I've never really enjoyed going to movie theaters. It was never a very good experience: messy, obnoxious people, poor environment (temperature/smell...), terrible mixing (simultaneously too loud and too quiet). I used to when they were cheaper because it was a reasonable way to watch films. But no longer. I see at most one movie in a theater a year. Most years none.

It's a better experience to watch at home: my own comfort, snacks. Control over the environment and sound, captions on, ability to pause for pee breaks or discussion, rewind to catch missed moments, etc. Plus it's now more cost-effective. Even if it's not streaming, buying the disc is the same price as for a couple to go to a theater. (I don't do this "pay per view" streaming nonsense of limited online viewing that started recently. It's better than a theater experience, but brings extra burdens of wasted money stupidly and control/ownership issues.)

My husband and I are currently going through the entire oeuvre of Star Trek. I've seen most (not all; syndication...) of it before, but he'd seen none. It's on disc. It's a better experience than streaming: higher quality, the discs have extras, the audio is better (I set to the separate stereo stream rather than the default 5.1 stream -- the audio was intentionally mixed that way rather than automatic downmixing that can cause errors), the fun interface, etc. We're almost half way through TNG and he's loving it. I checked and, so far, they're releasing the newer ST series on disc. I've heard mixed on them, but when we get that far in a couple of years, we'll check them out.

A lot of [Netflix/Amazon/Hulu -- and especially Apple] exclusives don't get disc releases for those who would like to watch just one thing and not "subscribe", or have a copy of it, sadly. Some do; most don't. It's truly an exacerbation of the "digital dark age".

Subscriptions are OK. Or at least used to be. But now the fragmentation has made it not so great. Even DRM's fine in subscription services, because there's no implication of ownership. (Though the control of... "You can't watch this in 4K or even full 1080 if you use Firefox or Linux" is asinine.) I don't have any, though occasionally have Amazon Prime [when they toss trials] or Netflix. They're good for passive discovery.

Ownership is pushed by the middle class -- a democratization of access -- but with the end of the middle class...

All services are curated and skewed. As audiences grow, the services' messaging is honed and cultivated across offerings. In entertainment, that messaging is propaganda.

Not only them, but many in the lower classes that would like to be in a middle class, or as I do, feel enriched, like a King with what I own. It's all about freedom of choice and control really.

I don't have much, but what I do have is liberating.

I could sell it all tomorrow and I wouldn't get much, and certainly wouldn't be rich by any measure of that stick, but keeping it I do feel enriched.

I could almost start my own Netflix or Spotify ... except much would be non mainstream in popularity.

Services have issues, as you say. I equate it to being somewhat like Facebook and what you get in your news feed, tailored to a certain type of audience. That's always been the problem with TV and Radio for me ... they control your diet, and in the end get to specify what you diet is.

Not sure how old you are, but for me there was a time when going to the cinema was a great experience, and I saw many great movies that way. Hell, when I was in my teens I didn't even mind going to the Drive-In to see movies, and also saw many great movies that way ... though that was far from the state-of-art we can get at home these days.

People used to be more polite and considerate and have manners 40+ years ago ... talking majority. These days, many are lost in their own bubble, and their expectations are often quite selfish. That's not to say they are bad people, just somewhat thoughtless usually.

Born during Carter. Most of my theater-going experiences were in college years in the early 00s. Where I grew up, going to a movie theater was A Big Thing, since it was 60 miles away... so it didn't happen much in my childhood or teens. But I remember even in the 90s thinking movie theaters were too fricking loud (as in the volume they'd play the movie), too cold, smelly from concessions, and too risky to miss it if you had to toilet. Cell phones weren't around yet to have them making it even worse.

I've always lived in the suburbs of the Big Smoke, and I was in my teens in the 70s, so we are talking different eras anyway, plus I am in a different country, that back then was about 10 years behind the USA, while being somewhat on a par now. I had cinemas close by, and well maintained and governed pretty well. The rot only set in later, which would basically be the 90s I guess. Cinemas seem to be run by folk now who don't have the professional experience or knowledge, and can be almost anyone. You can see that by how badly the screens are focused at times and how awful the sound mix can be, with many opting for way too much bass ... and I love bass. Many older folk, like my mum, cannot abide the cinema, just due to the overly loud bass alone ... and this is with movies, that virtually don't need any bass. Some folk seem to have a one size fits all mentality.

No it wouldn't because they've misrepresented themselves and they aren't a subscription service.Those tricks might work in the USA but there are other countries with different rules.Steam pretended it was just a place to get games and should be held to that.

Except that I am in the US, where you said that those tricks might work thus should proceed with caution when anything refers to itself as a subscription service. This means that because Steam refers to itself as a subscription service on it's website, it's very appropriate for me to treat them the same way as I would with any subscription service that actually charges for access to the service itself....

But convincing me that Steam is really great is a really moot point. I'm color-blind and found Steam's launcher really hard to use the few times I tried using it.

Even with boxed games the fine print always said you were leasing a license, basically. Steam and other DRM just gave companies the ability to enforce that. Not defending it at all, just saying their goals were always the same.

Would be lovely if the US Supreme Court decided you own your media, but I doubt that ever happens.