Live data from Hacker News

I'm done with Google

deijin.bearblog.dev

61–70 of 327 posts

Re: I'm done with Google

#62
post #16

> So I pirate the movie (please don't arrest me, it's google's fault) I really like the frank tone of the article and I wish people in general would just write unabashedly more often when it comes to stuff like this. Writers online love to dance around the idea of "pirating" their digital goods when communicating on the topic: "Ooh my 'friend' may or may not have downloaded 'xyz' movie from 'abc' website, but I don't…

Even a hardcore pirate like me tried to do the right thing when it comes to music - I got Spotify. But when I moved to Taiwan, I tried to switch my payment location to get regional pricing and they refuse to accept my Taiwan debit card. Now I pirate music or use Vanced (YouTube).

I live in Taiwan but my CC is from Singapore. I want to get HBO but I can't because I don't have a Taiwan CC. But I can sign up for HBO Singapore but I can't use it in Taiwan... Soooo I'm subjected to pirating HBO content. Sometimes I wonder if these companies actually want to make money because they make it so far for us to give them money.

Re: I'm done with Google

#63

> She has a copy of it I got on google play for her which she can play on her tablet. > So I pirate the movie (please don't arrest me, it's google's fault). Is it pirated if you already own a legally valid license? How about rips of blu-rays you own, which you solely use and do not intend to share? Is that pirating or using your legally owned product on a different medium?

> How about rips of blu-rays you own, which you solely use and do not intend to share? Is that pirating or using your legally owned product on a different medium?

This is protected fair use. But distributing software to decrypt DVD DRM is illegal.

Re: I'm done with Google

#64
I think the problem here is that people don't realize or care what they sign up for when they "buy" something from a streaming service. IMHO the term "buy" is misleading here and it should be forbidden to call it this way - to acquire a semi-permanent licence for viewing content.

Re: I'm done with Google

#65
post #51
post #16

> So I pirate the movie (please don't arrest me, it's google's fault) I really like the frank tone of the article and I wish people in general would just write unabashedly more often when it comes to stuff like this. Writers online love to dance around the idea of "pirating" their digital goods when communicating on the topic: "Ooh my 'friend' may or may not have downloaded 'xyz' movie from 'abc' website, but I don't…

I don't pirate for similar reasons. I just like the UX better. I like all these apps on my tv full of content. Until like 2015 pirating was the better UX so I did that. But now it's a pain in the ass relative to what streaming offers. I always thought if they want me to pay, they gotta make it worth it. And they have. So they get my money.

Ditto, although on a marginally earlier schedule.

Not having to worry about being a data hoarder, with all the sorting, renaming, categorization, archiving etc is incredibly liberating.

I think of all the time I spent on an ancient single core machine ripping CDs (or downloading for OG Napster on dialup), many of which I probably never even listened to, and just shake my head.

Re: I'm done with Google

#66
post #16

> So I pirate the movie (please don't arrest me, it's google's fault) I really like the frank tone of the article and I wish people in general would just write unabashedly more often when it comes to stuff like this. Writers online love to dance around the idea of "pirating" their digital goods when communicating on the topic: "Ooh my 'friend' may or may not have downloaded 'xyz' movie from 'abc' website, but I don't…

Even a hardcore pirate like me tried to do the right thing when it comes to music - I got Spotify. But when I moved to Taiwan, I tried to switch my payment location to get regional pricing and they refuse to accept my Taiwan debit card. Now I pirate music or use Vanced (YouTube).

Is Vance still working?

Re: I'm done with Google

#67

I am proud to say I don't use a single google service, and haven't in years. Now, if someone sends me a YouTube link, I watch it (in an invidious instance, of course) and I use some metasearch engines which rely on google to a large degree, hut I don't have a google account, I use no google services, have no google applications installed anywhere. The same applies to Meta and Microsoft as well, and some others. I hav…

Some services are impossible to use without Google et Al. Thankfully, people from around the world will create and run an account for you cheaply. Data privacy for you, hot meals for them.

Re: I'm done with Google

#68

I still pirate movies - despite being able to afford them now - just because the experience is so much more pleasant. There's a file, you can open a file with the media player. Simple. No crapware, no phoning home to the internet. Feel zero guilt about it.

Unfortunately it looks like the kind of person who prefers a file over an app with a magical cloud is becoming more and more rare as apps erode the very notion of such concepts.

It's like trying to explain to your aunt that "the fediverse is like email" when email itself might as well be a Google service for most people.

Re: I'm done with Google

#69
post #16

> So I pirate the movie (please don't arrest me, it's google's fault) I really like the frank tone of the article and I wish people in general would just write unabashedly more often when it comes to stuff like this. Writers online love to dance around the idea of "pirating" their digital goods when communicating on the topic: "Ooh my 'friend' may or may not have downloaded 'xyz' movie from 'abc' website, but I don't…

Even a hardcore pirate like me tried to do the right thing when it comes to music - I got Spotify. But when I moved to Taiwan, I tried to switch my payment location to get regional pricing and they refuse to accept my Taiwan debit card. Now I pirate music or use Vanced (YouTube).

I tried doing the right thing via Spotify / Apple Music / Youtube Music. All of them have issues that piracy just doesn't.

Especially youtube music, sure i have access to otherwise "unpublished content" (looking at you Watsky refusing to put Wounded Healer on a streaming platform). But in a 3 hour flight I found myself iterating through all the songs I could download via the app.

For spotify, why do I have to go through all the hassle to explain to a person why tf I want my account closed? Why are you not giving me the tools to manage my library better? Why do I have to manually delete every single one song instead of group select or even purging everything?

I am not saying I am pirating, but I am not saying that it's a thing I will never do again.

The industry should get their shit together and build something that works for the customers (us), and smaller artists as well (cough spotify cough).

Re: I'm done with Google

#70
post #9

The issue here isn't that it's Google, it's that Google is doing what they're told to do. Movie and music licensing has been absolutely destroyed recently and the hoops that you have to agree to are becoming untenable. Recently, I mentioned to a band it was sad they pulled their music off Spotify. Puzzled, they were not even aware that the licensing was pulled, and they had to go yell at their record label (who was u…

With all due respect, I feel like Google is large enough to refuse to be told what to do. If they really cared...

Refusing to be told what to do costs money. Say, Apple put its financial weight at labels with iTunes and iPod, and now we have 99¢ tracks as a norm.

But to spend money on something, a company has to plan to get more in return. Apple did. What would be the plan for Google? What money-making machine of theirs would it enable?

Post reply on HN