch Mr Mash harass Mrs Slocombe as she's talking about her pussy whenever I feel like it.

As long as it's more convenient to pirate something than to buy a copy or license, people will continue priating it.

(Full disclosure, I've seen them all before. Star Trek is my go-to when I need to put my brain in neutral to decompress, work out at the gym, etc).

Netflix had a couple of the Star Trek series - Voyager & DS9, I think. I got the other three off Amazon Prime - TNG, TOS, & Enterprise. Or something like that.

Along comes Paramount, which owns those digital properties. They pulled all the rights from those streaming services and launched their own. Okay, that's fine. I dropped Netflix & Amazon Prime is just a freebie included with 2-day shipping. I signed up for the $50/year Paramount Plus plan because I would rather pay than be forced to watch advertisements.

That was last year. Now Paramount Plus has absolutely jacked the renewal price to $120/year. NO THANK YOU! I am DONE being dicked around with just to watch some 20-year old re-runs!

Pro Tip: When signing up for any of these services use a disposable credit card number from a place like privacy.com. I can define a charge limit. That way I remain in control when they raise the price and attempt to automatically renew me "for my convenience".