Do I need physical media anymore?
There are a few DVDs that are (hopefully) coming out soon that have me pretty excited, such as Phantasm 2 and Trick ‘r Treat. Side note, Teen*Idol had the opportunity to see Trick ‘r Treat (review here) – I’m totally jealous.
However, in a roundabout way, these DVDs that I’m looking forward to have made me realize that I haven’t cared much about buying any other DVDs or CDs for quite a while. The last DVD I bought? I can’t even remember. Might have been Frisky Dingo… but, anyway, what I’m wondering is: Do I need physical media anymore?
This is something that my opinion has definitely evolved on. I’m not going to search it myself, but I’m sure I have previously posted about preferring to hold physical media in my hands. You can scour the archives and nail me on that point if you want. I remember when iTunes was first making a big splash, I thought: Why would I buy an album from iTunes when I could get a physical item instead for roughly the same price? I can always rip my physical CDs into iTunes so why not opt for owning the physical item?
Well, I’ve been doing some cleaning in the ‘ol basement and there’s a big pile of CDs and DVDs, most of which I don’t really care about anymore. I skim over my shelf and I’ve got stuff like Requiem For A Dream, which is a great film, but I haven’t watched that DVD in years and I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again. So why do I have it? It’s just taking up space.
It’s not a cynical “I can just pirate all this stuff” thing, either. I’m willing to pay a fair price for entertainment media. For example, I have a Netflix subscription and I love it. Streaming Netflix onto the TV via my Xbox is pretty killer. I keep an eye out for Amazon’s MP3 deals. They sell you DRM-free songs, so even though it’s digital data, you do end up feeling like you “own” the product. The other day I wanted to hear “Dizz Knee Land” by Dada (shut up, you liked that song, too) and while I admit that the first thing I did was look for a torrent (did I ever claim to be a saint?) after a minute or so I just went to Amazon and bought the MP3 legitimately. It was easy, reasonably priced and that file is mine forever.
I don’t hate physical media. My Netflix plan is 3 DVDs plus streaming. There are many, many titles in their catalog that are not in their streaming library. For those films, I get the physical DVD in the mail. You also don’t get the special features and DVD extras in the streaming library, so the physical disc still has advantages as a delivery medium. But I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about owning the physical item and having to permanently store it. When I’m done with a Netflix DVD I mail it back and it’s not cluttering up my house.
I’m not ready to completely give up owning physical copies. I do like having things on the shelf. I dig the cover art. I want to re-watch certain things over and over. And it’s not like a digital library doesn’t have its own unique downsides. A big one is that you’ve gotta back that stuff up once in a while or you’ll be pretty miserable when your hardware fails.
More and more, though, I’m not interested in buying a physical copy of most things. I’m still willing to pay for the experience, but I don’t want the item hanging around afterward.
Kind of like a hooker, I guess.
What do you guys think? Do you prefer to own physical DVDs and CDs, or are you migrating toward a digital library?
Filed under: Commentary, DVD
jackie said:
I always delete a movie file after I watch it. I like to have DVDs of my favorite movies because I enjoy the commentary, the cover art and the special features. Not to mention surround sound!
Fake Larry said:
There’s the difference. It sounds like you don’t want to keep movies you don’t plan on watching again. Well, that’s kind of obvious.
I have a modest library of films I watch, some of them almost every year. The others I rent.
They could offer extras in file form too, and they probably will. I’ve predicted that, if you look at recent projects like His Name Is Jason, the “extras” may be coming from other sources anyway.
Jeff said:
Follow-up question: What’s the best way to unload old DVDs and CDs for a few quick bucks?
jackie said:
Amazon.
jackie said:
Or me – shoot me a list of DVDs you wanna sell.
Sn4tcH said:
I don’t know, I like to own movies I like, but otherwise I have no problem watching stuff online.
Teen*Idol said:
I unfortunately have this really bad habit where I refuse to watch some movies if I have the opportunity (internets for example) just because I feel like I rather just buy it. Classic movies that are on Netflix instant are good examples of films I could simply revisit on my 360 FOR FREE, but I just don’t because I feel like as a DVD collector I should own it instead. If I watch it on my 360, next time I see the DVD for sale I won’t buy it because I had just recently seen it. That kills me.
As for music, when it comes to bands I’m not a big fan of but feel like listening to once in a awhile, I just download it. But when it comes to actual bands I love, since my taste of music is basically unheard of and hard to explain, I rather support the band and buy there albums for $5 since they need money for food and gas when they tour. Especially since our little booking site brings these 3 chord pop-punk bands to LA from all around. teenagebonehead.com
Fake Larry said:
I like to buy used DVDs. I scavenge around and often get them for 5 bucks sometimes even a little less when they do 4 for 15 dollars type sales. It’s generally more worth it that way.
I’ll buy some of anyone’s used DVDs if you gimme a good price especially if I take a lot of them off your hands.
For the time being I still can’t watch anything online. I should save the money for a good internet connection, but believe it or not, buying used DVDs is still cheaper month to month than paying the internet bill for ultra high speed.
That should be part of your calculation too, also in accessing the value of video games. You paid 60 bucks for the game, but how much did it cost you to play online for 5 months?
spkthed said:
Just a thought, but actually owning non-digital media means that either you rip your media (illegal) or you replace it every 7 years as technology changes. Blue-Ray is about to invalidate all of the DVD’s that we own. Jeff, unload them while you can!