4 ms·

I relate to this energy.

2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
Most users just do not care about "owning" DRM-free files. Most users don't have any clue about how to store, manage, or safeguard their DRM-free digital purchases.
- Arrath 5y ago
  To be quite honest I'm basically in this boat. With the rationalization in the back of my mind that if Amazon were to ban my account and block access to my ebook library, or were Steam to do the same thing to my games; fuck em. I already paid for the items, I'll dust off my torrent client if I need to get them some way or another. Until such time, I have enough other stuff going on in my life that I don't particularly have the time to search for DRM-free media in my purchasing, organize and curate the collection, and so on.
- wruza 5y ago
  It’s not their fault. We do not have even primitive means to access (except the html part) or participate in the internet, despite FOSS everything. Backups/storage? Dropbox/Google. Send a file to your buddy? Telegram/GDrive. Remote help? TeamViewer. Hosting a site? Facebook/Wix. We failed everything, and only very tech-savvy users can (and have time to) do one of the above without depending on something corporate. Imagine if every browser had UI->API connection to popular hostings (or a local pc) and could allow users (and businesses) to exchange files, documents, messages, media, etc, and also had established UIs for all of that. All these instagrams, facebooks, google services, dropboxes simply exploited OS shortcomings and stupid complexity of its operation. If a user could just tap to publish a photo, they wouldn’t need a platform/service and a separate app for that. If a user could bypass NAT, they wouldn’t need remote help services. IIRC, the top comment on Dropbox was along the lines of “will not fly, everyone can rsync/email their files for free”. Turned out nobody can. We still use corporate services to send files across the same room, because even simple file sharing still doesn’t fucking work, not to mention media-exchange/play and UIs for that. It’s not “Most users don’t have any clue ...”, it’s “All users don’t ...”.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  Most users don't have any clue about how to store, manage, or safeguard their DRM-free digital purchases They figured out how to care for records, cassettes, and videotapes. They just need an incentive to learn.
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
    Define "care" for. Stuff them into a box in the basement? Caring for physical media is quite obvious and easy to research in 5 minutes. To care for digital goods you need a computer to store them on and make backups. Backups mean choosing a backup service. These all require accounts, passwords, and security. Backups require the Internet. How good is your Internet service. Where do I get DRM-free digital goods?

Most users just do not care about "owning" DRM-free files. Most users don't have any clue about how to store, manage, or safeguard their DRM-free digital purchases.

Arrath 5y ago
To be quite honest I'm basically in this boat. With the rationalization in the back of my mind that if Amazon were to ban my account and block access to my ebook library, or were Steam to do the same thing to my games; fuck em. I already paid for the items, I'll dust off my torrent client if I need to get them some way or another. Until such time, I have enough other stuff going on in my life that I don't particularly have the time to search for DRM-free media in my purchasing, organize and curate the collection, and so on.
wruza 5y ago
It’s not their fault. We do not have even primitive means to access (except the html part) or participate in the internet, despite FOSS everything. Backups/storage? Dropbox/Google. Send a file to your buddy? Telegram/GDrive. Remote help? TeamViewer. Hosting a site? Facebook/Wix. We failed everything, and only very tech-savvy users can (and have time to) do one of the above without depending on something corporate. Imagine if every browser had UI->API connection to popular hostings (or a local pc) and could allow users (and businesses) to exchange files, documents, messages, media, etc, and also had established UIs for all of that. All these instagrams, facebooks, google services, dropboxes simply exploited OS shortcomings and stupid complexity of its operation. If a user could just tap to publish a photo, they wouldn’t need a platform/service and a separate app for that. If a user could bypass NAT, they wouldn’t need remote help services. IIRC, the top comment on Dropbox was along the lines of “will not fly, everyone can rsync/email their files for free”. Turned out nobody can. We still use corporate services to send files across the same room, because even simple file sharing still doesn’t fucking work, not to mention media-exchange/play and UIs for that. It’s not “Most users don’t have any clue ...”, it’s “All users don’t ...”.
reaperducer 5y ago
Most users don't have any clue about how to store, manage, or safeguard their DRM-free digital purchases They figured out how to care for records, cassettes, and videotapes. They just need an incentive to learn.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  Define "care" for. Stuff them into a box in the basement? Caring for physical media is quite obvious and easy to research in 5 minutes. To care for digital goods you need a computer to store them on and make backups. Backups mean choosing a backup service. These all require accounts, passwords, and security. Backups require the Internet. How good is your Internet service. Where do I get DRM-free digital goods?