The Problem With Digital Media
Published on November 17th, 2024
Firstly, I want to clarify that I love that the internet brings acessibility to good media. I probably wouldn't have read many books - such as Kamo no Chomei's Hojoki - without it. The same would happen with good music albuns like Himiko Kikuchi's "Flying Beagle" or Masayoshi Takanaka's "Seychelles", for example, that were brought to me by the internet. However, I still think the way digital media is being distributed is not good.
This has come to my mind because I was trying to find a Shibuya-kei band called Satellite Lovers in Spotify and discovered all their songs got removed from the plataform. This wasn't a problem since their songs are available on YouTube, but this raised awareness to another thing: you basically don't own any digital media anymore.
The main reason this happens is because many companies have switched to selling streaming services rather than individual products. For instance, buying music has become harder, with the best option being buying CDs or LPs, what requires appropriate equiepment. Also, many albuns have only been realesed trough streaming services, what makes it impossible to buy them. Good series and movies frequently get lost or hard to access because of this.
Even though this is bad, there is a worse case. Basically, everything you buy "permanently", is not technically yours. Companies like Amazon or Valve can remove your digital products out of you for various reasons. What is horrible, especially for the preservation of content and for you, who allegedly spent your money in a book, a game, or an albun.
Also, owning your own media allows you to lend/borrow things to/from your friend, what allowed me to read tons of books. Obviously, physical media is more expensive than digital media, however, I think the difference in price is justifiable, but as I have said, I love digital media, I just don't get (obviously to profit more on you) why companies work like this.