Am I the only one who is worried that our days of collecting are coming to an end? I bring this up time and time again on here and it seams to just get looked over. Is it denial or just a feeling of there is nothing to panic about? Lets face it, the days of personal ownership of media is coming to an end. Blu-ray is great but I think we all can admit it's just a placeholder until a reliable and sellable form of streaming (or more unlikely downloading) is worked out. And once that happens anyone who wants to "buy" a title will have to more-or-less rent it. Why do I say rent? Because you will not be owning anything but access to a file that is controlled by the studio or media provider. Physical media media like VHS, LD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc. if properly taken care of by their owners can be enjoyed for the rest of his/her life. No matter how many new formats come and go old physical media formats will still be playable. Unlike non-physical formats that will only be available as long as the providers allow it to be available. What happens when the thousands you have spent on streamed media one day is no longer available because your provider is out of business? Streaming/downloading becomes a dead format? or perhaps some titles are just no longer available for lack of sales? There will be nothing you can do. But those DVDs will still work. What scares me the most is how the general public will see all of this. With talk of being able to just long into an account from any where and on any devise and have your entire purchased catalog available at the blink of an eye will probable be a pretty big hit. Hell it even sounds amazing to me. No more storing of media and being able to have an entire collection with you at all times... The public will eat it up. But for those of us who collect and enjoy the ownership of a title rather than watching it once and trading it in at a pawn shop, we can see the danger. And that danger is the end of media ownership. I do not want to rent. I want to own. Have you ever read the FAQs on sites like iTunes, WB, etc. They all say that the media you download is "owned". And its those quotations that scare the hell out of me.
So seriously... What are your thoughts? And really think about this. Some say physical media will always be here. And perhaps it will. We have no 100% way of knowing. But I can't see why it would be. streaming/downloading offers an amazing variety of positives. More titles, the ability to watch your collection anywhere, and it will be a lot cheaper for the studios. But sadly it also offers one very large negative... The end of media ownership by the buyer.

This is something that has been discussed a lot here.

My opinion: People like to buy things. People like to hold things they buy. I think there's a place for physical media along with downloads and streaming.

As along as prices keep dropping, I'll still buy.

I thought this story was a bunch of BS

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/b...o-buy-in-2010/

$20 avg for a DVD... yeah right

I just can't see that happening... Streaming is going to look very good to the general public. Especially with the talk now of universal streaming that will be available on pretty much every media devise. All you'll have to do is long into your account from your TV, computer, portable media device, cell phone, ect. From anywhere and you can watch what you have paid for. Sounds great until it all goes away. But common will the average consumer even be thinking about an end? No they will be happy with what they have only to get screwed but then blindly jump into the next big thing. I still cannot believe there are still CDs. I do not know one person who buys CDs anymore. And with more and more CD selling stores going under I'm not sure if CDs will even be around in five or ten years from now. To us non-psychical media just seams pointless but to the general public it's the future.

I don't buy many, since I don't like most of what passes for music these days. But I do still buy 'em.

And I'll keep buying DVDs and Blu-rays too.

Rob

That story was right on target. I hear it time and time again from people when shopping for DVDs. Why go to a store and buy or rent when you can get in on-demand of from Netflix for cheap? I cringe and get scared when I hear that, but its becoming a very common conversation.

I'm sure there are a lot of peopoe who still buy CDs. But I'm also sure they make up less than half of the music owning population. With the other half being people who download or steal their music. The smaller the percentage of CD buys gets the less of a reason for company to supply them.

There will always be a place for physical media. It will be another revenue stream. Just because someone has a Netflix account, that doesn't mean they automatically quit buying movies (yes, I know in some cases it probably does).

You are making comparisons to video games and music, but those comparisons just aren't the same thing. You bring up arcade games and add-ons for video games, but there are still plenty of actual discs that people are continuing to buy. It's not like the physical market for video games has been going away; the downloads have just complemented the physical discs.

And music is a much different animal than film. The fact that music is a more mobile entertainment is one big factor. People want to listen to it in their car or portable player. Many times, people maybe only like one song on an album. This isn't really true with movies.

But if you insist on comparing apples to oranges, I'll play along. Despite the fact that more people are turning away from CDs and choosing to download music, records have seen an increase in sales. Yes, those big round things that spin around. Why? Because records have a warmth, a quality of listening that you can't find on digital downloads or even CDs. I'm not saying the numbers for records are as high as CD sales, but the numbers are high enough so that nearly every new release can also be found on vinyl. People are obviously buying them. There are obviously still people who care about the quality of the product they purchase. Why do you expect that to change?

Someday.

^ when we die.

It's up to the individual collector, no?

I think streaming is fine for folks who typically rent movies, games, etc.

Those who collect, will continue to collect. We might see more "Burn On Demand" titles, but I think the physical media will be here for a long time.

I agree and I am one of them. I like having the actual item in my hand. A DVD or CD or whatever. Something tangible. Not having that and just downloading something is just....cold and completely uninteresting to me. Plus, I like the display of DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

Even in a hypothetical world where DVDs (or films on any sort of physical media) no longer existed, I would still collect because I would still buy used.

Heck, I still drop the bones for VHS tapes every now and then. Fortunately the last couple of things I've been thinking about buying on VHS have recently received DVD printings however.

No, people made the same claim about books well over a decade ago. Have less books been put in print because they switched to digital? Nope.

People want physical media and digital will live side by side with it and there's money to be made from both.

Ditto, except for the Blu-ray part. What concerns me is that it seems fewer and fewer movies I want (rare movies) are being released than before. It has been ages since I added a movie to my "want" list.

I was reading that same article this morning. Yea, it is a load of bull.

Many people want physical media. I know I do. If I pay good money for a movie or an album, I definitely want something physical that shows that I own that item. Not some file on some harddrive at some service that may or may not be accessible when I go to access that file.

Physical media will be around for many years.

I think what bothers me about downloading is the randomness of it, nothing seems to have any sense of lasting value. You download it, get bored, delete it then onto the next thing.

What's playing on the radio for music, what's playing in the theater for movies and what's playing on network TV gives us a collective sense or a common thread of what the current pop culture is.

Sure downloading is more democratic in that you can choose what you want, when you want and not have to settle for some corporate music or studio movies. At the same time the movies, TV shows & music does lose its identity to certain degree with the people who buy these products.

I believe physical media will be an option for years to come. I also believe that, unless I want to purchase the latest popcorn cruncher, I'm going to be paying through the nose for my disc and it will have jack-squat for features. Now that studios are discovering they can exclusively burn on demand using inferior masters on shit media for premium prices, the good old days are definitely coming to an end.

I like to have an actual item. I will always buy physical products.

Physical media will never go away. Even it becomes a specialty item, it'll exist.

I personally am torn. On one hand digital is incredibly convenient, and something like Steam often smashes the cost of the physical game. But streaming movies don't look nearly as great as a blu-ray.

I do like having something physical though, it can be nice to display. And there is seemingly more of a guarantee of using it.

But I think most of the limits of streaming will be overcome, and once a certain amount of people grow up knowing streaming, they won't care about the physical side as much. Ultimately it's the joy of watching a movie, the experience of reading the book, and the fun of playing the game. That is what I care about most and physical or digital it's my memory that makes those things great.

..and about three years late.

DVDs are the first thing I really collected and I'll never stop as long as they or Blu or whatever the next latest and greatest medium might be. My sentiments are the same as many have already expressed - physical posession.

Although there is one rather large caveat.

If I could legally store films on hard drives to be used as a "jukebox" then I would whole-heartedly do it as long as the .iso (or whatever) files included any extra features as a physical release would, and at least provide the same quality in audio and video presentations.

I bought 8 CDs yesterday,having a Newbury Comics 10 minutes from my house doesn't help.
Five years ago I remember reading on message boards, people were saying the same thing ....."I'm not sure if CDs will even be around in five or ten years from now."

Because you only want to rent a movie instead of buying it. Now if your choices are to use your existing Netflix membership to stream the movie instantly or go to Blockbusters and pay money to watch the same thing, or wait a few days, at least for Netflix to send a disc, why spend the money or wait when you can stream?

They weren't going to buy it in the first place, so the question became what's the fastest and cheapest way to rent the movie, one way or another.

There's nothing to be scared of because people rent stuff. It's a different beast than buying it.