Media Consumption & Cost

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Utisz
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by Utisz » Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:19 am

Ferrus wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:58 am
I'm currently doing a low-effort one module a term PG Cert in Data Science with the Uni of London external program as it is the easiest and cheapest way to get access to these.
What does the Data Science course cover? Mainly Machine Learning? Any "Data Engineering" (Databases, NoSQL, Hadoop, ...?).

I think you could learn for a lot cheaper with the material available online, but indeed certification is the issue. I think that certification will play less and less of a role for CS as time passes though.
Ferrus wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:58 am
I can't help but feel the universities have always benefitted from a cozy relationship with the publishers, outside large city libraries most public libraries don't have these resources.
Oh wow, I would say the opposite! The publishers fleece universities, particularly those operating with low resources. Not sure that the universities are benefitting at all from publishers? I don't think university libraries compete with public libraries?

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ashi
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by ashi » Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:44 am

Spartan26 wrote:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 2:32 am
ashi wrote:
Sat Mar 13, 2021 8:43 pm
By which I mean I own hundreds of DVDs and can't stop amassing them please send help.
Do you convert your DVDs to digital files?
I did start doing this with some of the bulk release 4-5 films per disc sets I have, but realistically this ends up being more effort than I am going to put into actually watching them. I do, however, always redeem my digital codes which at this point is a streaming video library from, in my case, Apple who I feel comfortable assuming will be around for a little while. To be clear, I mostly watch things no one cares about and am often paying $1 or less per title.

As for records, I still have mine from childhood, and a few I have picked up in some misguided outburst of nostalgia, but rather than digitise them I should probably admit that I am only keeping them for the memory-triggering sleeves and dispose of the actual vinyl.

starla
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by starla » Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:13 am

Spartan26 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:15 am
Do you do much shopping on Amazon?
I don't do a whole lot of shopping on Amazon, but it is nice when you need a really niche item and there are a few things I buy that I may not be able to find locally. I don't remember when or why I decided to get prime, it might have been while I was in chemo because I was buying a lot of stuff off Amazon then. I do shop at Whole Food sometimes and some of the prime deals there are pretty good.
Spartan26 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:15 am
Second question, have you seen the series called The Patriot?
Never heard of it.

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Ferrus
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by Ferrus » Mon Mar 15, 2021 7:46 am

Utisz wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:19 am

What does the Data Science course cover? Mainly Machine Learning? Any "Data Engineering" (Databases, NoSQL, Hadoop, ...?).
Mainly Machine Learning. Statistics, Machine Learning, Neural Networks and Graph Theory/Social Network Analysis. There exist DE courses but I already know or could quickly teach myself that. But really it is mainly for access to the online library and also the disciplime of practicing for an exam which is important in a heavily maths based subject.
Utisz wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:19 am
Oh wow, I would say the opposite! The publishers fleece universities, particularly those operating with low resources. Not sure that the universities are benefitting at all from publishers? I don't think university libraries compete with public libraries?
Yes, but I mean more in terms of access to cutting edge knowledge. An Athens account is difficult to replace.
Ex falso, quodlibet

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starjots
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by starjots » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:00 am

Spartan26 wrote:
Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:40 am
Do you have cable, satellite, AppleTV, Firestick, Roku, etc?
We cut the cable/satellite about 15 years ago. We have a Roku on one TV, but the main one's built in interface is as good as Roku so we use as is.
Do you have any potential standalone subscription services like Amazon, Hulu, Disney+, Neflix or the like?
All of the above, Hulu with no commercials (extra). We also chip into PBS to get access there. The services vary over time, but I'd say best to worst is Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Disney (most of the stuff on Disney doesn't interest us). All of the services are relatively cheap, but are creeping up.
Any gaming subscriptions?
ESO online - we've both been playing since launch. We used to play Wow until our brains melted.
Do you have any paid music streaming service like Pandora, Accuradio, Spotify, Apple, etc., without ads?
Spotify - we use it infrequently.
Do you have any subscriptions to newspapers or magazines like Washington Post, NYT, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, etc?
Scientific American and The New Yorker (my idea, never read it). Had a NYT subscription for a year during pandemic but let it lapse. I'm a little burned out on news at the moment.
Any pay news service or industry info guide like Reuters, Bloomberg, IMDB Pro, Studio System, gambling, investing, real estate, medical, or peer reviewed findings or standards?
No
Are you a member of any FansOnly sites? Any accompaniment access to regular programming, like America’s Test Kitchen, Nickelodeon interactive games, ESPN +?
No
Am I missing any??
Youtube. I follow fifteen or twenty obscure channels. You can pay for no ads, but I don't yet, but might someday as their ads are getting annoying and I appreciate some of the content.

We also own a fairly large collection of DVDs. These are used on long RV trips and for mindless workouts on the elliptical. Yes, way too fond of this stuff. I promise, we read books too.
Have you found any at least semi-legal ways to circumvent or curtail costs?
We have money, I don't begrudge non-extortionist prices for content. I did hate paying cable bills for a broken user interface and huge loads of commercials. Those guys suck balls and clearly hate their customer base.
Which of your subscriptions would be the most important to you (and why)?
The underlying internet is the most important thing. We have adequate DSL service and it's the only game in town. I'm in the queue to throw more money at Starlink (SpaceX) internet for higher bandwidth connection. After that, Amazon.

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JohnClay
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by JohnClay » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:34 am

I pay AUS$15 a month for YouTube Premium and about AUS$14 a month for Netflix. I am signed into many YouTube devices including computers, TVs, my phone and my wife's iPad. This means I never get ads. Many people I know sign into my Netflix account but they can only watch it on a maximum of two devices at a time (it rarely involves attempts at using three simultaneous devices).
If the video is on Amazon Prime (like Bliss or Upload) I used torrents. Same with many movies and TV shows. I also used torrents to obtain the Billboard charts from the 1920's until 2020. Most years involve the top 100.
On my phone I use YT Music to listen to music.
If the movie can be rented cheaply on YouTube I often do it though they don't allow HD version of movies to be played on a computer perhaps due to the risk of people ripping them....

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MoneyJungle
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by MoneyJungle » Mon Mar 15, 2021 9:01 am

Spartan26 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:49 am
MoneyJungle wrote:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:49 am
I got Peacock for the Premier League and now I watch Hunter for some reason
I never got into Hunter but I always felt Stepfanie Kramer was far more appealing than other "hot female sidekicks" of the tough guy 80s action series cluster, like Heather Locklear and Heather Thomas. I was thinking just the other day of wanting Peacock to watch Strangers with Candy or O'Grady but then I realized those would be Paramount +, I believe, not Peacock. Which, I don't know how much of a desire I'd have to subscribe to it but I wonder if all of Paramount's films would be available? Like, I've not seen advertisements saying "Subscribe to Paramount Plus & see all the Mission Impossibles!" or a picture of Leo & Kate with the caption "Relive Titanic, now on Paramount +." There was some Paramount Network on about 5 years ago that I was getting, and they had some decent 70s films but they were with commercial breaks so I said forget it and never really watched. Some old Starksy & Hutch may've been a 5-minute hoot to watch but I never tuned back in. With Peacock, I wonder if they'll try to keep any content exclusive for the Olympics? Maybe offer the chance to view events live? It's so irksome to get unintended updates on the results 5 hours before they'll show it on TV. I thought it was crazy they couldn't show the 100 Meters race live even though it was in Korea back in '88. But I was a bit more forgiving due to the time zones. Turns out that had nothing to do with it. They're just sucky people who want to tape delay live sports.
Stepfanie Kramer is really charismatic for someone so good looking. I think TJ Hooker era Locklear is as beautiful as a person can be but she was never a good actress (not that I watch Melrose Place. Polygraph me). The thing I like about Hunter is that his wisecracks feel like something Hunter would actually say as opposed to something a tv writer would say. He’s a cop who was raised by mobsters and if they rebooted the show today he’d be speechifying about it all the time but he mainly just talks about the current case, eats chili dogs, fights randos over misunderstandings and drives around in a beat up car. It’s just another thing I love but can’t recommend.

Peacock has Modern Family, the Office and P&R, none of which do anything for me but I think are the tent poles of the service. I watched half an ep of Yellowstone but everyone seemed like a little much. I wash my hands of serial dramas. They all devolve before they deliver.

I love Pro Football Talk with Chris Simms and Mike Florio. I used to resent Simms for being a nepotism hire but he really leans into the persona and I respect his self awareness. It’s hard to find football analysis that isn’t guys yelling at eachother. I haven’t seen them advertising the Olympics. With so much in flux I don’t think they know what they’ll have but I will definitely watch any Olympic sport at three in the morning. Sometimes I put on Premier League replays when I’m doing other stuff.

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Mashy
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by Mashy » Mon Mar 15, 2021 6:39 pm

1. Nope

2. Nope

3. Nope

4. I watch youtube on my desktop and phone

5. Nope

6. Nope

7. Nope

8. I only pay for spotify

9. Nope

10. Nope

11. Nope


My brain is too smol to have enough space to watch all these shows and subscribe to anything other than spotify... I'm a minimalist.. I have to be otherwise I'll be overwhelmed.

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Utisz
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by Utisz » Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:59 am

JohnClay wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:34 am
I pay AUS$15 a month for YouTube Premium and about AUS$14 a month for Netflix. I am signed into many YouTube devices including computers, TVs, my phone and my wife's iPad. This means I never get ads.
Do you not use AdBlock?

Do people not use AdBlock?

I can't imagine a world without AdBlock.

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JohnClay
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Re: Media Consumption & Cost

Post by JohnClay » Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:03 am

Utisz wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 3:59 am
Do you not use AdBlock?

Do people not use AdBlock?

I can't imagine a world without AdBlock.
I used to use AdBlock but the last time I had to reset MacOS I forgot about it... also I don't think you can use AdBlock when using YouTube with a TV or my wife's iPad or my phone's YouTube app....
BTW I find it interesting to see targeted ads for companies, etc, that I had visited.... including Commission Hero (which is a get rich quick scheme I have an opposing site about)
Last edited by JohnClay on Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:17 am, edited 2 times in total.

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