> This is how it goes in other countries, too, where you cannot even legitimately get disks or downloads, much less be able to afford them.
Oh yes, thank you for remembering that. It's truly an exception around here.
Pretty much all streaming services refuse to accept my money or provide access to 0.1-1% of their catalog (compared to what is available in the US, literally a few to a few dozen shows/movies) for exactly the same price per month, so who would even bother? Of course, you can always try to find a working VPN, if they weren't getting blocked all the time.
I believe Spotify is the only service that gives access to the same selection as in every other country.
So everyone "pirates" everything, especially if you want content in its untranslated original form.
Edit: except for games. Most games are available from Steam and other major platforms, and those are very popular.
Spotify has different selection depending on the country. In the past Spotify was not available in my country, so I had to use workarounds, which meant using accounts from different countries, and jumping between them definitely changed what I was able to play from my playlists.
Spotify added my country this year. Within a few months, a lot of labels removed my country from their authorized list for no obvious reasons. We don't have any sanctions or existing outlets here. Just geo-blocking for the sake of geo-blocking.
Same experience here. Video game consoles used to come with modchips preinstalled. For a long time I was the odd guy who bought original stuff. Streaming services made it much easier to consume but I still see the occasional person relying on ad-filled blogs with download links.
Oh yes, thank you for remembering that. It's truly an exception around here.
Pretty much all streaming services refuse to accept my money or provide access to 0.1-1% of their catalog (compared to what is available in the US, literally a few to a few dozen shows/movies) for exactly the same price per month, so who would even bother? Of course, you can always try to find a working VPN, if they weren't getting blocked all the time.
I believe Spotify is the only service that gives access to the same selection as in every other country.
So everyone "pirates" everything, especially if you want content in its untranslated original form.
Edit: except for games. Most games are available from Steam and other major platforms, and those are very popular.