People were dismayed to learn that the perennial Peanuts special, It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is no longer airing on television as we know/knew it. Apple TV+ snagged the rights to it and the other two major holiday Peanuts specials. Now: the good news is that Apple streamed it for free from October 30th to November 1st. So even if you didn’t have an Apple TV+ subscription, you could check it out. But it does bring up an important point that we’ve mentioned before.
It’s very handy to be able to take advantage of the fact that everything’s available everywhere pretty much all the time. And a lot of it is available for free. And the stuff that’s not available for free is generally available for a nominal fee. But you’re, at best, renting access. You don’t own it.
And that’s fine for most things. How much of the stuff you would watch on Netflix would you actually want to own? Or the stuff you listen to on Spotify? Rock on with that stuff. But…anything you would be sad to see go away, whether it’s a Peanuts special, or The Beatles music catalog, or the TV show Friends…it’s a good idea to just go ahead and buy it. It’s expensive on Amazon now ($20 on Blu-Ray), but usually there’s a used DVD of it available for $5. Doubtless a lot of people had the same idea which is why they’re out of stock. Set yourself a reminder for March and snag it then when it’s cheaper.
But do snag it. And whatever else that might disappear on you. It’s fine to rent, but own when you really love something.
