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170 comments
  • The only "digital" I download, is something that I can put on my personal storage. If I can download it to Nintendo Switch and then move it to USB or SD card, then I can clone the sd card and therefore I own it. (immediate usage might be different, and they may chose to delete if it is put back on the Switch. But I still own it, I just need to find an alternative method to use it).

    Same goes with games/movies/whatever. If I can download it and store it on my NAS, I own it.

    If you are paying for "digital" but you cannot acquire a copy of it, then it is NOT "Digital" it is streaming. You are paying for the privilege of using some services' electronic library, but you do not own anything on it.

    I've been watching this argument lately, and its amusing. The whole Sony thing about Discovery (or whatever it was) has nothing to do with ownership. You were paying to access a library that Sony curated. Sony dropped the contract with the other party, and chose to tidy their library. You just have access to it, because they let you. You do not have any ownership whatsoever, you signed a T&C that says Sony curates the library and they can do what they like.

    People seem to have a hard time using words like "content", "streaming" and "digital" vs "electronic copy", "local digital copy" and "DLC"; and then confuse "ownership and "content access".

  • I really wish there was some form of individual copyright that could be sold for specific media. I buy a song on itunes - I own a limited license to listen to that song so long as iTunes may serve it. If I was smart enough to download it to my device, then I might hold onto it a few moments longer in spite of Apple losing the copyright and denying me the ability to listen again on devices without the download. Sucks for me right?

    What if I could buy a limited copyright? One that is strictly tied to my individual person and that specific media I had purchased. That copyright is nontransferable, but it is platform agnostic. I could then use that legal copyright to view or listen to that media on a streaming or distribution platform of my choosing. I could listen to a song on Spotify, or Pandora, or Apple, or Google, and I only had to buy it once. Those platforms would not need to negotiate copyright access for media, only demonstrate the ability to serve that media and limit access to those with the copyright.

    I would HAPPILY buy all of my media for a ... 3rd time? 5th time? God I don't even know how many times I have purchased some of my music. Vinyl, CD, iTunes, streaming services a plenty... a second CD or two from mixes. Yeesh. I'm fucking tired of it. I want to be able to feel as if I had some kind of longer lasting ability to access the media of which I have paid for.

  • Not with DRM

    • Digital restriction management

    • Here's the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:

      Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) like access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works (e.g. software, multimedia content) and of systems that enforce these policies within devices. DRM technologies include licensing agreements and encryption.Laws in many countries criminalize the circumvention of DRM, communication about such circumvention, and the creation and distribution of tools used for such circumvention. Such laws are part of the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the European Union's Information Society Directive – with the French DADVSI an example of a member state of the European Union implementing that directive.Many users argue that DRM technologies are necessary to protect intellectual property, just as physical locks prevent personal property from theft. For examples, they can help the copyright holders for maintaining artistic controls, and supporting licenses' modalities such as rentals. Industrial users (i.e. industries) have expanded the use of DRM technologies to various hardware products, such as Keurig's coffeemakers, Philips' light bulbs, mobile device power chargers, and John Deere's tractors. For instance, tractor companies try to prevent farmers from making repairs via DRM.DRM is controversial. There is an absence of evidence about the DRM capability in preventing copyright infringement, some complaints by legitimate customers for caused inconveniences, and a suspicion of stifling innovation and competition. Furthermore, works can become permanently inaccessible if the DRM scheme changes or if a required service is discontinued. DRM technologies have been criticized for restricting individuals from copying or using the content legally, such as by fair use or by making backup copies. DRM is in common use by the entertainment industry (e.g., audio and video publishers). Many online stores such as OverDrive, use DRM technologies, as do cable and satellite service operators. Apple removed DRM technology from iTunes around 2009. Typical DRM also prevents lending materials out through a library, or accessing works in the public domain.

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  • Yes I own things because I simply don't pay for something if I'd need to open proprietary software or pay a subscription fee to use it.

    It's really quite simple and remarkably easy to do, it's just more mental load to decide what to buy and people just want to pay monthly and forget about it and get mad when it stops magically working.

  • I think it depends on the definition of own, if it can be sold to someone else who will then own it. If it doesn't have value like that, then it is just something you have, like pocket lint.

170 comments