Janus Rose, writing for 404 Media, has an article about a practice I was already doing, but never had a name for, but now I do: digital packratting.

Amazon’s recent decision to stop allowing people to download copies of their Kindle e-books to a computer has vindicated some of my longstanding beliefs about digital media. Specifically, that it doesn’t exist and you don’t own it unless you can copy and access it without being connected to the internet.

The recent move by the megacorp and its shiny-headed billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos is another large brick in the digital wall that tech companies have been building for years to separate consumers from the things they buy—or from their perspective, obtain “licenses” to. Starting Wednesday, Kindle users will no longer be able to download purchased books to a computer, where they can more easily be freed of DRM restrictions and copied to e-reader devices via USB. You can still send ebooks to other devices over WiFi for now, but the message the company is sending is one tech companies have been telegraphing for years: You don’t “own” anything digital, even if you paid us for it. The Kindle terms of service now say this, explicitly. “Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you,” meaning you don’t “buy a book,” you obtain a “digital content license.”

The situation brings to mind an interview I did over a decade ago, with the executive of a now-defunct streaming platform. He told me candidly that the goal of all this was to make digital media a “utility” like gas or electricity—a faucet that dispenses the world’s art as “content,” with tech companies in complete control of what goes in the tank and what comes out of it.

Hearing this was a real tin foil hat moment for me. For more than two decades, I’ve been what some might call a hoarder but what I’ve more affectionately dubbed a “digital packrat.” Which is to say I mostly avoid streaming services, I don’t trust any company or cloud with my digital media, and I store everything as files on devices that I physically control. My mp3 collection has been going strong since the Limewire days, I keep high-quality rips of all my movies on a local media server, and my preferred reading device holds a large collection of DRM-free ebooks and PDFs—everything from esoteric philosophy texts and scientific journals to scans of lesbian lifestyle magazines from the 1980s.

Sure, there are websites where you can find some of this material, like the Internet Archive. But this archive is mine. It’s my own little Library of Alexandria, built from external hard drives, OCD, and a strong distrust of corporations. I know I’m not the only one who has gone to these lengths. Sometimes when I’m feeling gloomy, I imagine how when society falls apart, we packrats will be the only ones in our village with all six seasons of The Sopranos. At the rate we’re going, that might not be too far off.

I have a pretty extensive MP3 collection, but I haven’t listened to them in years. Maybe decades.

I have binders of DVDs that I’ve collected over the years. Recently, I started ripping these DVDs to digital and using a Plex server to access them.

I do not own a Kindle, but my wife does. She happily uses the Kindle app to download books. Although she likes her Kindle, she’s been reading physical books and amassing many “BookTok” favorites. I’ve always collected physical books, but I also have an eclectic assortment of ebook nonfiction and fiction in a digital folder.

Amazon’s Kindle terms of service shift mainly emphasize what I’ve always thought about digital ownership. When you “buy” an ebook from Amazon, you’re actually purchasing a license to access content Amazon owns. This change transforms digital media from an asset you possess to a utility you simply use. I think it’s easier to understand with Netflix. With a Netflix subscription, you can access movies and television shows but don’t “own” them. You buy access when subscribing to a streaming service like Netflix or Spotify.

Over the years, I’ve curated my digital assets and created a personal library. My nostalgia for physical media has been focused solely on vinyl albums, and I’m slowly adding new ones to my collection. I don’t regret getting rid of my cassette or CD collections because digital packratting offers a way to preserve my favorite media without the physical clutter.

Digital ownership is moving toward subscription models. Building your collection of DRM-free content allows you to maintain control over your media. It’s a way to safeguard your digital possessions against potential future access restrictions or content removal and preserve a slice of digital culture for yourself. By curating your collection, you’re creating a digital time capsule of media that matters to you, accessible on your terms.

I like having my own personal digital library. You might, too.