BeigeJournal

I keep getting the feeling that lots of companies trying to sell us commercial entertainment product imagine that we are all extremely bored, desperate for entertainment, and willing to put up with any hassle and pay any price to get it. They come up with complicated, incompatible DRM schemes. They expect us to go out and buy new computers running approved operating systems so we can install new, proprietary software, figure out how to use it, enter all our personal information, and enter credit card numbers. Only then can we download “content” that has so much DRM we probably won’t be able to play it anyway. But we’re supposed to be obedient and desperate consumers and put up with it all.

Me? I have a hundred-odd feeds in my aggregator. I read a few Spanish sites in an effort to improve my minimal ability with that language. I play two musical instruments and get together with friends regularly to share music. I listen to some podcasts. I write for this blog, a Livejournal, and put some of my photos on Flickr. I keep buying books at used book stores and have a long list of books to check out from the library. I buy DRM-free, hassle-free music from Magnatune.com and filk music—a genre that doesn’t exist as far as the RIAA members are concerned—both online and on CD.

If someone wants to sell me “content” and insists on making it difficult for me, or just generally behaves badly and won’t play well with others, it’s very easy for me to ignore them altogether. I already have, readily accessible, more great stuff (bundles of passion, as Dave Slusher says) than I have time for, besides my own writing, music practice, and occasional song writing.