Treedrake

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I saw a comment expressing this ruling is only applicable to e-books where there already exists an e-book from the publisher, and that it won't affect media preservation or books that have been scanned (e.g., old textbooks) and that do not have an e-book. Is this true? If so, it's not all bad.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

And wasn't that what we were promised by capitalism? That we could own our land, our homes and our lives. But even that, they're turning back on, except for the privileged few. Back to feudalism it is.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Chick-fil-a starting a streaming service sounds like the worst idea ever.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

For sure. And Libreoffice doesn't constantly try to make you save your documents in OneDrive...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is an interesting point as well. Before, if you weren't happy with an update or whatnot, you could just keep running the older version. But nowadays that's impossible in many cases.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

I see your point. But as someone else mentioned, there are many programs, apps and what not that shouldn't require a subscription just by looking at how the software or hardware is set up.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Absolutely. I constantly revisit the services I subscribe to, but to be honest, I still keep some streaming services on a constant subscription even though my viewing patterns differ from month to month. In that case I'm just too lazy, and it's not a huge hit to my disposable income. I pay for it to be available when I want to use them. I think this might be the case for many others, and coupled with not having a budget and/or financial sense, this can definitely add up for many. I also think many people just forget what services they are subscribed too, and barely even watch their bank account/credit card slip and what's being withdrawn.

 

I think a common factor on why torrents are having a resurgence and illegal streaming services are getting more traction, is subscription fatigue. Subscription fatigue doesn't only contain itself to streaming services, movies or music, nowadays you're also expected to subscribe to every app you download. Whether it's a meditation app, a budgeting app (looking at YNAB that went from a one-time purchase to a really expensive subscription model), the Adobe suite, the MS Office suite, your Peloton bike that you've already paid hundreds of dollars for (referencing the earlier article on them establishing a startup fee for buying used bikes), or a podcast app where the money doesn't even go to the podcasters themselves.

Is there a peak for this? I feel like subscriptions are becoming more of a rule than an exception. Having the ability to directly purchase digital goods seems more like a thing of the past. It's just so stupid. But apparently people don't care? They just keep paying for this? Apparently it's still worth it for companies to establish a subscription model, even if there are no benefits for the customer, just the company. What are your thoughts? What can we do to stop it?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Well, many do...

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago

I'd say this might be true for programs, but as long as you download movies, shows and music I'd assume it's fine as long as you use common sense.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 weeks ago (13 children)

But not run by the original owners. And the current team is really shady. I wouldn't trust downloading an .exe from there.

 

I'm looking for a preferably non-web wrapper podcast player for Windows, that's preferably also open source. Having a tough time though. Any tips?