#and fuck entertainment companies for deciding that every piece of art is epherma that they can control

[centaurianthropology]

On the Collapse of HBO Max and the Importance of Physical Media

https://www.slashfilm.com/612335/best-movies-of-2021/

This article is a great articulation of a problem I have noticed increasingly over the past couple of years.  As more and more movies and shows simply are not released on physical media, I’ve waited for something like the collapse of HBO Max to highlight a huge problem: we are no longer able to own our entertainment.  Streaming is, at its most basic, a rental.  We pay to rent, and that’s if we have a high-quality and stable internet connection.  Those who lack internet are basically shit out of luck for entertainment.

And more than that, when a streaming service suddenly vanishes, or merges with another and does a purge of their shows and movies, those shows and movies simply ... vanish.  They no longer exist unless some enterprising individual pirates it.  At that point, the only way to access a piece of art is through illegality.  

And this is why I’ve been so angry about the ‘phasing out’ of physical media.  If I like a show, let me buy the season.  I’m fine paying more for the boxed set of physical media that I then own, no matter what the platform that originally hosted it does after.  Let me take those shows with me even if I go to a place without internet.  Let me get special features and lovingly crafted DVDs that give me behind-the-scenes peeks whenever I want.  Ditching physical media puts us all at the mercy of giant media conglomerates, begging them to let us watch something we have paid for many times over.  And they can take it away whenever they want.  So buy DVDs or Blu-Ray or whatever you like.  But make sure you shore up your collection of the things you love, and never trust a media company.  They’ll drop you the second they feel like they’ve pumped enough money out of you.