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Remember what "subscription" used to mean?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Fuck Subscriptions
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Naming and shaming all "recurring spending models" where a one-time fee (or none at all) would be appropriate and logical.
Expect use of strong language.
Follow the basic rules of lemmy.world and common sense, and try to have fun if possible.
No flamewars or attacking other users, unless they're spineless corporate shills.
Note that not all subscriptions are awful. Supporting your favorite ~~camgirl~~ creator or Lemmy server on Patreon is fine. An airbag with subscription is irl Idiocracy-level dystopian bullshit.
New community rule: Shilling for cunty corporations, their subscriptions and other anti-customer practices may result in a 1-day ban. It's so you can think about what it's like when someone can randomly decide what you can and can't use, based on some arbitrary rules. Oh what, you didn't read this fine print? You should read what you're agreeing to.
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Some other groovy communities for those who wish to own their products, their data and their life:
Some other useful links:
Louis Rossman's YouTube channel
Look at content hosted at Big Tech without most of the nonsense:
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There are issues now that hasn't existed before:
Think P.T. It still exists only on a handful of PS4 consoles. Konami simply has no interest in releasing it.
Or all the MMOs and online games. Can't even run your own server without some herculean effort.
Or games only on Apple TV (subscription to boot).
Magazines tend to be distributed in some weird formats that only one app can open.
Even when it comes to stuff like TV shows that were pulled from streaming services recently, some are completely gone because nobody thought to archive and distribute them. And who does, faces legal risks.
Some of these problems aren't new, lost old media is a known issue, but wasn't modern tech supposed to make things better?
(Not to mention reliance on technology in general. A good enough solar flare can wipe all the data on half the planet. That's another topic tho.)
Is it a relatively new expectation of society that content should be indefinitely preserved? Prior to the widespread adoption of VHS I wouldn't have thought it would be in the public consciousness.
I'd class myself on the 'keep all the things' side of any preservation argument as building on our cultural history can only be a good thing (artistically speaking - I don't care much for the capitalist tears regarding copyright infringement). Yet I find it interesting, amusing even, that we expect, by default, that content should be preserved and readily available. In 100 years we'll still be able to view any episode or 'Mrs Brown's Boys' yet have no way to see Shakespeare's premiere of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
For clarity, in 100 years I still will not have watched even 1 episode of 'Mrs Brown's Boys'.
People used to preserve stuff througout history in libraries. One of the greatest losses of humankind was when the Library of Alexandria ceased to be. Then, further down the line, monks went to great lengths to preserve texts - albeit texts they only approved of, somewhat to be expected - by manually copying entire books and illustrating them (see illuminated manuscripts).
All these methods of preservation of knowledge were only limited by the technology available at the time. Pretty sure that if they had recording technology during Shakespeare's premieres, they would have used it.
As a side note, spoken folklore - legends, songs, myths - is also a way of archiving, though one pretty prone to read/write errors.
I agree with OPs point of old magazines that used to have actual nice articles and advice. Hell, some used to offer very nice instructions to make stuff. Now I'm not sure what today's magazines offer since I don't really subscribe but most of the time you google 'how do you make X' you get articles along the lines of 'thinking quickly, dave created x out of some hot glue and a spare x'.
Now is it relevant to preserve everything like all episodes of 'insert random show'? Who knows? The point here as I understand it is that we have the technology to do it easier than ever. But we sort of don't.
And to end with a pet peeve of mine also referenced in these comments - I hate Netflix removing series I'm in the middle of watching. Or, like, removing them at all.
Yep, and why is it wrong to expect that we can preserve things, if we have the means to do so?
If the only thing that stands in the way of preservation is DRM and similar nonsense, and not actual physical reasons, then yes, I think that expectation is pretty valid.
Especially when it comes to content that is culturally or otherwise relevant.
Or even if it isn't, you never know what will be. Anne Frank didn't start writing her diary expecting it will be so significant almost a century later.