jameswharris

How Long Can My Anker SOLIX S2000 Portable Power Station Run My Refrigerator?

by James Wallace Harris, 10/15/26

For some reason, I’m morphing into a prepper. Is it my age? Or am I experiencing what Bob Dylan wrote about in “Talkin’ World War III Blues,” where everyone is worried about the end of the world?

Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody’s having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves
Walkin’ around with no one else

Are these strange political, climatological, and technological times unnerving people? Why is everyone buying a gun? For some reason, I don’t worry about crime, but grid failure. I probably should worry about AI. Getting old is making me frail – is that the cause?

Back in August, a storm knocked 148,000 homes off the grid. We only lost power for a couple of hours, but my neighbor lost power for five days. She stored her refrigerated food in our refrigerator. Again, I agonized over buying a whole-house generator but decided against it. Air-cooled generators aren’t designed to run 24/7 for days, and I’m not ready to step up to water-cooled generators.

However, I just couldn’t let the idea go. After watching a zillion YouTube videos, I bought an Anker SOLIX S2000 power station backup and ZOUPW 450W Portable solar panels. I knew even this was impractical. I spent $1200 to protect $200 to $300 worth of food. I’d need to experience five or six multi-day power outages to recoup my investment.

To be honest, I bought the S2000 and ZOUPW because I love gadgets and electronic devices. I felt challenged to find a solution that would keep my refrigerator running indefinitely during a power outage.

The Anker SOLIX S2000 is advertized to keep an average American fridge running for 35 hours. I figured since I had a smaller 17.2-cubic-foot icebox, I’d get even more hours.

In my first test, I got 29 hours. Not bad, but a little disappointing. My fridge uses about 70 watts on average, but had a few surges past 200.

I knew when I bought the solar panels that my yard gets very little direct sunlight because of all the trees. Still, I tried. The day was also overcast. But our most common outages are ice storms, when trees are bare.

The portable solar panel generated 7-10 watts. That’s the reality of solar energy. I’ll test them again on a sunny day. Even with the trees, I get some sunny patches. In winter, I hope I’ll get much more direct sunlight.

If I could get 250-300 watts for six hours, I could keep my S2000 going for days.

Yet, I must question my obsession. For seventy years, I never worried about power failures. Never felt the need to prep. So why now? Back in my fifties, Susan and I endured 13 days without power in July and August. It was miserable. Never spent a moment thinking about it happening again. I’ve also lived through several ice storms without power.

I never thought about prepping until I heard about whole-house natural gas generators. I never wanted to mess with a gasoline generator. And then it got worse when I heard about solar power stations. I guess I’m seduced by tech.

But once I got into the idea of making my own electricity, it became a fun problem to ponder. However, I do need to think about the reality of what I’m trying to do.

I don’t mind bundling up and living with the cold. I do hate enduring the heat. My friend Laurie just got back from a month in Costa Rica. She had no air conditioning. Europe went through a heat wave this summer, and most people didn’t have air conditioning. I’m just being a wimp if I can’t go without air conditioning for a few days or weeks. I grew up in Miami without air conditioning.

Two or three ice storms ago, we realized that our phones, tablets, and laptops were our top priority. I bought a small Jackery that solved that problem. We also have a gas water heater, so we could take hot showers.

Recalling the last ice storm, I missed hot food the most. Yet, I didn’t starve. I had stocked up on lots of ready-to-eat snacks.

Because I own a solar power station with solar panels, what else could I use it for? I checked with an AI, and the most efficient way to heat a meal with electricity is with a microwave. Gemini says the S2000 could produce 35 hot meals. That’s not bad.

Gemini also said I could run my 5G internet router and smart TV for 15 to 24 hours. At the next power outage, I’ll ask Susan: Want the refrigerator or TV?

This got me thinking. I was considering spending $15,000 on a whole-house generator. I could buy ten S2000 power stations for less than half that. (Currently $649 each.) With even five S2000s, I could solve many of my power problems for several days.

See how this is more of a complicated puzzle to me than an actual survival problem? I’m not a real prepper who worries about civilization collapsing. I assume if civilization falls apart, it’s time to die.

Pondering all the possibilities regarding keeping my gadgets powered reveals something philosophical about modern life. It’s really about fighting boredom and being thrown out of our comfortable ruts. It’s amazing how many electrical appliances and gadgets we’ve integrated into our lives.

What if something severe happened to the nation? Say the power grid went down, telecommunications/computer networks collapsed, and food and water must be rationed by the government. Citizens in many nations endure that now.

Imagine having to build outhouses in our backyards and create our own toilet paper. What if our only light was daylight? If things got that bad, there would be no pharmacies. We’d spend most of our time waiting in line for food and water. What would we do with ourselves without the internet and television?

We depend on civilization. Then why are we so self-destructive and constantly undermining civilization? The money we spend on defense and war could build a rock-solid infrastructure. Just the money we spent on the current war in Iran could have transformed our power grid.

I’m currently reading The End of Everything by M. John Harrison. The novel is a finalist for this year’s Booker Prize. Weird invaders from another dimension have caused civilization to collapse. I just finished reading “If We Make It Through This Alive” by A. T. Greenblatt, a short story in which civilization has fallen apart for unspecified reasons. Like the Bob Dylan song above, when everyone worried about the bomb, everyone now sees endless possibilities for apocalypses.

Is prepping a new fad? Or the conscious reaction to unconscious fears?

JWH

Brand-New Complete Series of TV Shows Sold On DVDs Are Sometimes Bootlegs

by James Wallace Harris, 9/24/26

I recently bought Barney Miller on DVD. I got it on eBay. It was advertised as brand-new, in the shrink wrap. It was $8 cheaper than the set on Amazon, so I ordered it. The box looked mint. It was in the cellophane, with stickers. But when I went to rip it to my NAS, I had all kinds of problems.

Ripping DVDs is seldom straightforward. I use both Windows and a Mac. I have three different DVD/BD drives. I have three different ripping programs. Usually, switching combinations of these three factors will eventually rip a problematic disc. But some of the Barney Miller discs resisted all efforts.

I asked my AI. It informed me that bootlegs are common. It said to check the disc with MakeMKV. If the DVD was a single-layer disc, it was probably a bootleg. They were. Evidently, bootleggers try to save a few cents per disc by buying the cheaper single-layer discs rather than dual-layer discs. Look for Data capacity under Disc Information using MakeMKV. Under 5GB is single-layer; above is dual-layer.

This means they compress the files, reducing the playback bitrate. That means inferior picture quality. Even when playing the Barney Miller discs on my Blu-ray player, the picture quality was somewhat fuzzy. I thought it was because the TV show was old.

While ripping the discs with MakeMKV, it warned me that the discs were probably bootlegs made with DVD Fab Mac Ripper. That gave me an idea. I downloaded the free trial of DVD Fab Mac Ripper. It ripped the bad discs. I then paid $55 to buy the full version. I’d been wanting an alternative to MakeMKV for ripping Blu-ray discs on the Mac anyway. And the rips made with DVD Fab Mac Ripper didn’t look that bad. They were watchable.

I reported my findings to the seller. He said he’d give me a refund. I let him off the hook. I figured that after working so hard to rip the discs, I would keep them. I could have sent Barney Miller back and kept my files, but I didn’t want to be a ripoff artist too.

The lesson here is to be leery of great deals on eBay when buying complete TV series on DVDs sold as new. I noticed the DVD set I got was the 2011 edition – the one pictured on the right above, with the door. Amazon still sells that edition, but it ships from a 3rd party. Amazon also sells and ships a 2019 edition, the one pictured on the right. Both are $40. Even buying from Amazon might get you a bootleg if it’s from a 3rd party.l

I’m curious: if I had spent the extra $8 and bought the newer set, the one sold by Amazon. Is it legit and recorded on dual-layer DVDs? If anyone bought that set from Amazon and uses MakeMKV, let me know.

I really enjoy great picture quality. I hate to think Barney Miller could be sharper.

Checking some recent buys:

Barney Miller – Single-layer (eBay)
Downton Abbey – Dual-layer (Amazon)
Quantum Leap – Dual-layer (eBay)
Hazel – Single-layer (eBay)
The Loner – Dual-layer (Amazon)
Frasier – Dual-layer (Amazon)
MASH – Dual-layer (Amazon)

I guess I need to stick with Amazon. Two out of three sets from eBay were probably bootlegs. However, they were from sellers who had multiple copies to sell, all labeled new. Individuals selling “used” copies might be safe.

I’ve also seen people online say they are willing to buy bootlegs if no one else is selling the series. That might be true for me too. I’d love to find the second season of Mr. Kovak.

I still wish the publishers of old TV shows would sell them as digital files. See my essay about this. Messing with discs is a pain.

JWH

Rereading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in 2026

by James Wallace Harris, 9/23/26

I discovered Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in 1968. I found it on the 7-day bookshelf of the Coconut Grove Library, in Miami, Florida. Being just sixteen and in the 11th grade, the crazy antics of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters enchanted the juvenile male in me. Wolfe’s jazzy prose inspired my impressionable pseudo-intellect. Boy, I wanted to run off to San Francisco. At that age, I was just as goofy and naive as the Pranksters (although they were about ten years older than me).

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, watch these videos.

For some reason, I was drawn to Neal Cassady. This was before I had read On the Road or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Up until then, I had mostly read science fiction, and a smattering of popular science books. It pleased me that Kesey and crew read Stranger in a Strange Land. At that time, Heinlein was my guru.

And this was before I had smoked grass or dropped acid. I worked as a bagboy at the Kwik Chek in the Coconut Grove. My biggest problem as a horny teenager was being afraid of girls. The wild sex life of the Pranksters made me wish I could be like them.

Cassaday spoke like an over-revved engine. The man never stopped twitching and rapping. Cassaday’s thing was flipping a small sledgehammer. I imitated him by walking around my house flipping a large can of pork and beans. My father asked, “What the hell are you doing?” It made me feel self-conscious, but I kept flipping those pork and beans.

My prank at the time was joining the Columbia and Capitol record clubs to acquire albums as fast as possible. I’d get 12 albums for free, promising to buy eight more for full price. Because I was working, I could pay for my commitment quickly. I’d then quit and rejoin to get another 12 albums. That quickly let me build a library of all the back albums of my favorite groups. Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Buffalo Springfield, and all the new groups coming out of San Francisco. I identified with those people.

I knew nothing about Haight-Asbury, the Summer of Love, Acid Tests, or even Monterey Pop. News of the hippie world was sparse where I lived. I remember watching a segment on The Today Show about the light show behind The Jefferson Airplane, and reading about the group in Life Magazine. Besides astronauts, these rock musicians seem like the coolest people on the planet.

What Tom Wolfe described was as far out as fantasy or science fiction. All I knew about LSD was from Popular Science and CBS News reports about Timothy Leary. The Kwik Check was near the park in Coconut Grove, and all the kids who wanted to be hippies showed up there on the weekends. I looked up to these older kids, believing they had special knowledge.

When I read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in 1968, I didn’t know about the spiritual side of psychedelic drugs. But I’d soon find out when I read Leary’s The Politics of Ecstasy. But that was months later. In the 1960s, drugs seemed about ecstasy, while in the 1970s, they were about exploring spiritual horizons.

Crazy fun is what I saw in my first reading of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I pictured The Merry Pranksters like a trippier version of The Monkees. But I imagined them looking like the kids in the news stories about Haight-Asbury.

A few years ago, when I first rented Magic Trip, I was shocked by how Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters dressed. They didn’t have long hair or weird clothes. They wore the kind of shirts I wore in 1965. In fact, they reminded me of what the Beach Boys looked like before The Beatles.

The Merry Pranksters’ antics were less sophisticated than any episode of The Monkees. I couldn’t believe how silly and uncool they were. Magic Trip uses the 16mm film Kesey and the Pranksters took on their 1964 trip in Furthur. Probably the same film Tom Wolfe viewed to write his book.

And the Acid Tests were childish. No wonder Leary and Albert were anxious to get rid of these guys. And I can’t blame Kerouac for getting drunk and looking so goddamn morose when he had to endure an evening with the Pranksters. I have to admit, after watching Magic Trip, even my young 15-year-old self would have thought the Pranksters completely uncool. I don’t know how Larry McMurtry was so patient with them.

This week I reread The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and rewatched Magic Bus. I supplemented those two with videos I found on YouTube. With this reading, I was impressed with Wolfe’s reporting and writing.

I love books about generational cohorts that create artistic/literary movements like The Beats, The Lost Generation, The Transcendentalists, or the German Romantics. Ken Kesey and the Pranksters inspired that kind of a movement, although theirs was less defined by specific artistic works.

They could even be the headwaters of the 1960s drug counterculture. Many writers have suggested Ken Kesey and the Pranksters were the children of the Beats and parents of the Hippies. However, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Cassady were the tip of the iceberg of Beat-like people emerging all across America in the 1950s. And Kesey and the Pranksters were another visual tip of a new wave of rebellion. Actually, I think it was all one wave.

I was surprised to see so many references to Ken Kesey and the Pranksters in the YouTube videos about The Grateful Dead. I just ordered The Last Great Dream: How Bohemians Became Hippies and Created the Sixties by Dennis McNally. I hope his book explores those theories and provides a history of what happened next. Did this movement end when Jerry Garcia died?

I was intrigued by this video from The Shakedown Archives. (That channel focuses on the Grateful Dead’s history.)

This video accuses Tom Wolfe of spending too little time with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. That because he only did acid once and didn’t like it, he couldn’t have fathomed what it meant to be on the bus. In another video, Kesey said The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was a good book, an accurate book, but it just didn’t understand everything about him.

I’m fascinated by how history is reported. Is it ever 100% accurate and complete? I often ask people who lived in the 1960s to name books they feel captured those times. No one book stands out. I wasn’t there, but for some reason I feel this book might be the best for what it covers. I compare its quality to The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, a book I might use for the 1970s.

One reason I back Wolfe on this is that he doesn’t editorialize about his subject. He doesn’t judge. He observes. He got to interview many of the principal players and see all the films. Just because he did all this work in three weeks doesn’t mean he couldn’t grok it. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters could never edit their own film.

But there’s one other clue. Throughout the story, Kesey and the Pranksters judged people by whether they were on or off the bus, and then by the acid tests. Tom Wolfe graded them in one place. He compared them to Hermann Hesse’s book, Journey to the East. I read that back in the 1970s. I completely understood what Wolfe was saying, but to be sure, I reread the book this week.

Hesse’s book is about H. H., who remembers being on a pilgrimage with a special group of spiritual people. He was on the bus. Somehow he got lost from the group. He was off the bus. Eventually, H. H. finds Leo, the leader of their group. H. H. wants to write the history of their group, but can’t. He’s even been given access to the group’s vast library of mystical documents. Leo even tries to show him that the documents are worthless by burning some of them. It’s not until H. H. sees two figurines that represent him and Leo that he understands. He sees the light from each figure merge.

Tom Wolfe put Ken Kesey on the Merry Pranksters on this higher plane. He knew that just seeing them wasn’t enough. On the outside, they looked goofy and stupid. Maybe he was saying that unless people merged together with some inner light, it was impossible to understand. Wolfe knew he was never on the bus, in real life or spiritually, but he guessed what it meant.

I remember back in the 1970s belonging to a group of people who did various drugs. We all moved to the same street. We pursued many wild, creative projects, which we were very good at. We dressed in silly clothes and played silly games. Years later, I was in a second group. They were about mysticism, meditation, and spirituality. More like what Ram Das taught. In both cases, it’s about being in the group, exploring the edge of consciousness. In each case, we had our own version of being on the bus.

In another YouTube video, one I can no longer find, the narrator felt that being on the bus meant you were moving and part of a group. That Jack Kerouac’s failure was that he had stopped moving and became solitary. He said these artistic/literary movements ended when individuals branched off to be by themselves. I liked that idea. They also said being a Deadhead was all about being part of a group.

When I was a kid reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, I think that’s what I wanted. To be part of a group. I wanted to find my own kind. I did that several times over my life. I don’t have that now. It’s sad.

JWH

Why I Want to Break My YouTube Addiction, or Get It Under Control

by James Wallace Harris, 9/14/26

I love YouTube. If I’m not careful, I’ll watch it for four or five hours a day. And I’m not saying YouTube is all bad; it’s just so damn addictive. But YouTube also has tons of crapola content to avoid. If I mined more gold and less pyrite, I might feel better about being such an avid fanboy.

Is avoiding bad content my problem, my self-control, or can we blame content creators or even YouTube? Too many people see YouTube as a gold rush, especially after AI. They have no scruples seeking views and will do anything to capture our attention.

Either I figure out how to watch the best content and ignore the bad, or I’ve got to go cold turkey. Yet, what determines if a video is worth my precious time? Is it up to me, or could YouTube become its own Maxwell Perkins? What makes newspapers and magazines great aren’t just the writers, but the editors.

There are two approaches. First, identify the best and ignore the rest. Or I could keep pulling weeds until YouTube is a beautiful lawn for my mind.

Identifying the Best

Subscribe to channels produced by the best magazines. The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, etc. This works for the pro content, but not the amateur.
Subscribe to channels with trustworthy human hosts. YouTube is fantastic because it allows anyone to create content. It’s open to amateurs. But somebody has to hold the hook.
Limit which topics to follow. My mind wanders, and YouTube leads it all over the universe.
Find the hosts that I’m convinced know what they are talking about.
Stick to sites that don’t waste my time.

Identifying the Worst

If it’s AI-generated, I pull the plug.
If they bury the lead. This drives me insane. I always back out when I realize this is happening.
They spend 30 minutes covering five minutes of information.
If they use AI photos or videos, or stock photos or videos that don’t match the narration. Or they use stock photos with watermarks.
If the human host is not qualified.
If the human host depends on AI slop.
If the thumbnail is deceptive.
If the title is deceptive.
If the channel is designed solely to sell something.
If the host is obviously an influencer.
If the reviews are paid for.
When AI is used instead of real photos. For example, all these images have famous actors in them, but you can’t recognize any of them.

Luckily, I pay for YouTube Premium Lite, so I don’t have to watch commercials. However, if I didn’t pay that toll, I’d probably never watch YouTube because of the insane bombardment of ads.

I Wish YouTube Would …

Have something like a “get the hook” button. Meaning, never show me this channel again.
And if I’ve used the hook, let YouTube’s AI deep-six anything like that again.
Switch/setting that filters out pure AI content.
Strict rule requiring all AI-generated video to be clearly watermarked.
A method that allows viewers to report misinformation.
Hire human editors who reject shitty content. Basically, YouTube is one vast slushpile that everyone is reading. Hire some editors who can tell content providers they suck and should try harder.
Go ahead and use AI to recognize the content I value and reject what it knows I will hate. Potentially, this could make YouTube irresistible.

YouTube is Changing

A Few Examples I Admire

Just Josh is an A+ site for laptop reviews. I post this video because Just Josh has problems with YouTube too. Much of what makes content bad for viewers also makes YouTube bad for creators.

Listen to how he’s going to combat AI. It’s a case of fighting fire with fire. I like that. AI search engines and AI YouTube slop are killing his channel. His approach is to use AI to make his channel even more useful to humans.

I admire CBS Sunday Morning, but I seldom watch broadcast TV. Using YouTube to catch the best of broadcast TV makes watching YouTube more valuable. It’s funny to contrast the professionals at CBS with amateur YouTube content creators reporting on the same information.

My opinions sync well with the science fiction book reviews by Bookpilled. YouTube channels don’t have to be by world-class experts. Just people you trust.

Useful Charts has a highly unique focus. Matt Baker explains history using charts. It’s very effective.

Usagi Electric focuses on rebuilding old computers. This is rather esoteric. But that’s a significant virtue of YouTube: finding the esoteric topics you’re interested in.

Python Programmer promotes learning. I have no idea what his credentials or educational background involve, but I’ve come to trust him. YouTube allows anyone to teach. It would be great if the system had a way to validate what’s being taught for accuracy, but I don’t see how that’s possible. We all have to decide for ourselves. There are too many channels where I’m wary of the host.

AstroBackyard is a channel devoted to astrophotography. This is a hobby I wish I had, but I don’t for many reasons. I live vicariously through his videos. There are many YouTube creators who I wish I could be like.

Pop Goes the 60s is a great example of an amateur expert. His videos are well done, well researched, and worth their length.

Pete Beard has cornered the market on videos about old book and magazine illustrators. His little videos are beautiful and instructive. It’s an extremely narrow focus, but he does it so well.

I could list dozens of more channels I follow. I don’t want to point to channels that annoy me. I don’t really want to pick on people. Some creators are well-intentioned but lack ability. Others use every trick in the book to get views because they dream of giving up their day jobs and becoming rich. This type has exploded since ChatGPT.

And don’t get me wrong, some people can wring some amazing content out of AI. But so much of it is horrible. On the other hand, what will happen when AI gets so good that anyone – and I mean anyone, even a five-year-old kid asks an AI to create a 30-minute professional quality video for YouTube that will get a million hits, and the AI does it?

One reason I want to reject AI content is not that I’m prejudiced against AI, but because I enjoy seeing what humans can do. YouTube is a wonderful venue for that, but it needs some kind of control. I wonder if a voting system like the one on IMDb.com? I find that any movie or TV show that gets a 7.0 or higher rating is something I’m likely to enjoy. But there is a technical issue. I watch YouTube on my television. How would I enter the rating?

I don’t know if YouTube has any incentive to help its viewers find better content. It’s already the most popular streaming service.

If I can’t learn to discipline my YouTube addiction, I will have to give it up. Yesterday I didn’t watch any YouTube, and I got so much more done. Today, I watched a little and still got a lot done. That’s a good sign.

JWH

Could UGreen Create a NAS/Media Server That People With No Tech Skills Could Use?

by James Wallace Harris, 9/12/26

The other day, my wife told me her friends wanted a Jellyfin server like ours. I was surprised by this. I asked why. Susan said she told them how she watched TV, and they wanted to do the same thing. I had to explain that my UGREEN NAS DXP2800 cost $300, and two Seagate IronWolf 12TB drives cost $800. Plus, it was very difficult to set up.

That ended the discussion.

I should have told her that any computer could be a Jellyfin server as long as it had the space to store files and had a DVD/BD player to rip discs with the free MakeMKV. That’s zero cost. But I doubt they even had the technical know-how to go with that low-ball route.

And even if they could set up a Jellyfin server, it’s not practical unless you have a bunch of old DVDs lying around. We have an IKEA bookcase, shelved two-deep with DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Jellyfin is best for people who like to own their own content. Jellyfin is a pain to set up on a NAS, but somewhat easy on a local computer. For day-to-day use, it’s far more convenient than using a DVD/BD player.

I initially bought my Jellyfin setup to save money. Susan likes to watch the same old TV shows over and over while sewing. We were subscribing to Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, HBO, Amazon, and Apple just so Susan could watch about a dozen old TV series.

We already owned several of them on DVD, but she hates messing with the DVD player. I told Susan I could buy the others, set up the server so watching was as convenient as using Netflix, and we could cancel all those subscriptions. Which we did.

Susan was skeptical at first. And she thought using the streaming services was nicer than using Jellyfin, but she’s since adapted and is happy. I’ve already paid for the NAS and drives.

The UGREEN DXP2800 turned out to be even more useful for me. I cancelled Dropbox. Now all my computers use the NAS for file services. But I also set up YACReader Server. That gives me a library to manage my digital books and magazines. My digital library is available from my computers, tablets, and iPhone. That’s a lot of utility. Unfortunately, it’s not practical for the average user.

Yesterday, I started ripping my CDs to FLAC and turned on DLNA on the NAS. I can now play my CDs from my WiiM stereo systems, iPhone, or computers.

We can play movies, TV shows, audiobooks, ebooks, and music from any device. All of this made having the NAS big fun.

But this got me thinking. What would it take for Susan’s friends to have the same functionality without any technical hassle? Ripping DVDs, BDs, and CDs is a lot of work. Often it’s annoying because of frequent problems.

Could UGREEN create an all-in-one box that rips discs and also functions as a media player? Ripping discs is finicky. I have three different drives for two computers, using five different programs. If one drive and program refuse to rip a disc, I try another program or drive. UGREEN would need bulletproof software to sell such a user-friendly consumer product.

Would it be legal to ship it preconfigured with Jellyfin and YACReader? UGREEN has its own software that serves various kinds of media, but it isn’t very good. They also need a program like dBpoweramp. Plus, ripping discs is a legal gray area.

Over the years, I’ve bought some complete TV series on Amazon – the kind that Amazon maintains for me to stream when I want. I only bought from them when they were a good buy. Most of the time, buying a digital copy of a complete TV series on Amazon is more expensive than buying the complete series on DVD or Blu-ray. That’s really ridiculous.

For example, Barney Miller is $40 for the DVD set, but each season is $15 for the digital edition. That show has eight seasons, so $120 for the complete series. Plus, Amazon doesn’t sell all eight seasons.

But using Amazon would save people the expense of buying and maintaining a media server. If Amazon sold all eight digital seasons of Barney Miller for $40 for perpetual use, it would be a better deal. No ripping, no server, and no backup.

However, many people believe buying digital copies is renting because someday the company managing that content will go under or decide to quit supplying the service. Amazon is not likely to go bankrupt. If Amazon, or another company, can be trusted, this would be the solution for Susan’s friends. It would actually be my choice too.

Maintaining a server, worrying about backups, and ripping discs is a pain.

I don’t like the current streaming model for TV and movies. Too many subscriptions to cover all the shows we want available. And more and more, many TV shows aren’t available to stream.

A New Paradigm

What if Amazon, or other companies, sold us digital content – movies, TV shows, music, ebooks – but instead of solely relying on them to always provide that content, they would also allow us to download the content to our own servers?

This would feel like owning – not renting. Amazon would be the backup for when we need to reinstall the content. Sure, some people want something physical to hold, but once I rip my content, the boxes of discs are stuffed into a bookcase I never look at.

If you don’t want to run a server, just let Amazon stream it.

There’s a growing backlash to subscriptions. I know corporations love subscriptions, but people don’t. I hate when I’m subscribed to Netflix and realize I haven’t used it in months. Netflix has a pause policy, but the pauses are limited. I’m about to cancel Netflix because I can’t pause as long as I want.

I hate messing with discs. And I don’t want to steal stuff off the internet. Companies should be able to sell digital content cheaper than manufacturing discs, boxes, and shipping. I’d feel like I owned what I bought. UGREEN and other companies could make servers for those people who aren’t skilled enough technically to set them up and maintain them, but I doubt they will

Most people should just stick with stream subscription services. But for those people who don’t like renting their content, we’d love a new paradigm that feels like owning. I do feel like I own my Kindle and Audible books even if it’s an illusion. I have thousands in my libraries.

Amazon offers a limited form of this for movies and TV shows, but their current pricing is too much. And I like buying complete series. For example, I’d like to own The Big Bang Theory. Currently, it’s $73 for 37 discs. That’s more than I’m willing to pay. The same box, listed as new, is $42 on eBay. The company that sells The Big Bang Theory should be able to sell a digital version for $35 and make the same profit.

However, even the $73 price isn’t bad compared to HBO, where it currently streams. We typically watch 1 episode a night when we’re going through a complete series. 279 episodes is almost 10 months of HBO. That’s $185.00 at the current subscription price. Since we seldom watch movies, we’d need to watch several TV series while subscribing to HBO to make it cost-effective. That just doesn’t happen.

Susan and I watch a single drama and two sitcoms each night. We hardly ever find all three on one streaming service. Considering the math above, you see why it’s cheaper for us to buy complete series on DVD. We also tend to rewatch old favorites, so the overall cost is further reduced.

We’re currently watching Lark Rise to Candleford on BritBox. It’s 40 episodes. That’s costing me $26 for two months of subscribing. I should have bought it for $21 on eBay. Especially if Susan wants to see it again. I was just being lazy that night.

As viewers balk at the subscription model, I hope corporations offer other sales models. The subscription model is great if you don’t worry about money and love convenience. But times are getting weird when it requires a spreadsheet to keep up with all the subscriptions we sign up for.

I don’t want to go back to an all-analog world again. But a digital-owned model might work.

JWH

The above photo is my UGREEN NAS sitting on top of a bookcase. Beside it is a portable drive used for a backup.