Likely preaching to the choir with this for many here, but felt like putting together a list of sources and a little explainer of why go out of the way for unrestricted digital media.
A Brief Rationale
Unrestricted digital media stands apart from restricted or streamed digital media in that it’s simply more stable and reliable. It’s there regardless of if your internet’s down or some business agreements change. If you still buy physical media you know what I’m talking about. There’s a basic peace of mind and convenience in having a piece of media simply there with you.
Unrestricted digital media provides a similar peace of mind with the added conveniences of being digital.
Some Sources
Contemporary Books
Public Domain Books and Audiobooks
Music
Video-Games
Multimedia
Movies/Shows Workaround
- DVDs, disc drives, and Handbrake with libdvdcss. 😉
There are undoubtedly many more sources I’m missing, so please add them in the comments!
p.s. legal is only in the title 'cause lemmy world ToS stuff. I have no qualms with sharing, and the gray ways.
A couple of the (music) artists I follow on Patreon give you access to mp3’s. That’s like…exactly where I want the money to go (the artist) and what I want in return (a file I “own”).
Good call! I don’t do much with Patreon so it hadn’t come to mind.
Discovered a couple of them through YouTube and landed on their Patreon pages. One has almost the exact same taste in music as I do and grew up on, but he covers them in Spanish insanely well. Worth a couple dollars a month for sure.
I keep a list of these at
(Some links are no longer up, but can be searched and found on other sites. eg. archive.org)
Here are some open media repos.
en.wikipedia.org ( encyclopedia )
en.wikivoyage.org ( travel guide )
foodista.com ( food recipes )
openclipart.org ( clipart images )
gutenberg.net.au ( ebooks )
librivox.org ( audiobooks )
openstreetmap.org ( street maps )
bartvandewoestyne.github.io/osswin ( pc software )
bartvandewoestyne.github.io/osswin/games.html ( pc games )
opensourcemac.org ( mac software )
libregamewiki.org ( libre games )
fontlibrary.org ( fonts )
lifesciencedb.jp/bp3d ( human body )
plosone.org ( peer reviewed scientific journal )
musopen.org ( classical music )
freesound.org ( sounds )
curriki.org ( teaching resources )
wikihow.com ( howto manual )
jamendo.com ( music )
freemusicarchive.org ( music )
openmetalcast.com ( metal music )
mixotic.net ( dj mixes )
vodo.net ( independent movies and documentaries ) [ now archived on archive.org ]
instructables.com ( DIY projects )
thingiverse.com ( 3d printable objects )
And some webcomics:
http://perthfreeculture.org/comics.html
I’m always keen to hear about more resources. Excellent post.
Extra resource:
Free Kids Books
https://freekidsbooks.org/license/creative-commons/
Around 600 CC books for children at different levels for ages 2-5, 6-9, and 10-13.
Story, music, maths, and others.
Hell yeah, thanks for sharing more sources!
Movies/Shows Workaround
- DVDs, disc drives, and Handbrake with libdvdcss. 😉
It is worth mentioning to those who are concerned about the legality of format shifting your media you are free and clear to do so - on any media up through DVD. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Bluray rips are a “legal” nono … or at very least a gray area. It is unquestionably corpo-bullshit but something you should be aware of.
p.s. legal is only in the title 'cause lemmy world ToS stuff. I have no qualms with sharing, and the gray ways.
Aye, if you arr dabbling in the gray ways it’s best to find a weathered sea dog who can help you chart a safe course.
