Sharing files, watching movies, listening to music, and all the other media-related activities are abundantly proposed as Internet services. Any provider can propose an MP3 aside books and eggs; you have to choose among subscriptions that most of the time include items that you don't need or never use. The chapters in this book won't discuss these online services that, if you do the math, cost you a lot, including questioning your privacy, of course. Instead, you are going to be like these providers, and the best one too. Why the best? Because you are the person who is best placed to know what you need. Indeed, as you will know how to implement the services that please you, you'll have the functionalities that will suit you the most.
I'm sure you'll prefer to select the applications you'll like to have at home instead of choosing among the fee subscriptions that providers impose on you.
Let's use an example: if you subscribe to Netflix or Spotify, you pay for the music or video titles you choose among their catalogs. It is obvious that these on-demand content providers offer an impressive choice, but this implies the following two major drawbacks.
As royalties to the majors are required, any media content supplier is forced to constantly pay the titles it offers. This is the reason why:
- You might not be able to find a song
- You might find a studio recorded version although you wanted the live version
- Your music/movies selections might be removed from your playlist because the legal rights have changed
Although the ability to add personal files has been added recently, there are a few limitations, as follows:
- You cannot perform a search in these topics or restrict a search to your collection
- It also lacks a ranking by genre or composer, for enthusiasts of classical and film music
- Artists' profiles still do not distinguish between studio albums, concerts, and compilations