Computer Files Are Going Extinct | Simon Pitt
The file has been replaced with the platform, the service, the ecosystem. This is not to say that I’m proposing we lead an uprising against services. You can’t halt progress by clogging the internet pipes. I say this to mourn the loss of the innocence we had before capitalism inevitably invaded the internet. When we create now, our creations are part of an enormous system. Our contributions a tiny speck in an elastic database cluster. Rather than buying and collecting music, videos, or other cultural artifacts, we are exposed to the power hose: all culture, raging over us, for $12.99 a month (or $15.99 for HD) as long as we keep up our payments like good economic entities. When we stop paying, we’re left with nothing. No files. The service is revoked.
Link: Computer Files Are Going Extinct
Oh my this is so true. I just realized that this is a bit like a leasing a car: you pay a certain amount of money every month to drive a car, but once you stop paying, you have nothing to show for all those lease payments you've made.
A somewhat related incident happened to me a month or two ago. My son is very much into Disney's Cars. So I thought I'd buy him Cars 3 on the Xbox One. I thought it would download the movie and store it locally on my Xbox One console. It turns out, you can only stream movie purchases... So basically, if our internet goes down or if we decide to stop paying for internet, we cannot watch a movie that I already paid for. This is my fault for not knowing, but I still think that is ridiculous! Lesson learned here, is to just buy movies in Blu-ray format instead.