It's a digital world

[Destructus86]

So...it's been an interesting time to live in. We've witness the decline of physical media (largely) and the rise of digital media.

It started with music...now I don't know a single person that even buys CD's anymore. (I know I know, some still do out there) Then books were next. I only know one or two people that still read physical books, everyone else I see is reading Kindles. Games have also gone that route. PC sales were up for digital, down for physical copies and analysts say that digital sales for games on consoles will exceed physical sales with next gen systems a year or two into their release.

The only hold out has really been film. Speaking for myself, I've embraced digital for everything...except movies. I still buy Blu-Ray and can't seem to bring myself to buy digital. Not because I have some sort of connection the physical media, but because there are so many things about digital that don't sit well with me.

1) If I end up with my entire future movie collection on a site like Vudu...what happens if Vudu goes out of business? Will I lose my library?

2) I would prefer to have my digital movie library on Amazon because of their selection (I want all my movies located in one place) but from what I understand the quality isn't anywhere near that of the sound and video of a blu-ray.

3) Do all digital films have extras?

These are just the worries going on in my head.

But what about you? How many of you have embraced having a digital movie library over physical? And why?

 

[Teelie]

Mostly physical. If anything has been obvious up to now (or should be), it's that digital is not ready to become primary.

How many games that require an internet connection are playable the first day? The first week? How many are inaccessible due to maintanence downtime or to fix vulnerabilities or glitches? Who wants to download a 50 gigabyte game on a data-capped connection while they throttle your bandwidth? Or that fan favorite, DRM which increases piracy rates because it only hamstrings legitimate consumers who have to bypass it just to use legally purchased software.

Now apply that to movies (downloading and streaming). And books. Your television shows. Music. Everything digital and you run into those pesky data caps, bandwidth throttling and outages. And DRM which as I mentioned, is a failure more than a success yet is becoming increasingly restrictive.

Take all that and get hacked. Or have your computer crash and you lose everything stored. Oh sure there's the "cloud" but if you get hacked and they take your identity they can erase it all. If your provider is data capping you, it can take months (years eventually) to re-aquire all your lost downloads.

What happens when the company that you licensed (because you own none of it) goes out of business or is bought by another competitor and it all goes away?

Lose your internet connection for some reason? It's all locked up in verification requiring the internet.

If the power goes out, better hope you have a generator because you won't be reading any books, playing any music or games not on a portable machine and only as long as the batteries last.

Sure all of these things can happen in the physical world. You're robbed, or there's a fire or flooding. But it's so much easier when everything is digital to just lose it with the click of a button.

When you can say there won't be any of these problems, then I'll say digital is ready to become the primary means. Until then I'm not relying on it for anything except as a backup.

 

[Destructus86]

Well, speaking for books and games and music...I have never had a problem in all the years i've been buying digital. In fact...when it comes to games and music in particular I haven't bought a single physical copy in YEARS...I literally can't even remember the last time I bought one. And I have never had a problem. Even when my internet went down I was still able to access my stuff because it was downloading.
(Streaming is a whole 'nother matter...which is why I don't feel confident about film in digital)

 

[Teelie]

I rarely buy games lately, physical or digital, but all of it is dove-tailing into the same place and this is where my concern is. I'm not against digital, I'm just wary of the pitfalls that have yet to be addressed. It's all too new to be a concern yet while at the same time it's been around enough to give a false sense of confidence in an untested medium.

I still prefer paperback books although my reading a book from a Kindle recently was quite liberating in its own ways.

 

[ChirsMepoo]

just like google reader, you may lose your info if that site is closed. Some decent site may give your time to remove it.

 

[Destructus86]

just like google reader, you may lose your info if that site is closed. Some decent site may give your time to remove it.

Not sure about google reader, I'm a Kindle guy. And if by some weird event (like the apocalypse) ever happened and Amazon shut down I still have all my books on my PC and Kindle.

Maybe that's really what's keeping me from doing movies digitally. Because it's mainly all streaming, right? You can't download?

 

[ComicChick]

i still buy cds!

 

[Lily Adler]

Get with the times, CC. Time to use iTunes for more than apps.

 

[ComicChick]

nope. i mean i get digital music too, but i will buy cds on occassion

just like with books, i read a ton on the kindle, but if it's a book i really like, i have to have it in hardcover

 

[psylockolussus]

i still buy cds!

Same here.

 

[ComicChick]

i buy a lot, well, pretty much all my cds from GoHastings used. they usually end up being brand new or near mint

 

[Sex]

Indeed it is.