Lost Battles
Sep. 9th, 2021 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothThis does remind me to do a post I've been thinking about for a while.
CDs are better than using Spotify for things you like. They don't have ads (there's a price I'm prepared to pay to do without them, and it's less than £9.99 a month, especially as so little of that goes to the artists) and they don't suddenly disappear from your collection when some rights holder decides they're not happy with how little they're getting.
There are plenty of tracks available on CD that aren't on Spotify, especially remixes done in the 80s/90s/00s and classical music in general. The sound quality is better too, and isn't dependent on having a network connection. You can also rip them (I know..) to put on your portable music playing device (see later). Second-hand CDs are extremely cheap and if you decide you no longer like them, you can sell them..
.. just not for very much unless you have something very rare.
That's because, however much I dislike it, streaming music services have won.
DVDs are better than using Netflix et al. Much the same applies. Netflix don't do ads in the way that Amazon Prime does, but unless it's something they made, it can be available for as little six months before it disappears. The current selection is also often rubbish: there are at least three Italian directors where I have more DVDs of their films than Netflix has Italian films in total.
If you want to stream a particular film or series, you have to hunt down which service - if any - has the rights this week. Unless you subscribe to more than one, you may well find it's unavailable to you.
You can argue about visual quality, but unless someone's deliberately put out a poor DVD - it happens - then most people can't tell the difference at normal viewing distance. Unless you have a n
e
t
w
o
r
k problem watching the streaming service, when they do.
I also like commentaries, and the streaming services don't do those. (Happy to be shown otherwise!)
Again, second-hand DVDs are extremely cheap and if you decide you no longer like them, you can sell them..
.. just not for very much unless you have something very rare.
That's because, however much I dislike it, streaming video services have won.
Specialist MP3 players are better than using phone apps. If someone did something like the Sansa Clip Zip running third party firmware Rockbox but with Bluetooth, it'd be perfect for me.
Instead, Sansa removed the ability to run Rockbox from their later players, and still can't do much in terms of sales.
Ethernet is better than wifi. In exchange for a having to use a cable, you get a rock solid connection that's much faster.
Wired charging is better than wireless charging. Reviewers moan if a phone doesn't do wireless charging, but it's a crime against humanity in terms of how much energy it wastes through being much less efficient than just passing current along a wire like it's the 17th Century.
CDs are better than using Spotify for things you like. They don't have ads (there's a price I'm prepared to pay to do without them, and it's less than £9.99 a month, especially as so little of that goes to the artists) and they don't suddenly disappear from your collection when some rights holder decides they're not happy with how little they're getting.
There are plenty of tracks available on CD that aren't on Spotify, especially remixes done in the 80s/90s/00s and classical music in general. The sound quality is better too, and isn't dependent on having a network connection. You can also rip them (I know..) to put on your portable music playing device (see later). Second-hand CDs are extremely cheap and if you decide you no longer like them, you can sell them..
.. just not for very much unless you have something very rare.
That's because, however much I dislike it, streaming music services have won.
DVDs are better than using Netflix et al. Much the same applies. Netflix don't do ads in the way that Amazon Prime does, but unless it's something they made, it can be available for as little six months before it disappears. The current selection is also often rubbish: there are at least three Italian directors where I have more DVDs of their films than Netflix has Italian films in total.
If you want to stream a particular film or series, you have to hunt down which service - if any - has the rights this week. Unless you subscribe to more than one, you may well find it's unavailable to you.
You can argue about visual quality, but unless someone's deliberately put out a poor DVD - it happens - then most people can't tell the difference at normal viewing distance. Unless you have a n
e
t
w
o
r
k problem watching the streaming service, when they do.
I also like commentaries, and the streaming services don't do those. (Happy to be shown otherwise!)
Again, second-hand DVDs are extremely cheap and if you decide you no longer like them, you can sell them..
.. just not for very much unless you have something very rare.
That's because, however much I dislike it, streaming video services have won.
Specialist MP3 players are better than using phone apps. If someone did something like the Sansa Clip Zip running third party firmware Rockbox but with Bluetooth, it'd be perfect for me.
Instead, Sansa removed the ability to run Rockbox from their later players, and still can't do much in terms of sales.
Not yet lost, but..
Ethernet is better than wifi. In exchange for a having to use a cable, you get a rock solid connection that's much faster.
Wired charging is better than wireless charging. Reviewers moan if a phone doesn't do wireless charging, but it's a crime against humanity in terms of how much energy it wastes through being much less efficient than just passing current along a wire like it's the 17th Century.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-11 03:21 pm (UTC)