If you want guaranteed future access, then this is probably the only online option that actually fulfills this guarantee... other than that, physical media.

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0xEF 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I regularly snag DVDs for $1 USD or less at garage/yard/boot sales. I see tons of cheap used physical media in record shops when I travel, too. eBay and Facebook Marketplace are also great sources for used DVD.

I promote this because not only does it restore some mastery* over your media, it keeps these discs out of landfills and oceans, where they will linger in a shredded state.

*we are, of course, still subject to any anti-piracy measures and non-removeable advertisements on the disc, which admittedly seems quaint by today's DRM standards, but I ccannot rightly say "complete" mastery over your media, here.

	▲	iso1631 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I watch films on streaming rather than old dvds with unskippable nonsense like "don't pirate this dvd" (well obviously I didn't, that's why I have the dvd), or the pain of the menu systems to just press play.

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immibis2 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Physical media isn't guaranteed to retain future access. There are protocols for players to update various bits of data from the newest disk you have ever inserted into them. The Nintendo Wii certainly does this, I'm not sure if BluRay does but I don't see why they wouldn't.

	▲	whstl a minute ago \| parent [-]
		That's a great point. Something I forgot: I brought a couple DVDs when moving between countries and had a player block a couple of them... :/

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anonym29 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Often the same people behind both!

Fun fact: pirates are more likely than the average person to purchase media.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170916165525/https://www.ofcom...

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110727/16233815292/anoth...