@neil true!
There is one exception I make to this: Steam Games.
Why? Because I do have a local copy of the games and in case Steam ceases to exist it is trivial (and well known how to) bypass the Steam "DRM" (you just have to replace the steam client library in the games folder by a reimplementation).
But for music, movies and books all existent DRM systems are *really* annoying. If I can't get it DRM free I won't buy it.

@neil I like #BandCamp for that. Everything I buy there lets me download in Vorbis or FLAC and has all those nice properties

@neil that's why I use GOG and not Steam 🙂
#videogames #drmfree
https://www.gog.com/fr/about_gog

@neil

Yeah, I completely agree.

Europeans, you all have once in a lifetime chance to save one form of digital art, Games! For everyone!

Currently game publishers can take away your access to games when they shut down authentication servers.

This EU bill aims to give users the ability to keep using the assets they paid for offline, on their own computers.

Sign up and save a bit of your culture! Brought to you by EU MPs and Gaming fanatics.

https://www.stopkillinggames.com/eci

#stopkillinggames

@neil If you are using anything digital that is stored on physical media or that interacts with an operating system, even if you "own" it, it's a rental. The only reliable long term solutions are analog (printed books, vinyl records) or subscription, where the vendor is maintaining the access (development, patching, cyber security, hosting all cost money). Hence the migration to subscriptions for most digital products.

@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk this is why I no longer pay for ebooks. it's practically impossible to get them DRM free

yes, I could remove the DRM after jumping through many hoops, but why would I if I don't have to do that when I don't pay?

@neil that why I pirate

@neil I have never and will never understand how people are comfortable with the fact that their Internet connection can just have a bad day and then suddenly so much of their content is just gone until it feels like working again.

@neil that's why I love gog.com: you can download all your game installers for a full-offline experience and without DRM

@neil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk

And, quite frequently, you've paid as much for that rental as you would have for a physical copy (that the seller didn't have to manufacture, warehouse or ship).

@neil You absolutely can do all those things if you don't care if it's legal or not.

@neil
Yup, the book purchase process is finalized when there is a drm-free epub in my calibre bookshelf at home. Shops that make this too difficult (e.g. amazon) don't get my business.

@neil
SEE, THIS IS WHAT I KEEP SAYING!
Call me an old dinosaur, but I friggin remember when you just BOUGHT a program or a file and could use it without needing a subscription for the program or worrying about the company yoinking the file from you! It's ridiculous!

@neil
yep

@neil 1000% agree

@neil people still pay for software?

@neil

And if you can't fine non DRM things - as Louis Rossman says, piracy is justified.

@neil What could Possibly go Wrong?

@neil the only TRUE ownership is 🏴‍☠️

@neil

Even if you “purchase” a digital product like a movie, TV show or game from a service, they can take it away from you at any time without notice or recourse.

The Only True Religion Is Physical Media….

@neil This is why I love libro.fm. It's one of the fairest business models I've seen so far.

@neil
Liberated my audible library today with the help of #Libation.
https://getlibation.com/
@realn2s

@neil

I have returned to physical media.
Books that were printed, and records that were pressed.
I keep them at home.
They are mine.
#Ownership
#NoDRM
#SayNoToDRM

@neil I don't know of anything that isn't open source that satisfies more than two of the above.

@neil I just found Libro.fm and I am so happy. I never bought audiobooks because “rental”

@neil
Aside from flat files, I want more software to be designed to be "local-first". Ideally, something that is open source and stores things primarily on an OS's filesystem, as that offers infinite flexibility as to how you want to save and retrieve data.

Maybe there's a web native way to do this, but I still want to be able to work offline, and not rely on black box cloud services so much for sync and config.

@neil
Well, I'm some kind of a hoarder, but that makes for a really robust approach: Buy the physical copy for the shelf, then obtain* a DRM-free digital version to put on the local server for actual consumption.

*
- audio/video: rip the disc
- books: buy the bundle (basically nobody offers that) or head to your genesis library
- games: yeah, I just use Steam (because the replay value is often not THAT great)