Purge
My conscience has caught up to me at last, and I have decided it is no longer in my interest to have illegal material on my computer. I have replaced most of my commercial software with free and/or open-source equivalents — Buzzsaw with BonkEnc, Microsoft Office with OpenOffice, and so on. In most cases I have found that the free software is actually better and less memory-hoggish than the costly counterpart.
Then there is my music. Today I reorganized all my MP3s into 3 folders. Songs taken from CDs I own go in “Ripped”; songs freely available (mp3.com artists) or in the public domain (classical) go in “Free”; the remainder, illegal stuff, goes in “Other”. While I was reorganizing I also deleted any songs I hadn’t listened to in a while or thought I wouldn’t miss, bringing me down from 1200 to about 450, only 100 of which are illegal. The idea is that each day I’ll convince myself I can live without a few more of these songs, until there is nothing left but legitimate music.
It has been a cathartic experience, all this deleting and re-organizing. As I do it I draw parallels in my mind to certain more tangible events, specifically moving out of a house in which you have lived for the past 7 years. Some things just get left behind.
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Comments
Indeed - free software is the best. However, I’m waiting out for a free image program that completely rocks my socks before ditching Photoshop.
Posted by Ryuko at July 26, 2003 6:35 PM :: LinkGlad to hear it. Perhaps Alex will also eventually convince himself he doesn’t actually need Photoshop.
Posted by Kieran at August 2, 2003 7:52 PM :: LinkPost a comment
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that’s true. it seems easier to me to own something when it’s indisputably mine, and one of few enough that I know it’s going with me. tangible, intangible, it all seems alike. some things I don’t need.
Posted by Danielle at July 26, 2003 5:52 PM :: Link