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Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

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Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#331
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that why Netflix killed video stores? I don't know anyone who used it when it had DVD rentals (I don't even know if we had that option in Canada). Myself and most people I know stopped renting videos when we could stream stuff easily.

I'm sure it depended on your social circle/age group. My age group, mid 20s during Netflix creation, everyone I knew have a Netflix DVD subscription. We were raised with VHS rentals, so DVD rentals were the natural next step when DVD players got cheap.

Same. It was a chore to churn through the discs and watch whole seasons of shows like the X-files, but by god we did it.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#332
post #100

> “We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and m…

Even license holders benefit from using the pirated versions of games:

> Denuvo DRM Outage Leads to Major Games Being Unplayable

[0] https://gamerant.com/denuvo-drm-outage-major-games-unplayabl...

> The cracked version of Resident Evil Village runs better, testing confirms

[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/resident-evil-village-drm-denuvo-stu...

> Shadow of the Tomb Raider Reportedly Runs Better Now That Denuvo Has Been Removed

[2] https://gamerant.com/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-reportedly-ru...

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#333

It’s funny, I’m more sympathetic than ever to pirates, given how frequently creative works are disappeared or moved these days - pulled from streaming for political/social norms reasons (1984 style), “purchased” items removed from libraries for licensing reasons or because a platform outright closes, and then the garden variety shuffling of content between platforms in what seems like a hypermodern version of IP musi…

I was astounded when HBO said they would remove Westworld from their streaming catalog. WTF. Why even subscribe in the first place. Absolutely ridiculous.

Hey we still have it in torrents catalog :)

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#334
I have generally been against piracy. My one carve out has been live sporting events like NFL games. Due to the local games being chosen by networks, it's difficult to get specific games. Maybe I could get direct TV but it seems excessively expensive.

For everything else, like music, movies, tv shows, etc., I hope people at least try to see if a local library system near you has access to the material.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#335
I've been trying to stream/rent Dead Poet's Society in English in Germany for over a month now. It's nowhere to be found. It's like I don't even have a choice here. But I also don't particularly enjoy hunting for pirated content while trying to ensure that it's not full of unconsumable garbage.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#336
post #151

I'm not going to speak about my personal practices, but I find the current landscape of streaming services unusable and unsustainable from a customer perspective. I share a Netflix and Prime account with my parents, and support for that is soon going to end. I don't feel like either of those services provide enough value to me to consider paying for them entirely by myself. The content is mediocre at best, finding an…

I have just been thinking of how to explain why the audio landscape (podcasts and music) are so wildly different in this sense. While not perfect, you have a way less unreasonable user experience especially in terms of DRM and hostile in software and APIs, and the fragmentation and balkanization is not even close to at the same level. Most people who pay seem content with what they do and complement with free and ope…

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#337
post #100

> “We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and m…

I bought NFS Unbound when it came out. It was rendered unplayable on Linux repeatedly whenever EA updated their new launcher app even though the game otherwise ran fine on Linux.

Piracy is our last refuge from companies delivering awful user experiences and shitting on our rights as consumers.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#338

It’s funny, I’m more sympathetic than ever to pirates, given how frequently creative works are disappeared or moved these days - pulled from streaming for political/social norms reasons (1984 style), “purchased” items removed from libraries for licensing reasons or because a platform outright closes, and then the garden variety shuffling of content between platforms in what seems like a hypermodern version of IP musi…

I was astounded when HBO said they would remove Westworld from their streaming catalog. WTF. Why even subscribe in the first place. Absolutely ridiculous.

Same. Completely blows my mind, and furthers the case for pirates even if just from the digital hoarder/archivist view.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#339
post #213
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's literally (literally 'literally', not an annoying turn of phrase) a monthly 'chore' to sign up for (and cancel) the next one.

Doesn't have to be monthly - sometimes I have months at a time with no subscription running at all. Once one "fills up" or there is a specific show I want to watch _now_, I activate that service and immediately cancel it. I guess it is more of a chore than just leaving them all subscribed and having access whenever - but the savings are easily worth it to me.

Binging a few shows and then not watching anything for months is probably a healthier lifestyle, but I imagine most people with streaming subscriptions are too accustomed to watching something every day/week/certainly month for that - guilty myself, exhibit above: I just assumed 'sign up and cancel in any month you want to watch something' would mean every month!

Re: Ask HN: How many of you are open to Piracy again?

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Auto-expiring temporary credit card numbers can help automate cancellations after N months, but figuring what shows are on what services and signing up for them as needed is still a major chore.

Do you have more details? I found that in my case the credit card provider has ways to continue paying for the subscription through the magic of recurring charges that is very difficult to stop (survives credit card cancelation/number changes).

Right, getting a new card number has nothing to do with the fact that it is the same account. The numbers point to the same account.
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