So I've been ripping my DVDs to a media server as well as going to used book stores and adding to the collection just so I can stop funding all this woke nonsense. From a technical standpoint its all cool and fun and I've been sharing my story with various friends (omitting the 'woke' part because many of these guys are all part of the facebook consciousness 'Landru, save us')
From 3 separate people at 3 separate times now - my talking about just using my own library for streaming purposes rather than pay the fee has led to them responding, exactly word for word, "I subscribe to Disney+ because I can't afford to buy all those Disney movies" like it's some sort of hypnotic suggestion. (and I don't even bring up Disney+, just streaming services in general)
Certainly that's true if you buy the discs new - but if you get them off of EBay or a used book store you can pick up most Disney movies on bluray for under $10 and DVD for usually $5! So, yeah, you've got some costs up front if you're a BIG Disney fan of yore but the media is YOURS, can't be edited for content behind your back and you'll always have access to it (and will eventually recoup the cost)
I had a friend last night (that spurred on this rant) then go on to say that he watched "The Black Hole" and "The Apple Dumpling Gang" which he would've never seen if he didn't have D+ - As if he's justifying the $90/year price tag to himself by saying he's watching movies he couldn't be bothered to watch without it? Don't get me wrong - I'm a spend your money as you see fit kinda guy. But none of my friends were touting how GREAT D+ was... they were all grudgingly defending their monthly tithes to the mouse (I have it because it'd be more expensive to not have it) and, more importantly, using the same verbiage...
Just an odd Sunday morning note...
The great thing about their utter wokeness is I have no issues with sailing the high seas. I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want for free and I can discover all kinds of movies and series if I feel like it.
Just about anything that gets released these days isn't worth "owning" (even if it's just a ripped copy) anyway, so some streaming website is good enough for me.
Unlike them I AM touting how GREAT it is to not give these people money!
The interesting thing for me is how Piracy went from a physical imperative (living in a rural area where most merchandise were not available), to an economic imperative (Being a broke teenager/ university student) to a moral imperative (the money almost certainly funding corruption, rather than encouraging the production of more of the product.)
All those "No excuse for piracy" screeds felt hollow at the time, but now we've reached the point where it's like attacking a fortified position.
There are so many checks things have to pass before I'd even consider paying money. Not because of any financial restraints on my part, but because at some point unless I'm paying a single person for a solo project, and sometimes even then, I'm almost certainly giving money to somebody who hates my guts, my way of life, and will almost certainly be passing that some of that money into a machine seemingly dedicated to destroying western civilization.
It's taking more and more work to convince me that it's ethical not to pirate something.
Steam remains the only platform which I use with any sort of regularity, it doesn't require a monthly subscription fee, and it makes installing games easy, and even then I feel more and more wary of it. I've been wondering if there's a good way to run Proton outside of Steam more and more.
You can just run wine instead, or through Lutris if you want that “point and click” GUI experience.