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Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

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Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#312
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like all "problems", it's only a problem if it has negative consequences for you. Drinking alcohol isn't a problem until it is. Collecting old newspapers isn't a problem until it is. Hoarding data isn't a problem until it is. This post seems a bit tongue-in-cheek, but if it's costing the OP more money than they'd like to spend on it, then it is a problem. Or maybe it's not.

It's not, I'm living well within my means. If I was concerned about the money I could probably spend more of my time to find the content on sketchy streaming sites like putlocker.

[re-parenting this comment under OP]

I don't think what you were describing is a "problem" at all. And it looks like you don't view at it as a problem, either. Not sure why so many of the replies in this article are trying to interpret your post as some kind of call for help.

I hate the phrase "Data Hoarding" because the word hoarding has negative connotations that don't apply to collecting digital media. When you look at actual hoarders, their homes are disgusting, filled with trash, and not navigable. On the other hand, there are no negative effects of data "hoarding", besides maybe the cost of buying and powering hard drives. Most hobbies have monetary costs and don't carry negative connotations. It's no more of a problem than stamp collecting. We don't call people Stamp Hoarders.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#313
post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im aware some people are busy hoarding data and providing it back to the ecosystem in these cases, but I fail to understand why or how the cost of this personal decision is in any way related to the cost of piracy, or why someone with this hobby would feel the need to complain about it, or publicly associate these costs with piracy itself. That’s illogical. It’s like mirroring Wikipedia on S3 and then publicly statin…

My copy of wikipedia is less than 100GB at the moment.

Okay? And how is that relevant to the core issue at hand... hoarding all of this data is your own personal decision and has nothing to do with piracy in itself. That's the issue. You are obviously free to do whatever you want, but hoarding data and then associating the cost of the hoarding with the source of the data is totally illogical.

Trying to one-up me on some stupid explanatory comparison makes me wonder if you are not simply deflecting responsibility off yourself and actually do hoard pathologically

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#314

Stop watching so much tv! Piracy is one thing, but wasting your life watching all of those “must have shows” makes it sound like your brain has been co-opted by the content producers. Maybe put down the remote and pick up a book?

I have already downloaded all of the books. Text compresses very well.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#316
post #257

It might feel cool to use your hardware for helping the internet at large, via something like the good karma kit or an auto-archiving tool: https://archivebox.io/ https://github.com/ArchiveBox/good-karma-kit

I already run archiveteam-warrior.

I've actually contributed some code to a few things on that list.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#317

When Netflix first launched, it was great - they had a massive catalogue of older/pre-existing content, and were making a bunch of their own new, original content that likely wouldn't have been made elsewhere. Their UX was also pretty great - and made finding interesting content easy. They made it dead-easy to sign up, there was no pushy retention teams or hoops to jump through if you wanted to cancel. That's why I p…

"When Netflix first launched, it was great - they had a massive catalogue of older/pre-existing content, and were making a bunch of their own new, original content that likely wouldn't have been made elsewhere." The movie selection on NetFlix's DVD service[1] is still fantastic. The movie selection on their streaming service[2] is absolutely atrocious. Not sure what accounts for the discrepancy. [1] - https://dvd.net…

You also get director commentary, more foreign language audio and DVD specials that you don’t get with streaming.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#318
A couple of games, films and music I loved are lost or hard to come by these days. It's out of print or no one cares (b-track on singles for example) Sometimes the artist changes "the original" (star wars for example). The companies don't want to sell the original (GTA for example) or can't sell it for legal reasons. And of course there is always someone offended (Community - Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for example)

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When Netflix first launched, it was great - they had a massive catalogue of older/pre-existing content, and were making a bunch of their own new, original content that likely wouldn't have been made elsewhere." The movie selection on NetFlix's DVD service[1] is still fantastic. The movie selection on their streaming service[2] is absolutely atrocious. Not sure what accounts for the discrepancy. [1] - https://dvd.net…

They used to be the only bidder now they are bidding against dozens of streaming services competing in different niches. Their DVD business has no competition.

You'd think that with all that competition, NetFlix's streaming service would be much better in order to compete with other companies (which have a far better selection). But somehow they get away with having a crappy selection, despite having lots of competitors.

Conversely, since NetFlix's DVD service doesn't have any competitors they could get away with having a crappy selection, but they have a great selection, and it's been great for at least a decade.

So it still doesn't make sense.

Re: Tell HN: I probably spend more on piracy than if I just paid for content

#320
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rewatch things all the time. If I’m doing side work at night and just want something on the background I’ll put on a movie or show that I’ve seen before. Beyond that, hard drives are cheap! I have a single 18 TB disk in my main computer that runs Plex. It lets me and my kids watch content from anywhere with an Internet connection. 18 TB hard drives are about $300.

> Beyond that, hard drives are cheap! I have a single 18 TB disk Fair warning: It is very dangerous to make statements like this in a public forum like this. You run the risk of someone spotting it and making a seemingly-innocent reply along the lines of, "Oh, you should at LEAST have TWO disks set up as a mirror so you don't lose all your movies when (not if, but when) the disk dies." And then someone else will say,…

My only fear is that your absolutely fantastic comment is too far down the tree to get the attention it deserves.
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