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You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

nytimes.com

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Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#41

Post by passwordoops »

acidburnNSA wrote: post #28

Buying bluray and dvd movies and CDs on ebay or craigslist (or better yet: finding in little free libraries while walking) and ripping them to disk and then serving locally (via jellyfin and mopidy) and selectively copying onto phone/table SD cards (e.g. before traveling) has gone pretty well for me. It's pretty cheap, has the convenience of digital media, feels like I have full control, and is legal. I often bring H…

>ripping them to disk... and is legal

I like your system and am thinking of setting up something similar. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought ripping was always illegal. Or is ripping for personal use without intent to distribute ok?

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#42

Post by acidburnNSA »

BeefyMcGhee wrote: post #40
acidburnNSA wrote: post #28

Buying bluray and dvd movies and CDs on ebay or craigslist (or better yet: finding in little free libraries while walking) and ripping them to disk and then serving locally (via jellyfin and mopidy) and selectively copying onto phone/table SD cards (e.g. before traveling) has gone pretty well for me. It's pretty cheap, has the convenience of digital media, feels like I have full control, and is legal. I often bring H…

Ripping a movie you check out from a library is legal?? Also, you probably mean CD decoding, not encoding.

Little free librarys are boxes of free things (books, movies, etc.) in many neighborhoods. They aren't actual libraries. You're expected to take something and leave something else, generally.

I mean encoding in the sense that it takes PCM data and uses a compression algorithm (flac) to make losslessly encoded/compressed files capturing a perfect copy of what was on the disk. So sure, there's a decoding from CD grooves step and then an encoding to flac step technically.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#43

Post by vidanay »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #36
LiquidPolymer wrote: post #10

I have great nostalgia for physical media beyond the current reemergence of vinyl records. Compact cassette, minidisc, CD, reel to reel, and digital audio tape are in my hifi system. I also love blu-ray and DVD. I just bought “Mank” on Blu-ray despite being easily seen on Netflix. Obviously I’m an outlier. Yet my 26 year-old daughter has become enamored with cassette tapes and CD’s when the used car she bought had a…

"my daughter and her friends are a precursor to a fatigue with the ephemeral nature of digital purchases" Maybe, but I strongly suspect that her preference is a great example of LISTENER fatigue caused by the dynamic compression that has destroyed all post-'90s releases. I wish Apple and Spotify would somehow put the boot down and reject ruined masters, the way Netflix dictates technical quality for new material. Tha…

The strangest part is, the compression has absolutely zero benefit. From the listening experience, to the production process, to the business aspects of making music, it has no redeeming qualities.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#44

Post by acidburnNSA »

passwordoops wrote: post #41
acidburnNSA wrote: post #28

Buying bluray and dvd movies and CDs on ebay or craigslist (or better yet: finding in little free libraries while walking) and ripping them to disk and then serving locally (via jellyfin and mopidy) and selectively copying onto phone/table SD cards (e.g. before traveling) has gone pretty well for me. It's pretty cheap, has the convenience of digital media, feels like I have full control, and is legal. I often bring H…

>ripping them to disk... and is legal I like your system and am thinking of setting up something similar. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I thought ripping was always illegal. Or is ripping for personal use without intent to distribute ok?

Ripping a personal collection for personal use is legal.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#46

Post by aeturnum »

One of my great frustrations with the industry is that they've reduced us to this. It did not have to be this way. They could have built a system that allowed people to move media around on home servers, keep offline copies, effectively treated the customer like an adult who understands they paid for one copy of the movie and the reality of digital systems means that movie might actually exist at several places at once. Yet here we are.

I spend a lot of money on media. I go to the movies regularly, I "purchase" movies on digital services, I buy physical media when I can. I think it's important to try to support the things you enjoy in the ways they want you to support them. I also do not believe there's a morally conscionable way to engage with media completely within the law. These villains are happy to make it legally impossible to view a series if it gives them a financial boost. It's just another way in which our legal system clearly departs from the lived experience of "what makes sense.

I understand and respect people who have a more anti-copyright take on our media ecosystem. I get where they are coming from and I support them. I also think it's really important to keep in focus what an unreasonable and imbalanced and a-historical arrangement media companies are insisting on. It's perfectly possible to create a legal system of digital ownership that is in line with physical ownership. There are no boundaries - it could even involve drm! But they absolutely refuse to create one.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#47

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

password4321 wrote: post #20

I don't buy physical media for two reasons: - kids destroy them - I watch things once Maybe there's a market for an exchange/swap service that also offers resurfacing? Shipping would have to be dirt cheap and hassle free.

It's okay to tell your kids not to touch fragile things. I promise, you won't scar them for life.

But it sounds like owning physical media isn't practical for you anyway if you just watch something once. That alone is sufficient reason, you don't need to blame the kids.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#48

Post by swayvil »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #30
Ylpertnodi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be very interesting to hear a 26year old's comparison of compression between mp3-4, cassette (i miss my dolby expander), radio, and vinyl vs cd and also streamed audio (film or music). I once endured a shitty mp3 of AC/DC (bon version) and it made me gag. Played a vinyl version to the dude...they had no idea of what dynamic range was.

If you pull out a good-quality pre-late-'90s recording on almost any medium, it will destroy the dynamically-compressed "remastered" version that is streamed today. I wonder if this is, in fact, what his daughter likes. The sonic quality and non-fatiguing nature of well-mastered music is seriously enough to make a person LIKE the music more and play it more. It's depressing and disgraceful that everyone has incredibl…

Luckily us parrot enthusiasts can get stuff in lossless flac. Sometimes even recorded from vinyl.

The straight market is frankly for stockholmized suckers.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#49

Post by ShadowBanThis01 »

vidanay wrote: post #43
ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"my daughter and her friends are a precursor to a fatigue with the ephemeral nature of digital purchases" Maybe, but I strongly suspect that her preference is a great example of LISTENER fatigue caused by the dynamic compression that has destroyed all post-'90s releases. I wish Apple and Spotify would somehow put the boot down and reject ruined masters, the way Netflix dictates technical quality for new material. Tha…

The strangest part is, the compression has absolutely zero benefit. From the listening experience, to the production process, to the business aspects of making music, it has no redeeming qualities.

Exactly. I'd say it's the saddest part. The one time I remember reading that some record exec was challenged on it, and the excuse was "nobody wants to have the quietest CD in the changer."

WHAT? As if anyone on the planet would go over to the changer, eject this allegedly offending CD, look at the label, and then declare, "Welp, I'm never buying another album put out on Arista records!"

The utter stupidity of it is mind-boggling.

And add to that the fact that, if people wanted compression so much, it could be done by THE PLAYER. In fact, this used to be done. My 1996 Mustang's CD player has a "Compress" button on it, to make listening to highly dynamic music more feasible in a noisy car environment.

Re: You Don't Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy (2021)

#50

Post by ShadowBanThis01 »

swayvil wrote: post #48
ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pull out a good-quality pre-late-'90s recording on almost any medium, it will destroy the dynamically-compressed "remastered" version that is streamed today. I wonder if this is, in fact, what his daughter likes. The sonic quality and non-fatiguing nature of well-mastered music is seriously enough to make a person LIKE the music more and play it more. It's depressing and disgraceful that everyone has incredibl…

Luckily us parrot enthusiasts can get stuff in lossless flac. Sometimes even recorded from vinyl. The straight market is frankly for stockholmized suckers.

You realize that lossless FLAC doesn't address this problem at all, right? A 100% faithful copy of dynamically ruined music is... still ruined music.

A vinyl source might be less compressed, though.

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