Death of ownership
Growing up my world revolved around Windows XP, CDs, and DVDs. We used to have physical media laying around, media we either purchased or acquired from, hmm let’s say questionable sources. For creating music or editing photos, my go to tools were Sony Vegas and Adobe Photoshop, good software back then, and to be honest I didn’t know any better at that age. Back then, if a family member wanted a copy of a movie, it was an easy straightforward process of copying the DVD or copying the file after ripping it. The point I’m trying to make here is that we used to own our media.
However, the concept of ownership is gone now. Many people and organizations these days are shifting towards streaming services and SaaS products. Despite my complaints to these organisations, they seem not to care. So I’ve decided to stop caring about these organizations. I’m not saying that it isn’t aweful. In fact, it’s horrible. The IT engineers at these organisations, including myself are losing their passion and the overall enjoyment of running their own software and services. The enthusiasts depart, leaving the incapable paycheck collectors in place.
How did we reach a point where, to purchase a digital book, my only option is to navigate through Amazon? I dont’t want to create an account and disclose all my personal details just to “buy” (read; rent) a PDF or ePub. It’s not truly buying though, considering that if Amazon deems the book ‘inappropriate’ for me or the licensing agreement with the publisher changes, they can simply remove it from my library.
And let’s not even dive into the world of subscription services. It seems like everything nowadays is tied to a subscription. Want to watch My 600-lb Life? Better get a subscription to Prime video. Want to watch the last 3 seasons?? Well, you’ll need another subscription, this time from HBO. Or vice-versa, I don’t even remember anymore.. It’s almost as if we’re heading towards a future where we’ll be paying a monthly fee just to activate our car seat heaters. Joke’s on me, it’s already happening, BMW implementing subscriptions for features like heated seats..
Anyways, maybe I’ll go back to pirating media, or I’ll just stop watching these shows before I’ll end up on TLC myself.
Bye.
