First of all, I want to say that I’m starting something new on my blog to add more personality to it. I’m going to try to write more personal blog posts and share my opinions on different topics. This time, it’s all about physical media.
Physical media includes VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, magazines, and books. But my favorite types of physical media are DVDs and CDs.
Streaming versus Physical Media
When I was growing up, we still had VHS tapes and later moved on to DVDs. I loved going to the store and renting a DVD for the holidays. It was something we did every single year. Everyone could pick one or two movies, and then we would watch them together. I loved it. It was exciting.
Then, eventually, illegal downloads became a thing, and slowly streaming became more popular. These days, streaming is huge. When it was still up-and-coming, I was pretty excited because I thought it meant having easier access to a lot of movies and music. I mean, I’m even listening to Spotify right now while writing this (without a subscription).
But over the last couple of years, I have become more critical of streaming services. First of all, there are so many platforms, and it can feel overwhelming. If you want a subscription to all of them, you have to pay a lot of money every single month. I have only had Netflix, for the record, but even with Netflix, I have my issues.
When you want to watch a certain movie, it’s possible that it isn’t available on the platform at that moment. They can also remove certain titles whenever they want. You are paying to use the platform, but you don’t actually own anything.
The other day, I read the news about Sony and their decision to stop producing physical media. Everything will become digital, and they also removed a lot of movie titles. I even heard that, even though you paid for a certain movie, it could be removed and become unavailable. Paying for something digitally basically means that you still don’t own it.
With physical media, it’s completely different because you pay for it and then own it for the rest of your life. They can’t take it away from you. That is why physical media is top-tier. And that is why I started my physical media collection, which includes DVDs and CDs.
Physical Media is Fun
Remember when I said that I loved going to the store and finding a DVD to watch? Well, I get that same feeling again from buying and owning DVDs. Streaming movies was cool at first, but now it doesn’t excite me anymore. Physical media is more fun because you can actually hold it, look at it, and it’s so much fun to add more items to your collection.
I love going to thrift stores and finding something special. The other day, I went to a thrift store and found a lot of amazing DVDs that I love. (You can watch my physical media haul down below.) Sure, sometimes you don’t find anything at all, but when you do find something, it feels amazing.
Plus, if I want to listen to music right now, I just have to turn on my CD player, and that’s it. I don’t have to use my phone or laptop to play music anymore, which is great since I’m trying to reduce my screen time. And there are so many reasons to go back to physical media.
How do you feel about physical media? Or do you still prefer streaming services?
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