This recent YouTube video from LTT on the topic of ripping DVDs and Blu-rays has got me wondering:
I’m not a big fan of stores, hoarding physical stuff and DVDs and Blu-rays, but I do love owning my stuff digitally and supporting the artists. Is there a service that let’s you buy the movie, TV series or anime that you want to watch and then simply download it to your drive? No app, no subscription bs, no delivery, just straight money for an .mkv file and that’s it?
TL:DR: Is there an equivalent to Qobuz but for visual enjoyment?
Edit: So in summary, the often repeated mantra of “piracy exists because it is more convenient than traditional services” doesn’t just apply to subscription streaming services, it applies to direct digital movie purchases too. I suppose the best approach remains to split the “supporting artists” part from the “digital file getting” part, at least until a service with a modern catalogue pops up that unifies the two parts.
GOG tried, but either gave up or wasn’t able to keep supporting it (their communication is bad so hard to pinpoint). Now their movies section is just collecting dust, like Humble Trove was in the months before the old model was axed.
Steam tried as well and as big as they are, they couldn’t maintain a movies section for too long.
This might not be very popular, but I find their games section to be lacking as well. I’ve recently tried GOG for the first time expecting a “money for an .exe file” kind of approach for every game that had its Denuvo removed on Steam. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Dragon Quest XI without DRM!
Oh boy, how naive…
Well, it’s not that easy… Denuvo is ONE DRM, removing it doesn’t mean there aren’t any other layers still present in the new builds, and since, for the most part, GOG games are completely devoid of DRM, Denuvo being removed doesn’t actually mean that the game can be sold on GOG.
Skyrim never had Denuvo, yet started being sold on GOG something like a year ago or so
Yeah, things like interest of the right holders, contractual limitations and availability of a given media do play a part on getting published on a given platform.
Somehow wasn’t expecting this in the context of games but of course makes perfect sense. Denuvo =/= DRM, the latter being much more broad. Thanks for the knowledge nugget!