Physical media in the modern age

[millais]

Wherever possible I go with the cheapest option which is usually digital (which has the benefit of saving a lot of space), but there are a huge number of books out there that have not been digitized and not been in print for many years, so I end up having to buy used dead-tree books quite often. I have to admit, sometimes physical books are better than digital for certain types of engravings and illustrations that don't scan well on the digitization software. Otherwise, there are a couple of neat things that can make a physical copy a little more special outside of limited print or first edition. Sometimes I'll come across a book that has somebody's old custom "Ex Libris" label on the inner cover, or some handwritten dedication on the flyleaf, or historically old newspaper clippings inserted into some pages as bookmarks or packaging. And every now and then, I'll buy a book with enormous fold-out maps or diagrams that are more than five times the size of the book when fully unfolded. Those kinds of fold-outs are very difficult to faithfully digitize, often the digital one can only capture one half of the full thing.

 

[tarni]

I rarely stay in a place for too long so my collection of books and DVDs at some point started moving from basement to basement only. I usually buy digital nowadays

 

[neverendingmidi]

I buy a lot of books as ebooks, but if I find one I love, I tend to buy it as a physical copy as well. Mostly because with a physical book once I buy it, bar a disaster like a fire/flood/tornado, I will be able to read that book in 50 years. There is no such guarantee with any other media. How many different forms have we gone through for music? Records, 8track, cassettes, CDs, MP3... And eventually something new will come along and replace MP3s. Same with any form of video. Eventually the movie you bought digitally will no longer work with whatever the newest programming is. It may take five years, it may take ten, but it will happen.

As long as it’s not destroyed a book can be read a century from the time it was published.

Also, I don’t trust people not to selectively edit ebooks, at least ones from Amazon. If you notice they every so often update books on your kindle app.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

Necro-ing this thread as this is something I am debating right now with movies. I don't trust e-ownership of them, with studios forcing you to buy subscriptions for their shitty services now, and the lack of a guarantee for the longevity of any of the places where you can e-'own' movies - has made me consider buying a bluray for the first time in years. I am not fond of maintaining huge warez libraries anymore either, with the exception of things that aren't available anywhere. Torrent sites can be a real crapshoot, especially for obscure shows or movies.

But it sounds like the major studios want to hasten the death of Bluray, with Disney not bringing out some of their capeshit out on physical media at all, so I have doubts about the longevity of bluray as well.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

With solid state external harddrives getting bigger and cheaper, it's getting hard to resist the siren call of digital media storage. Especially if you live in a small apartment. Physical media is nice if it has liner notes and good artwork involved, and if I had a big house and a lot of money, I'd definitely have a huge physical media collection. I still have a VHS player and some tapes I inherited from my Dad. I find it hard to part with them because they make me feel close to him in a way.

 

[sasazuka]

But it sounds like the major studios want to hasten the death of Bluray, with Disney not bringing out some of their capeshit out on physical media at all, so I have doubts about the longevity of bluray as well.

What, do you mean specifically Wandavision (as well as The Mandalorean on the Star Wars side of things)?

I still think they'll get physical media releases eventually, but it'll be another year or two.

 

[BootlegPopeye]

What, do you mean specifically Wandavision (as well as The Mandalorean on the Star Wars side of things)?

I still think they'll get physical media releases eventually, but it'll be another year or two.

No, I didn't mean that bullshit, but was hoping for a bluray run of Disney's shorts (from the 20s to the 60s) - those got one run on DVD 15 years ago and most of the sets are expensive now. Plus, in the case of Oswald, several lost episodes were found in the meantime so that set was due for an update. If they aren't going to release their capeshit which I have zero interest in, chances are even lower for their theatrical shorts which they now mostly see as a niche product.