Physical media value

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Do you prefer physical media to digital?

I do. I don’t care if it is movies, photos, music, games or books, I always prefer and make use of physical media much more than exclusively digital media. Sure storage and maintenance of a collection of physical goods requires more resources, but still I vastly prefer it.

With the renaissance that vinyl and cassette have seen in recent years it appears that perhaps tech companies are not always in touch with consumers as we head into a more download driven culture, with video games, movies, books and music sometimes now only being available in a somewhat transient short life that is digital only.

Of course convenience is a major selling point to digital goods, but what about longevity, the physical feel, the product design and materials, the smell, the feel, the portability and ease of ownership?

Also the platforms on which the media is implemented, be they physical or digital, how do you feel about these? Forced obsolescence?

The reduction in quality or capacity that physical media often imposes, perhaps due to technological or practical reasons - is it something you can compromise on?

How about the environmental considerations? Do you think of these or not?

Anyone interested in such a topic?

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#2

Digital media.

Just yesterday I had to go hunting for a track(Polmo Polpo’s “Kiss Me Again and Again”) it’s nowhere to be found online. No YouTube links, no sustainable way to repurchase it. Completely wiped away from time, it seems.

Low and behold I found my old external hard-drive and was able to locate the track and rode down the nostalgic disco/funk trip.

Physical media- a complete lost cause.

No to mention- physical media is easily misplaced and is often recoverable from wherever you purchased it.

Physical media is more romantic. But Digital media is the media of the future for a reason

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#3

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#4

Ha, I guess in this case a physical backup of the digital media was the saviour, I suppose when talking about digital media making it retrivable physically is somewhat a double edged sword - by that I mean having a physical backup brings it more into the real of physical media, requiring storage and physical space, as opposed to exclusively digital content which is only present in the cloud or on a phone.

There is an old saying that data only really exists if it exists in 3 places…

#5

Physical media is my preference when it comes to music & films. Even my favourite photos i’ll get printed.
I ignore music that i can’t get on Vinyl or cd. Yes i’m missing out, but there’s too much out there. Physical media limits what i can buy/listen too, so that keeps things in check. When i run out of space i sell things.

I went to see Phantom Thread the other day & was reminded of the beauty of shooting on film.

I worked for 10 years at a feature film/advertising based Negative Cutting company & we heard about numerous test where audiences (the general public) were shown films on print & digital media. Same result always, more audience connection with the film/print versions, even empathy to characters etc.

#6

physical media here as well…although both forms are somewhat ‘volatile’ (for one or another reason) i still feel like having something tangible makes a difference…a cloud, well…those make rain and the like and come and go…an object is bound to be there for a bit longer (maybe?) :grin:

#7

I like tangible objects. I grew up with them. Had huge CD, vinyl, VHS, DVD collections. And finally bought tons of mp3s. But, I got tired of repurchasing in different formats. Although I like the thought of permanence of owning that CD or VHS, I also like to own less and less, and avoid clutter. Plus, physical objects can break or become worn out, or get lost or stolen. Digital files can become corrupt or disappear. Nothing’s perfect. Enjoy it while you can.

I will say I was browsing Amazon Prime movies the other night and realized how alien a concept it was to me to purchase a digital movie file for $19 or whatever. Just something about it I can’t get into. I would much rather just rent something in a digital file format, and then if it turns out to be my favorite movie of all time, I’ll go buy it on blu-ray.

For some reason my caveman brain can rent a digital file for $5 but doesn’t quite trust that digital file to stick around if I purchase it for $19. Same reason I would backup my mp3s to external drives and also burn discs. What if Amazon’s policies change, formats change, players OS updates are incompatible with Apps, etc.? Just seems to be more middlemen involved that can change rules at any point. With a record or VHS, it’s just me, the media, and a player. Also, what happens if I buy a digital movie file and don’t like it? I could sell the blu-ray on ebay at least.

TL;DR… I’m old.

#8

I dig it- I feel the vibe for preferring to buy movies in a physical format, but I’ve tried that and it’s such a chore to actually locate the disc and then load it into my medium of playing.

I have yet to purchase a film in a digital format

#9

I’m a mixed bag. Where I prefer physical: console computer games and CDs. I still regularly but albums on disc - must be well over 1,000 now.

Digital: books, movies and pc games.

I used to live physical, tangible stuff but after one flat move too many took the call that my back could no longer handle carting a couple hundred VHS tapes, another couple hundred dvds and my computer games. Flogged or chucked most of it but still got my Blu-ray’s. For now. Flogging everything sure gave me back some wall space - was obsessed with having everything out on display.

Don’t think I’ll ever get rid of my album collection though. Full of forgotten gems and effectively curates my life over the past 20 years.

#10

Ha! Yes, I know this feeling. One of the main reasons I sold all mine I think. Books however, are still here. Boxes and boxes and boxes. Jesus, it’s like lugging around a smalltown’s library.

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#12

I would be hesitant to buy physical media if a digital version didn’t come with it. I can’t say how many cassettes, cds, dvds or vinyls have had accidents just from life and it’s activities (pets, kids, sasquatch, etc…).

I do think there are some people cheaping out of the manufacturing process, as I’ve received some vinyls recently that feel thin and scratched. In that case having the physical media isn’t very appealing to me.

However when an an artist such as Surachai puts out a well made vinyl, I love adding it to my collection. The wax mage editions are beautiful and high quality.

The digital versions are great for on the go, playing the car etc. I guess for me it just depends on the artist and how I’m trying to support them. Same for books as well, I love having a physical copy for relaxation but sometimes I want to just hit ctrl+f and search out something so a digital version is helpful. Movies and games though, not so much. I’m more than happy to have games and movies available on the cloud where I can get to them easily.

Here is a pic of a Surachai Wax Mage Vinyl:

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image.jpg1000×1009 218 KB

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#13

I recently went home to my parents and noticed my CD collection with about 3-400 CDs from years ago. This thread made me think it would be cool to get those CDs to where I live now to sample some stuff from them. Aaaand then it dawned on me what a hassle it would be to transport them, they might be blank, and I don’t think I have a CD player anywhere :smiley:

#14

It’s a good question for sure. While I definitely feel somewhat empty in the acquisition of music without any physical medium, I feel like I’ve always been slightly out of time in this respect, partly due to my age (46). I purchased music most passionately and prolifically as a teenager in the 80s and of course those cassettes didn’t survive the constant playing and moving over the years. When CDs came about I made the switch, but never fell in love with the format. Now my collection of thousands is useless to me and I feel no more emotional connection to them than I do to an iTunes playlist. Frankly, I want to get rid of them and clear out the clutter.

I’ve never had a record player unfortunately. While that format ticks most of the boxes and certainly had the sex appeal, when you don’t own a single piece of vinyl and don’t have money to spend, switching to it is a non starter.

My band is going to release a record later this year and this question is on our minds. While we’ll press some viny for sure, it’ll just be a small run for posterity and the odd fan or two that’s into it. I REALLY don’t want to press cds, but it feels pretty weird to try and promote a record via an email link or just telling people to check it out on Spotify.

#15

Cassette has seen a “rennaissance”?

But yeah, If i’m going to pay for something I’d much rather have physical media that i own instead of “licensing”. There is no reduction in quality in Blueray, and vinyl is worth it.

#16

I feel like using both to their strengths.

Physical media, while tanglible and more ”legit”, romantic, ”real” etc, is expensive, ephemeral and always degrades in time, gets lost, stolen, or breaks down eventually. I have a terrible, scruffy remblance of a vinyl collection, most of the discs sound absolutely terrible and unlistenable compared to the digital files of the same material. All the new vinyl I buy, I don’t even listen to it in the fear of ruining it lol! I guess a decade of spinning vinyl with shitty bar technics decks (without my own needles!) is heavily to blame for this slanted view…?

”Digital” (as in files on a filesystem) on the other hand is a virtual, affordable, super-convenient, flexible, infinitely reproducible, and either exists or doesn’t. It is very good for archival purposes and casual day-to-day consumption without worrying if the medium itself is damaged during consumption. However its ”boring” and not as ”legit/real”, and people are terribly misinformed about its qualitative differences…

I like to keep the majority of my cultural assets in digital form,but for the best, most prescious subset of it, I also want to venerate by making ”physical” in addition to having a digital copy. Some books and comics, vinyls etc are just too worthy not to physically own…Whereas I could care less about physically owning most video content I see, the majority of it I can re-watch maybe never, with just a few exeptions, which I could maybe rewatch once every 5-10 years? That stuff is better left to digital in my world…

In terms of what’s ecological, that’s very hard for me to say… Physical copies of stuff create pollution, but so does the creation of digital consuming devices that we use every day… I imagine using both is the worst. But I cannot honestly say which one is the worse offender, I’d maybe lean towards digital polluting more…?

#17

I prefer to buy things physical. I can always make a copy into digital for regular use but if there charging the same for a dl vrs a real cd/dvd etc id rather the real one.

Now if they sold the download for half the price id reconsider :wink:

#18

Well in the eyes of those using them now who had not been using them for the past 10-15 years, I pretty much never stopped using it though, it is my favourite analog format, warts and all.

#19

Currently (slowly) digitizing my CD collection for convenience & posterity but have no plans to give it up. Its been a big part of my life for so long now and id like to keep it going.

For me its also about more than physical vs digital. Always loved the feeling you get when flicking through the racks in music stores and coming across that must have gem - last time it took me nearly 2 years to track down a specific CD (Bryan Adams: Into the Fire). Sure I couldve bought it online or a digital copy but then i wouldnt have got to experience the thrill of the hunt. Plan to keep doing that for as long as possible.

Also a big fan of bandcamp though.

#20

I have always been buying tons of vinyls as I mostly listen genres where absolute gems only come out in a limited run vinyl EP (like up to 300 initial without repress / discog going 200%+ for 2nd hands). It’s been my routine for the past 20 years to digitize vinyl copies as soon as I get them so I can listen whenever I want and keep vinyl copy stored nicely in the shelf. They only get out when I DJ. I do organize digital files every now and again to delete tracks I don’t really dig anymore. After I move unwanted files to iTunes “trash playlist”, I also remove the corresponding 12" from the shelf (head to ebay/discog marketplace). Like the used hardware ecosystem, the physical media is somewhat more sustainable than digital media in my opinion.

Personally, I don’t see (hear) the point of ripping CD/MD and keep the media. I threw away all my CDs about 10 years ago.

#21

Haven’t listened to a CD in probably 5 years, haven’t missed them for a second. I can see the aesthetic and physical benefits of vinyl but I’m increasingly feeling like the burdens outweigh the benefits, particularly now that both manufacturing and the market have narrowed so dramatically: even in the niches where it had a specific hold on people (e.g. DJ / white label culture) it now pretty much just denotes either luxury or nostalgia, neither of which do much for pushing things forward. I think the environmental question is a really important one too: all these slabs of petrochemicals being stashed away in bookshelves or ending up in landfill.

On the other hand, digital media’s problematic in other ways: the vertigo of having instant access to seemingly all of of recorded sound, the shallow listening habits that inculcates, and the total lack of financial sustainability from streaming or downloads for anyone without a massive pre-existing fanbase. This definitely feels like one of the many areas of society where the systems of the 20th century have broken down, but we haven’t worked out how to make new technical solutions operate properly either.