5 ms·

We abandoned piracy too soon. We fell for the trap that enshittified everything. It is time to pirate again.

idontwantthis 8mo ago
I just bought a bluray drive and I've started ripping movies. The quality is fantastic on an HD bluray upscaled on a 4k tv, and even a DVD looks far better than I thought it would, and far better than it did 20 years ago when DVDs were current.
- k12sosse 8mo ago
  Vinegar syndrome has a couple UHD releases that are on 100GB BluRay. Storage available has been.. ahem, sparse. But you can get a real nice nearly-automated workflow for ripping with makemkv.
  - account42 8mo ago
    Beware that not just any Blu-ray drive will work with UHD Blu-ray discs. There's both hardware limitations (100GB aka BDXL) and firmware restrictions (incl. copy protection) for with the drive needs support. Some drives with the hardware to support BDXL but without official UHD support can be patched to support UHD but check the MakeMKV forums before you buy such a drive. I haven't come across any Vinegar syndrome releases yet (that I'm aware of) but lots of Shout! Factory or Arrow Video ones. From the Films that I'm interested in more have UHD releases now than not.
  - idontwantthis 8mo ago
    That’s a really cool project. For now I’m just grabbing them from the library and record stores. Can’t justify spending more on them than I would on streaming.
parpfish 8mo ago
In the music space, piracy won. After Napster, there was no going back from giving people immediate unlimited access to everything. Streamers like Spotify learned that there’s a price point that is low enough for people to “round down” and forget it’s on their monthly credit card statement, but high enough that major label execs are happy. The trick is ignoring what the artists want.
- eucyclos 8mo ago
  Bandcamp does ok without ignoring what the artists want. I think the biggest issue with buying directly from the musician isn't the price but the friction of purchasing online
  - gsinclair 8mo ago
    And the friction of storing stuff. I want to listen to music, not manage a collection.
    - zahlman 8mo ago
      Takes all kinds, I guess. If I don't have it permanently (or at least non-transiently) recorded on physical media that resides within my living space, I can't feel like I "own" it.
- k12sosse 8mo ago
  Jokes on us, after all has settled. Have you tried to buy a ticket to live music lately? It was $750 for a good seat in more than 1 occasion this past year, and that is first market tickets from the venue, not a traditionally 'scalped' ticket. These two equations are tied together. Before, the lucky artists were front-loaded their buckets of cash from the labels. But now the royalty cheques are measured in pennies and the live music enjoyers seem to be the equalization payments.
  - jamboca 8mo ago
    jesus go to a basement it's like $15 at most and you can meet actual artists
    - parpfish 8mo ago
      Most of the people that complain about ticket prices are going to ticketmaster venues to see elaborate productions built by the biggest artists in the world. When I tell people that I used to go to at least one show every week on my grad student stipend they are very confused. It’s because I was seeing music by local bands or up-and-coming acts that would charge $10 in the back of a dive bar. Those types of shows aren’t $10 any more, but they are still cheap. And those are the artists that are in the most need of your financial support with tickets and merch. Once an artist is big enough to book an arena… they ain’t struggling

I just bought a bluray drive and I've started ripping movies. The quality is fantastic on an HD bluray upscaled on a 4k tv, and even a DVD looks far better than I thought it would, and far better than it did 20 years ago when DVDs were current.

k12sosse 8mo ago
Vinegar syndrome has a couple UHD releases that are on 100GB BluRay. Storage available has been.. ahem, sparse. But you can get a real nice nearly-automated workflow for ripping with makemkv.
- account42 8mo ago
  Beware that not just any Blu-ray drive will work with UHD Blu-ray discs. There's both hardware limitations (100GB aka BDXL) and firmware restrictions (incl. copy protection) for with the drive needs support. Some drives with the hardware to support BDXL but without official UHD support can be patched to support UHD but check the MakeMKV forums before you buy such a drive. I haven't come across any Vinegar syndrome releases yet (that I'm aware of) but lots of Shout! Factory or Arrow Video ones. From the Films that I'm interested in more have UHD releases now than not.
- idontwantthis 8mo ago
  That’s a really cool project. For now I’m just grabbing them from the library and record stores. Can’t justify spending more on them than I would on streaming.

parpfish 8mo ago

In the music space, piracy won. After Napster, there was no going back from giving people immediate unlimited access to everything. Streamers like Spotify learned that there’s a price point that is low enough for people to “round down” and forget it’s on their monthly credit card statement, but high enough that major label execs are happy. The trick is ignoring what the artists want.

eucyclos 8mo ago
Bandcamp does ok without ignoring what the artists want. I think the biggest issue with buying directly from the musician isn't the price but the friction of purchasing online
- gsinclair 8mo ago
  And the friction of storing stuff. I want to listen to music, not manage a collection.
  - zahlman 8mo ago
    Takes all kinds, I guess. If I don't have it permanently (or at least non-transiently) recorded on physical media that resides within my living space, I can't feel like I "own" it.
k12sosse 8mo ago
Jokes on us, after all has settled. Have you tried to buy a ticket to live music lately? It was $750 for a good seat in more than 1 occasion this past year, and that is first market tickets from the venue, not a traditionally 'scalped' ticket. These two equations are tied together. Before, the lucky artists were front-loaded their buckets of cash from the labels. But now the royalty cheques are measured in pennies and the live music enjoyers seem to be the equalization payments.
- jamboca 8mo ago
  jesus go to a basement it's like $15 at most and you can meet actual artists
  - parpfish 8mo ago
    Most of the people that complain about ticket prices are going to ticketmaster venues to see elaborate productions built by the biggest artists in the world. When I tell people that I used to go to at least one show every week on my grad student stipend they are very confused. It’s because I was seeing music by local bands or up-and-coming acts that would charge $10 in the back of a dive bar. Those types of shows aren’t $10 any more, but they are still cheap. And those are the artists that are in the most need of your financial support with tickets and merch. Once an artist is big enough to book an arena… they ain’t struggling