Digital inheritance
I’m a collector. As a society I believe we largely are collectors - the antique market is absolutely immense. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been amassing something. I believe the order went:
- star wars figures
- stamps
- coins
- baseball cards
- comics
- magic cards
- cd’s/dvd’s
- video games
- mid-century-modern furniture
- tobacco pipes
While numbers 9 and 10 are still ongoing, most of the other hobbies died off over time. I’ve traded away most of my cd’s and dvd’s as it’s a simple transition to digital. I’ve been having a tough time getting rid of those video games I spent a lot of time collecting through visiting thrift stores and used video game stores such as the exchange. I haven’t been going to those stores much lately but while driving by one recently a thought crossed my mind. What is going to happen to the entire market of second-hand goods, and how do we hand down our digital goods to future generations?
A lot of people buy their digital goods from Apple, and those files come linked to your Apple ID. There’s no way of transferring those items to anyone else, whether you want to sell or just flat out give them away. Once your time passes are they just… gone? I think this “lifetime” aspect of digital goods has been overlooked by modern technology as we focus on the here & now.
Supposedly this is one of the reasons why ebooks & digital music are priced less than their physical counterparts, but I don’t believe it. I think people just don’t value “invisible” items as much as something concrete they can touch & feel. As a society we’re growing more and more solitary and inward, and this is just another example on how the aspect of physical sharing is going away, and I think it’s a shame.
