Fabio Manganiello on Nostr: I couldn't have explained the buy-vs-pirate dilemma better than this #xkcd comic. If ...
I couldn't have explained the buy-vs-pirate dilemma better than this #xkcd comic.
If you #pirate something, you own the file. As long as you keep the file, it's yours for life.
If you rent it from a cloud provider like Audible, iTunes or Kindle (you can never actualyly *buy* anything from these platforms) in the form of #DRM-locked media, then when you switch OS, computer or phone, or the specification changes, or a new version of the app comes out that is incompatible with your devices, or the provider just decides to enforce its own arbitrary rules that make previous versions invalid, or you just want to pass on your music or books collection to your son or daughter after you die, you'll be unable to access the content you've paid for.
If you try and break the DRM protection on the content you have regularly purchased, in order to back it up to your own storage in case the cloud provider goes down, or in order to access it from another device that can't run the latest version of the app, you'll be a pirate anyway. I mean, if you buy a lock from a hardware store and later you decide to break it, you don't violate any rules (the lock is yours, you've purchased it with your own money, you can do whatever you want with it). But DRM is an evil invention that resembles a lock that you can buy, but you can never own, and if you break it in your own house you still violate the terms and conditions of your purchase.
So ALWAYS, always pirate.
If you purchase DRM-content, you'll be a criminal anyway at some point.
And, if you pirate, please give a donation to the original content creator. It's worth much more than the spare change that the rent-seeking cloud provider gives them, and most of them don't mind how you got the content anyway, as long as you give them a contribution.
Or just demand DRM-free content.
If you #pirate something, you own the file. As long as you keep the file, it's yours for life.
If you rent it from a cloud provider like Audible, iTunes or Kindle (you can never actualyly *buy* anything from these platforms) in the form of #DRM-locked media, then when you switch OS, computer or phone, or the specification changes, or a new version of the app comes out that is incompatible with your devices, or the provider just decides to enforce its own arbitrary rules that make previous versions invalid, or you just want to pass on your music or books collection to your son or daughter after you die, you'll be unable to access the content you've paid for.
If you try and break the DRM protection on the content you have regularly purchased, in order to back it up to your own storage in case the cloud provider goes down, or in order to access it from another device that can't run the latest version of the app, you'll be a pirate anyway. I mean, if you buy a lock from a hardware store and later you decide to break it, you don't violate any rules (the lock is yours, you've purchased it with your own money, you can do whatever you want with it). But DRM is an evil invention that resembles a lock that you can buy, but you can never own, and if you break it in your own house you still violate the terms and conditions of your purchase.
So ALWAYS, always pirate.
If you purchase DRM-content, you'll be a criminal anyway at some point.
And, if you pirate, please give a donation to the original content creator. It's worth much more than the spare change that the rent-seeking cloud provider gives them, and most of them don't mind how you got the content anyway, as long as you give them a contribution.
Or just demand DRM-free content.