I’ll be blunt (there’s a shocker):
The purpose of the bulk of today’s entertainment providers is to screw you, The Consumer.
And, again, frankly — particularly young people — you’re too stupid to see this or to care.
Because entertainment providers — on every level — want to remove content control from you and ensure it remains now and permanently with them.
The move is to place entertainment content “on the net” or “in the cloud” where you can access it day, night, at all hours, in good times or bad — but only when those in charge of the content ALLOW you to.
Should the terms that you allegedly “agreed” to, from the initial point of lawful purchase, somehow “change” or get “updated” (as Apple does roughly every 35 seconds), you either AGREE to these changes in license or your content is STOPPED.
How many times — in order to get your “stuff” — do you just click through the dreck (thinking: c’mon, finish up!) so that you can click FINISH or PURCHASE and GET your “stuff”? That would be: EVERY time. Who the hell can read every word, every line, of Apple’s newest legal bullshit?
That is, until it is THEIR “bullshit” and not even remotely YOUR “bullshit.”
If content providers wish to shift or alter your license or simply cut your access, they CAN. Because, ultimately, THEY control it. Not YOU. They own it. Not you.
Period.
Read your licenses. Recognize the trend.
Which is why, whatever I have, I OWN.
I have a phrase: “I PAID for it , I OWN it.”
Meaning: I don’t purchase my media or entertainment in terms of vapor; I purchase the REAL THING. If I can’t feel it in my hands, if I can’t hold it and file it, I don’t buy it.
AND YOU SHOULDN’T EITHER.
What kinds of entertainment content exists today?
– Movies
– Books
– Newspapers
– Magazines
– Music
– Television
– Gaming
There are perhaps a few more I have forgotten. Let me know.
Here’s how these aspects have deteriorated:
– Movies: I originally bought my movies on video. I can remember paying $99 for the 1978 Robert Mitchum movie “The Big Sleep” on Beta. Then on VHS. Then on DVD. Now on Blu-Ray. If I can’t own it, if I can’t hold a hard copy of a movie (I don’t “Netflix” or “Red Box”) in my hand, I don’t expend cash towards it. I have a huge DVD movie collection. And a back-up of FIVE (5) Blu-Ray/DVD players still in their boxes. Now, everyone wants you to “access” your films “on demand” (which you CANNOT record) or over DirecTV or DishNet — which you may record on DVR but you CANNOT download or keep on recordable media from those sources.
– Books: I have an outdoor shed full of books, an entire wall upstairs full of books, and my downstairs bedroom is festooned with books over every piece of furniture and every flat surface. If I read it, I OWN it. At one point I would only purchase in hardback. 60 years later I prefer paperbacks or trade paperbacks (slightly larger formats). It is interesting to note that paperback dimensions have increased from the standard. There are now A, B and C format paperbacks.
I also have a Kindle. I use the Kindle for books that I don’t particularly value or those I wish to read quickly and disavow. Or whilst I am on vacation and I wish to NOT bring a large amount of books along. This is convenient. But it is NO replacement for a quality personal library. These days, eBook providers are charging damned near the same amount for a VaporWare book as for a new HARDBOUND book that I can purchase through Amazon or Costco or Sam’s Club.
For a while, there are still amazing values — if you scrutinize your purchases — to be had. For example, I acquired all of the five John Carter books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs — in anticipation of the John Carter film — for 99-CENTS on Kindle last night.
– Newspapers: I was raised on newspapers. I worked for the McClatchy organization in Sacramento for many years, in radio (KFBK) and as a photo stringer for The Sacramento Bee. Hell, I threw papers for The Bee and The Union in the early 60s as a kid. Newspapers were printed in large formats and cost 25-cents to 50-cents on weekends. Now, their physical formats rival The National Enquirer. Their classified sections are dismal.
That said: you know what? I’m still NOT paying for internet newspaper content for EVERY frigging paper I wish to consult as reference. That is NOT going to happen.
VAPOR or REAL?
If you actually enjoy your freedoms, your right to ownership of property, then ALWAYS insist on REAL.
BZ
