And for those looking to back up locally, there’s yt-dlp and ffmpeg! I can personally attest to yt-dlp working on more than just YouTube. I have both downloaded because yt-dlp handled some online videos better, getting them in one shot instead of only part of it, in my specific anecdotal experience, than ffmpeg. I kept ffmpeg around for reasons I honestly forgot, used them for just one big backup session and never touched them again.

Congratulations on leaving! The silver lining of these platforms continuing to enshittify is that more and more people are finding a breaking point and jumping ship.

The 20-year-old computer might not work but I still have its files good as new because of backups and migrations for me.

Also I just like being able to search for stuff digitally. I misplace physical things very easily even if I do try to have a home for everything, so reducing down to one digital item for reading instead of many books is very helpful for me.

The advantages of paper you cite probably hold water for lots of people, but for me the way digital just erodes all of the problems I would have with physical books makes that the way for me, as I am sure you feel the pros of physical outweigh the cons for you.

I do wonder how popular our respective preferences (physical vs digital copies) are when you restrict to people concerned with privacy.

Independent e-readers (or at least more independent than Amazon): https://itsfoss.com/open-source-ebook-readers-options/

take any care of it

I’m a clumsy person, but also weirdly high-maintenance. I will absolutely papercut myself on a physical book, or spill water on it and feel bad when the pages are deformed, or notice wear and tear and feel bad. Part of why I really prefer digital is because it’s a lot harder for me to hurt myself, my minor spills can just be wiped off, and for some reason I do not notice tech wear and tear nearly as much. I also like the portability of digital books. Goes everywhere my phone goes, no awkwardness about carrying a book. I’m one of the people who really really wants to abandon physical media forever, personally. Less things collecting dust, less things to be super careful around that I cannot even get a single drop of water on. But not everyone is me, where digital helps me evade all my pain points with physical, and where I do personally not feel any digital pain points. I think both options should be available to people; but if I had to pick one of course I’ll go with the one I feel serves my needs best.

Thanks for your long response, fun to read!

Not sure if you’re trying to give me credit for spreading someone else’s work around (in which case thanks, I’ll take it!) or for making the site in the first place (not mine! I am just posting it here).