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Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

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Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#41
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CDs just feel so utterly pointless to me these days, since I can have the 100% identical content on a hard drive. Not trying to diss what you do, it's just a weird state of mind I entered once MP3 players and bluetooth speakers replaced CD players everywhere and I can't seem to shake it. Agree about the principle though, I try to buy merch at every gig I go to. Makes me feel slightly less bad about using Spotify.

If you want to do MP3, bandcamp has digital downloads and days when 100% of the proceeds go to the artists. And I understand about the movement to digital - I typically rip the CDs as FLAC files and put them on a hard drive.

And as well as MP3, buying on there gives you access to FLAC (+ multiple other lossless formats) for no extra cost.

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#43
post #27
post #10

Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.

What about news? Like everyone wants news but no one wants to pay for it.

The problem with news is that even if you pay they will still try to manipulate you.

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#44
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken to buying CDs again. I still stream, but for artists I like I at least own the CD and might pick up some merch too because the reality is that only the big artists make a ton of money, or even any money at all.

CDs just feel so utterly pointless to me these days, since I can have the 100% identical content on a hard drive. Not trying to diss what you do, it's just a weird state of mind I entered once MP3 players and bluetooth speakers replaced CD players everywhere and I can't seem to shake it. Agree about the principle though, I try to buy merch at every gig I go to. Makes me feel slightly less bad about using Spotify.

Having something physical is nice, though. You can have the exact bits off the disc and maybe even the artwork on your hard drive, but you can't hold the album and look at it all together - especially for more elaborate packaging than your standard jewel case with inserts. In my mind, having something physical and not implicitly copyable makes it feel more real.

I'm in my own weird state of mind where I prioritize collecting physical over digital to the point of neglecting digital-only releases - digital is always going to have a copy somewhere I can listen to or purchase, but physical is limited and there's no guarantee I'll be able to get a copy later. This is probably an overly materialistic view, though.

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#47
post #10

Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.

Mathematicians aren’t expected to be paid royalties when someone uses their discoveries.

Paying to lease a server or for access it, sure, but software itself? It’s nonsense.

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#48
post #10

Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.

Music pretty squarely fits that bill. We used to beam it out over the air, now we transmit it through the internet, but everyone has always expected it to be free. And musicians are still expected to make a ton of money off of their music, if a lot of people like it.

Your last sentence is inaccurate, though: there's a broad understanding that only the absolute top performers will make money on music and everyone else will make an amount that rounds down to nothing. Software stands out in that even the median software developer is making about double the median salary in the market as a whole, all while the products of their efforts are expected to be free.

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#49
post #39
post #10

Software is weird because it is expected that should be free (as in beer) for most consumers while while being for profit and giving high salaries to its workers. I struggle to think of any other privately owned sector of the economy that works that way.

The Hitchiker's Guide already had a rant about useless jobs like telephone sanitisers and hairdressers. While I don't necessarily agree with hairdressers being useless, I feel like much of the economy is selling stuff no one really needs to solve problems no one really has in order to justify one's employment, and that share is increasing as automation scales the useful things with proportionately less effort. That's…

The point of that rant was the culture that got rid of the telephone sanitizers was subsequently wiped out by communicable disease.

A lesson we still struggle with…

Re: Imagine telling 2010 devs that in 2025, collapsing a div would require $8/ month

#50
post #29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in a hobby band, and Spotify is important but we’ve made absolutely nothing from it with a few thousand listens. 50 people buy our album digitally and we have enough to record another track.

Assuming you have a Bandcamp store, have their zero fees Friday events been helpful to your band?

I had a look and it doesn’t seem to. There’s basically no tail on our last release so what we actually need is more eyeballs, which means making more content. The marketplace is saturated, like the App Store, so really our audience is coming from organic growth - playing gigs, and trying to get radio play or playlisted on Spotify
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