Critical Role Critical Role removes hundreds of YouTube videos and podcast episodes.

[Ruin Explorer]

But yes, I am trusting that Amazon isn't going anywhere.

I think a lot of us are also trusting that, if Amazon do go away, people will be able to find a way to liberate the books in question, or resupply them from an alternate source, because they exist digitally. Some are intentionally DRM-free, too.

I certainly moved to ebooks and audiobooks a long time ago and am not interested in going back. I like real books and still read them sometimes when they're given to me, and I carry one in my backpack as a backup most of the time, but I don't find any difference in the level of enthrallment or the like.

I do have one complaint though - a lot of ebooks of 1990s and 1980s books are clearly scanned-in, and the OCR has screwed up at times. Imajica is a beautiful book, but I'm glad I read it as a book before I did as an ebook, because there are like, at least a dozen (probably far more) serious OCR errors - i.e. you wouldn't realize they were errors immediately if you didn't know - I reported every one I saw, but checking back a few years later, none of the ones I remembered had been fixed, even redownloading the book on a different machine. I feel like there should be a more formal process here because this is a real problem.

The Critical Role thing is a bit interesting from the preservation perspective in that some of the fans have actually been complicit (I use the word with no judgement, I just can't see another way to put it) in getting rid of stuff, like intentionally deleting fan-made transcripts of episodes which have been taken offline, which is sort of inconceivable to me. I think it's probably specific to that fandom though, it's not something I've heard of more generally.

 

[Nikosandros]

I make offline copies of Kindle books (the procedure is relatively easy, even though it is not approved by Amazon). Should it become impossible to do so, I woudn't buy any more ebooks from Amazon. Just to give an example of why, a few years ago a book that I bought was "upgraded" by the publisher to a more recent edition. The new edition did not have all the critical commentary of the original (the book is a collection of poetry by Eugenio Montale). Ebooks can be changed or retired and I don't have any control on that, so off-line copies are a must for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I make offline copies of Kindle books (the procedure is relatively easy, even though it is not approved by Amazon). Should it become impossible to do so, I woudn't buy any more ebooks from Amazon. Just to give an example of why, a few years ago a book that I bought was "upgraded" by the publisher to a more recent edition. The new edition did not have all the critical commentary of the original (the book is a collection of poetry by Eugenio Montale). Ebboks can be changed or retired and I don't have any control on that, so off-line copies are a must for me.

I also dislike cloud storage and the like. The only material I ever paid for on D&D Beyond immediately went into a formatted Word file to be stored offline. I love pdfs, but I store them on multiple external drives for a reason.

 

[Clint_L]

But not immune to system crashes, power failures, or dead batteries. Or dropping: I can drop a book on a concrete floor and so what, but if I drop a tablet I'm probably out a few hundred bucks.

More importantly, to me anyway: you're trusting whoever owns/runs that cloud storage to keep it a) functional and b) freely accessible in perpetuity. I wouldn't bet on that, particularly the "freely accessible" bit.

If I own a movie on a DVD, for example, I can watch it whenever I like; but if I use Netflix I can only watch that movie when Netflix decides to put it on their menu.

You don't own a movie on Netflix. But if you buy one digitally, which I have done, you can use it anytime, anywhere, on any device. It can't get lost, damaged, or stolen. And you don't have shelving full of plastic DVDs, VCRs or whatever.

My ebook doesn't really get dead batteries - it recharges like a phone but lasts twenty times longer, so it's not an issue - you can take it on vacation without a charger and have no problem. It's also waterproof (unlike a book) and while I haven't tried to smash it, I have dropped it any number of times, same as my phone, and it's pretty durable. But sure, you want to take care.

As for cost, it was about a hundred bucks, but ebooks are normally half-price or less, so I get that money back in a few months at most. Although books are downloaded onto it as well as being on the cloud, sure I am vulnerable to Amazon going out of business or something, though even there there are legal protections for digital property. Perpetuity isn't a thing for any media; what I want is things available to me for as long as I need them.

I find it hard to make a case for physical media except for the sheer pleasure that can come from them - I still buy physical copies of some RPG books, for example, because I enjoy the large format and having the art in my hands, but that's a subjective value. I think you can make an aesthetic argument for analog media, which will always be subjective. I think it is hard to make a strong objective argument. Digital media is more durable, cheaper, far less wasteful of resources, easier to store, convenient...

 

[Velderan]

The only issue I really have with digital media is when a company drastically changes the terms for which you're able to access or use it. Not sure if anyone else used to buy music on Google Play Music before they merged that into YouTube music, but now in order to listen to songs I paid for on my phone, I have to use the YouTube Music app and either leave the video up while I listen (getting ads in between songs) or I have to pay for YouTube Music to be able to minimize YouTube or lock the phone and continue listening. I didn't have a ton of money invested in music there, but still annoying. I don't seem to be able to download the songs anymore like you could with Google Play Music either. As an example on iTunes, you can still pay for a song and download the mp3 and listen to it on whatever means you have to play a mp3 file.

But I'm sure this possibility was all explained in the terms of use I most certainly did not read. As @Clint_L pointed out, you're usually not buying the media item and instead are paying for a license to use it under the terms it's offered under which can and do change.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The only issue I really have with digital media is when a company drastically changes the terms for which you're able to access or use it. Not sure if anyone else used to buy music on Google Play Music before they merged that into YouTube music, but now in order to listen to songs I paid for on my phone, I have to use the YouTube Music app and either leave the video up while I listen (getting ads in between songs) or I have to pay for YouTube Music to be able to minimize YouTube or lock the phone and continue listening. I didn't have a ton of money invested in music there, but still annoying. I don't seem to be able to download the songs anymore like you could with Google Play Music either. As an example on iTunes, you can still pay for a song and download the mp3 and listen to it on whatever means you have to play a mp3 file.

But I'm sure this possibility was all explained in the terms of use I most certainly did not read. As @Clint_L pointed out, you're usually not buying the media item and instead are paying for a license to use it under the terms it's offered under which can and do change.

No one's saying that they're not allowed to "alter the deal". I just don't like it, and make sure any content that really matters to me is either stored offline or as physical media.

 

[Velderan]

No one's saying that they're not allowed to "alter the deal". I just don't like it, and make sure any content that really matters to me is either stored offline or as physical media.

Yep so in the case of the music I bought before they migrated the service, I downloaded mp3s and have them backed up twice so I haven't lost anything. But if I didn't proactively look to protect myself, I'd be out what I spent.

 

[MockingBird]

I've tried ebooks, and it just lacks something for me.

I felt the same at first. Usually I will buy a hard copy, like my Song of Fire and Ice collection, then I'll buy it digital so I can get some reading in when I'm away from home. I'm a collector too so if I buy an ebook and like it then I'm definitely going to get the physical copy for collections sake.

 

[Parmandur]

I felt the same at first. Usually I will buy a hard copy, like my Song of Fire and Ice collection, then I'll buy it digital so I can get some reading in when I'm away from home. I'm a collector too so if I buy an ebook and like it then I'm definitely going to get the physical copy for collections sake.

I don't really do much reading away from home, to be honest, so reading an ebook will usually entail being on my phone or laptop...surrounded by physical books...

I tried an early Kondle reader, and it was OK but lacked a certain physicality.

 

[p_johnston]

God im so sorry for Ashley. Really hope she doing better now that hes out of her life.

I do wonder what they'll do about the live show recordings? Seems it would be pretty easy to cut out the intros on those and reupload them.