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What is the alternative to subscribing to streaming services? Can you purchase your movies online and be guaranteed to have access to the movies in the future?

by acd 24d ago

swingboy 24d ago
Piracy is one.
- whstl 24d ago
  If you want guaranteed future access, then this is probably the only online option that actually fulfills this guarantee... other than that, physical media.
  - anonym29 24d ago
    Often the same people behind both! Fun fact: pirates are more likely than the average person to purchase media. https://web.archive.org/web/20170916165525/https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/internet-and-on-demand-research/online-copyright-infringement/copyright-infringement-tracker https://web.archive.org/web/20170916165525/https://www.ofcom... https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110727/16233815292/another-day-another-study-that-says-pirates-are-best-customers-this-time-hadopi.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110727/16233815292/anoth...
  - 0xEF 24d ago
    I regularly snag DVDs for $1 USD or less at garage/yard/boot sales. I see tons of cheap used physical media in record shops when I travel, too. eBay and Facebook Marketplace are also great sources for used DVD. I promote this because not only does it restore some mastery* over your media, it keeps these discs out of landfills and oceans, where they will linger in a shredded state. *we are, of course, still subject to any anti-piracy measures and non-removeable advertisements on the disc, which admittedly seems quaint by today's DRM standards, but I ccannot rightly say "complete" mastery over your media, here.
    - iso1631 24d ago
      I watch films on streaming rather than old dvds with unskippable nonsense like "don't pirate this dvd" (well obviously I didn't, that's why I have the dvd), or the pain of the menu systems to just press play.
  - immibis2 24d ago
    Physical media isn't guaranteed to retain future access. There are protocols for players to update various bits of data from the newest disk you have ever inserted into them. The Nintendo Wii certainly does this, I'm not sure if BluRay does but I don't see why they wouldn't.
    - whstl 24d ago
      That's a great point. Something I forgot: I brought a couple DVDs when moving between countries and had a player block a couple of them... :/
thfuran 24d ago
You can still buy physical media online, though an increasing portion of movies and shows are produced by the streaming companies, and you don’t really have an alternative there.
bossyTeacher 24d ago
No. The whole issue is that the seller needs to maintain an online service to allow you access to the movies. This online service costs money so over time is likely not worth the cost. This plus the online service provider undergoing changes (bankruptcy, acquisition, mergers, etc) or they themselves losing rights to the movies. Seems to me that rental or purchases are still unbeatable. The alternative is streaming but the downside is higher costs over time and worse quality movies.
itake 24d ago
1/ watch in theatres 2/ consume free streaming (tt, ig, YouTube, etc) Just don’t watch movies at home.
wccrawford 24d ago
No. Sony has recently removed 551 movies that people "bought". Sony's distribution license ran out with a studio and they didn't renew it. They seem to have gotten away with it so far, so there's no legal protection for "buying" digital at the moment.
- f6v 24d ago
  With that attitude from the corporations, why wouldn't anyone pirate?
Amorymeltzer 24d ago
Libraries! They often have digital access to various services—e.g. Kanopy—but also often have lots of physical media sources! It involves a little more planning and a little less algorithm, and there are shows and movies that won't ever be available—e.g. things from Netflix, Apple—but there's enough out there already.
mystifyingpoi 24d ago
Subscribe, screengrab what you like, unsubscribe. Repeat. Really easy to do in a virtual machine, so it doesn't conflict with anything else happening on the computer.
NoMoreNicksLeft 24d ago
You can stream your own stuff, from home, to all of your devices and your friends' devices, for free. And since the movies are on your own hardware, you have them forever. Movies, tv, music, books, comic books, video game roms, basically any sort of media you can even name. And it's been possible for you to do so for the last 15 years, maybe more.

What is the alternative to subscribing to streaming services? Can you purchase your movies online and be guaranteed to have access to the movies in the future?

by acd 24d ago

What is the alternative to subscribing to streaming services? Can you purchase your movies online and be guaranteed to have access to the movies in the future?

swingboy 24d ago

Piracy is one.

whstl 24d ago
If you want guaranteed future access, then this is probably the only online option that actually fulfills this guarantee... other than that, physical media.
- anonym29 24d ago
  Often the same people behind both! Fun fact: pirates are more likely than the average person to purchase media. https://web.archive.org/web/20170916165525/https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/internet-and-on-demand-research/online-copyright-infringement/copyright-infringement-tracker https://web.archive.org/web/20170916165525/https://www.ofcom... https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110727/16233815292/another-day-another-study-that-says-pirates-are-best-customers-this-time-hadopi.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110727/16233815292/anoth...
- 0xEF 24d ago
  I regularly snag DVDs for $1 USD or less at garage/yard/boot sales. I see tons of cheap used physical media in record shops when I travel, too. eBay and Facebook Marketplace are also great sources for used DVD. I promote this because not only does it restore some mastery* over your media, it keeps these discs out of landfills and oceans, where they will linger in a shredded state. *we are, of course, still subject to any anti-piracy measures and non-removeable advertisements on the disc, which admittedly seems quaint by today's DRM standards, but I ccannot rightly say "complete" mastery over your media, here.
  - iso1631 24d ago
    I watch films on streaming rather than old dvds with unskippable nonsense like "don't pirate this dvd" (well obviously I didn't, that's why I have the dvd), or the pain of the menu systems to just press play.
- immibis2 24d ago
  Physical media isn't guaranteed to retain future access. There are protocols for players to update various bits of data from the newest disk you have ever inserted into them. The Nintendo Wii certainly does this, I'm not sure if BluRay does but I don't see why they wouldn't.
  - whstl 24d ago
    That's a great point. Something I forgot: I brought a couple DVDs when moving between countries and had a player block a couple of them... :/

thfuran 24d ago

You can still buy physical media online, though an increasing portion of movies and shows are produced by the streaming companies, and you don’t really have an alternative there.

bossyTeacher 24d ago

No. The whole issue is that the seller needs to maintain an online service to allow you access to the movies. This online service costs money so over time is likely not worth the cost. This plus the online service provider undergoing changes (bankruptcy, acquisition, mergers, etc) or they themselves losing rights to the movies. Seems to me that rental or purchases are still unbeatable. The alternative is streaming but the downside is higher costs over time and worse quality movies.

itake 24d ago

1/ watch in theatres 2/ consume free streaming (tt, ig, YouTube, etc) Just don’t watch movies at home.

wccrawford 24d ago

No. Sony has recently removed 551 movies that people "bought". Sony's distribution license ran out with a studio and they didn't renew it. They seem to have gotten away with it so far, so there's no legal protection for "buying" digital at the moment.

f6v 24d ago
With that attitude from the corporations, why wouldn't anyone pirate?

Amorymeltzer 24d ago

Libraries! They often have digital access to various services—e.g. Kanopy—but also often have lots of physical media sources! It involves a little more planning and a little less algorithm, and there are shows and movies that won't ever be available—e.g. things from Netflix, Apple—but there's enough out there already.

mystifyingpoi 24d ago

Subscribe, screengrab what you like, unsubscribe. Repeat. Really easy to do in a virtual machine, so it doesn't conflict with anything else happening on the computer.

NoMoreNicksLeft 24d ago

You can stream your own stuff, from home, to all of your devices and your friends' devices, for free. And since the movies are on your own hardware, you have them forever. Movies, tv, music, books, comic books, video game roms, basically any sort of media you can even name. And it's been possible for you to do so for the last 15 years, maybe more.