Just pirate stuff and donate money to artists you believe deserve the money. That way the artists get more, you pay less, plus you get to distribute it in a way you think is fair rather than as capitalism demands.

Factors I care about w/shows and films:

✅ no tracking
✅ no ads
✅ cheap
❌ ownership

If I only need to see a video once, why do I care about owning it? Exceptionally, I need my own copy of:

• Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Pulp Fiction
• π
• Reservoir dogs
• Jackie Brown
• La Grande Vadrouille ← good for learning French… must be seen over and over
• La Folie des Grandeurs ← also for learning French

But those are rare exceptions. I don’t want most films taking up space in my house or on my hard drive. Streaming is obviously a fail, so for most films the best answer is to borrow the DVD from the public library.

I am assuming the public library is less likely to abuse your viewing data than your ISP (in the case of torrenting).

Perhaps the best case: I recently pulled ~50 or so DVDs from a dumpster. I watched them once. Now they are just taking space. I will dump them on someone, or see if the library wants them.

I’m with you. Works great for those living alone.

But when there is a household w/3+ people, there is always someone who cannot resist playing the spineless pushover. Granny and gramps are living out their last decade; they will be damned if they give up convenient entertainment in their last stretch.

So when one person in the household insists on these shitty overpriced subscriptions, then what? You can probably rightfully get the boot licker to pay the whole bill, but then do they have to watch alone? Or do others in the household freeload? It must be awkward in a lot of situations.