Stream versus Download

Late last year, I would enter the house to find my brother lying in the bed with his phone on loud volume, watching Korean movies. The scenes would immediately catch my eye, and the sound would tingle my ears, making me interested in watching. I would ask him for the title, and he would tell me. But the moment I made moves to transfer the movie to my phone, he would say, "It's on Netflix," and I would just hiss in frustration. That thing sucks!

"I can give you the login details," he would say, trying to console me after noticing my disappointment.

"No, don't worry. Now that I know the title, I'll just go and download it."
https://img.leopedia.io/DQmbhTUpm7U4s3Dc7twq48x3bMqkY6NrzfWKoe4wi98oRe9/1001210701.webp

To be very honest, I see this whole streaming thing as a kind of stinginess, and it is gradually eroding the traditional love we used to share back in the day when we freely shared movies with friends—and even enemies too. But with streaming, you can only share your login details with people you trust, which is very limiting.

I hope you're getting it—I'm unapologetically a download-to-watch person!

Come to think of it, I still find it weird how people prefer streaming to downloading for watching. Apps like Netflix, Showmax, and others require a subscription plan for access. And after paying for the subscription, one still needs to make a data subscription too! A few weeks ago, I was discussing with a lady who owns a DSTV, and because she doesn’t stay at home often to enjoy it, her DSTV subscription always expires without being used. I jokingly suggested that she get their "watch-on-the-go" app, so she could use her subscription on her phone instead of waiting until she was home.

"Yeah, I know about that, but who is going to provide the data for me? Would DSTV also provide data?" she asked, and we both burst into laughter. 😂

But that is the fact—it sounds weird to subscribe to the app plan and then still have to subscribe to data. Downloading to watch is easier and better. With just data on my phone, I can download, store the movie, and watch it anytime I like.

I have friends who would chat me up, begging for my Netflix login details, and I would just laugh because I don't know who told them that I do streaming. I would ask them questions like, "What happened to this and that website where you can download anything?" And they would reply that the movie they are looking for is not available on any of those sites.

While this may be true, the truth is that only a small percentage of movies are unavailable for download. There are many websites out there that are good at handling copyright restrictions, and the rest is history. I'm not supporting copyright infringement, but... (please go ahead and fill in the blank as it suits you). Lol.

No lies—downloading to watch consumes a lot of internal storage (ROM), but phones these days are making good provisions for that. Or why do you think modern phones come with large storage spaces?
Those spaces are not just for photos or music; they are for movies too! In fact, photos and music don’t even consume much space compared to videos. And to be clear, I’m talking about ROM, not RAM.
As funny as my justification may sound, there is actually no issue with downloading large movies and storing them. We don’t even store everything—we only keep movies we want to rewatch, and whenever we get tired of them, we clear them off.

Thanks for reading.

This is my entry to Digi-prompts of the week

Photos used are mine

Posted Using INLEO