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> I wonder how much physical media I could acquire if I was to spend the same money that is not being spent on streaming platforms. I bet within a year, I could build up a pretty decent back catalog from used and $5 bins.

This has been the play for a while. I remember when the xbox game pass dropped for the first time. All the younger people were going crazy about how good of a deal it was, and all the tech-weary people could instantly tell that the price will get jacked up again and again and by the time you bail you'll own precisely nothing.

It's not necessarily wrong to take advantage of VC subsidizing you in a bid to gather an audience, but you should always keep in mind that the goal is to have the captive audience so you best have an escape plan, once the prices rise beyond any reasonable point. For movies in particular I struggle how the super-fragmented streaming landscape is worth a damn even if you don't want to sail the seas.

Don't forget your local library. They've often got decent selection especially if you're in a denser area.

I should have elaborated. I don't plan on watching the physical media. I plan on watching a digital copy of the physical media where the physical media is just my legit license. Obtaining a digital copy of the library's physical media is not something I'd be willing to do.

Speaking as someone who worked at a public library: do it. You paid for the movies and they're provided as a public good. I can guarantee that every single piece of media on the shelf has been ripped multiple times. People do it very frequently.

Back when I could only get barely serviceable dial up I had a large chunk of the local library's and the local rent-a-movie/game 's catalog ripped. If I still had to do that now I doubt I would be missing out enough on anything to really care anbd stop. Stacks of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs of movies or for modded consoles. I never had any complaints about that format so media companies really should get their heads out of their asses.

They are deliberately choosing to stay on the “morally correct” side of the line.

Once you’re talking about ripping library materials, why not just skip the library and download the same items without touching the physical. How is that worse?

For some of the same reasons you might buy something from a local store instead of buying online - you can see actual faces in your community on the way, your library gets usage metrics that help it keep funding and stay around, you might be there already for something else, less time digging around in a screen ui and more time moving in 3d. I also like that the rip itself is totally offlime and not traceable. And it is just stressful wondering if something pirated has something nasty snuck in, however unlikely it is much less likely from a library dvd. Don't if you don't want to, but there are perfectly good reasons.

Exactly this. I could easily just torrent as much as anyone, but I don't necessarily want to meet the low bar. Also, my career path is one such that if I were to ever receive a letter from an ISP suggesting my sailing of the high seas was a bit much, I'd be fired and blacklisted while being forced into a new career path.

What career path dies from an ISP letter

Someone working with studio content

Someone who works in an ISP - or one of the media companies which own the IP.

(Or both... here in Canada, Rogers is a "wonderful" mix of both...)

ISPs don’t give a fuck if their employees are casual pirates. It’d only be an issue if they think you’re going to run a seedbox or something.

Well if you are not downloading anything in work how would they got that information?

Pro move, buy it, rip it and then donate it to the library.

I like to do something this with little free libraries. One of the libraries in my city has a volunteer group that does a book sale every week, frequently has a ton of really good comic books and such. I’ll buy them for pretty cheap, enjoy whatever I find, and then put them in little free libraries. They always get picked up quickly, especially comics!

Why not? Your taxes pay for the library, so you own a share of their media. If you really want to be honest, check their online catalog and make sure the title is available for checkout before you play it.

I frequently take advantage of the tax payer funded ownership of NASA imagery. I have a nice collection of ISS timelapse footage well before Apple provided them as screensavers.

However, "own a share of their media" means what, that I can have a legit claim to 30s worth of the content? How is that calculated? Divide the number of tax payers in the city by the number of seconds of each bit of content to see how much of it I "own"? You're really bending the concept of tax payer funding here. If that's how you want to go through life, then you do you

You have a right to check out and play the media if it's available. I'm just proposing that you skip the physical "check out" part of that. It's possible to do that honestly: most libraries have an online catalog system and you can see if the title is already checked out or currently available. In fact I'd wonder if some libraries don't already handle their media catalog that way. It would eliminate the risk of damaging the physical media if you could just check out the movie and stream it right from the library's website.

You are clearly missing the point, which at this point I'm taking as intentional and no longer worthy of my time

He’s not missing the point IMO. He’s giving a way - a little convoluted but it almost works - to honor the spirit of the law.

My only major critique of it is the library doesn’t know you wanted to borrow then, and usage metrics are very important for them when it comes to deciding what to purchase. But I get what he’s suggesting, it makes sense even if it’s imperfect (I personally wouldn’t do it).

Public libraries also offer a wide variety of content that can be legally borrowed or streamed at no cost.