My Decision to Collect Physical Media in a Digital Age

I’m sure many of you have already seen the news articles about Sony’s plan to stop making physical releases starting in 2028. And of course, there are plenty of people on the internet talking about it and pushing back against it. So, my blog post really isn’t specifically about that, but it did spark my interest in writing a post on why I’ve decided to start buying more physical media instead of less during this very digital age. 

Now, I want to preface this and say that all digital media isn’t a bad thing. There are a lot of positive elements to having our media one click away. I play video games on Steam. I stream on Hulu and Crunchyroll a lot. And I pay for Spotify Premium.  

Having these options can make it easier to consume entertainment. If I want to watch a movie, I can just find one on Hulu without leaving the house or getting up from my seat to put a disc in. I have tons of choices for music with Spotify and YouTube. And for many indie developers or entertainment companies, it’s probably easier and less expensive for them as well. Digital has done good things.

The Shift From Physical to Digital

Being in my 30s, it’s been interesting to watch the change happen in real time. When I was young, physical media was a pretty normal thing. If you wanted to watch a movie, you had to buy a VHS tape, or eventually a DVD, borrow it from the library, or rent it from Blockbuster. You had to have an actual record to listen to a band’s music. Computer games I played as a kid had physical discs.  

Eventually, Netflix started streaming shows and movies, YouTube happened, and the dominos just started to fall. Digital media became the normal thing instead. Of course, both options were still around for a while. But the moment Best Buy stopped selling DVDs and Blu-rays in store back in 2024, I realized we could very much end up where we are today with Sony. 

One day, there could be a point where none of our entertainment was physical anymore. And I came to the conclusion that that could be a bad thing.  

My Experiences with Digital Media

Let me start this explanation with an example from my life. I really wanted to rewatch a specific movie that I had seen as a kid. But that movie wasn’t on any of the streaming services I was paying for.  

I looked it up and could only find it on Amazon Prime at the time. I didn’t have Amazon Prime. But eventually my brother decided to get it for a while so we could watch the new Fallout series. While he was subscribed, I thought, oh cool, I can watch this movie I’ve been wanting to watch for a really long time. I went to look it up on Amazon Prime. 

It was to buy or rent. Buy or rent!? But we paid for the streaming services already. If it was on there, why did I still have to buy or rent it? I was curious at the time and decided to look up if I could buy the physical DVD from Amazon. Turns out I could. And it would be cheaper buying it on DVD where I could watch it whenever I wanted for however long I wanted compared to paying for the Amazon Prime subscription plus to buy or rent it digitally!

Movies

It was at that time that I thought, if I like these movies and want to rewatch them at certain points in my life, why don’t I just buy a DVD of them so I can. Then I would have them and not worry about if it’s on one of the ten thousand streaming services out there and if it’s one I even have. 

I would not be concerned about a streaming service losing the movie or constantly paying for a subscription just so I could occasionally see a few movies I really like. And honestly, having my own collection of different movies just sounded pretty cool. Just imagine shelves full of all the greatest movies ever created!

Cartoons

By that point my mind started to shift to think about that for other entertainment too. All the cartoons I liked as a kid? Sure, I might be able to stream some of them, but many were all on different streaming services. Some of them weren’t even on any streaming service at all.

So, I thought, maybe I should just start buying those too. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of them and I kind of wanted to check them out again anyway. Plus, I might want to show them to my own kids if I have any in the future. 

Music

Then the same thought came up for music. I already occasionally bought some CDs, but I hadn’t in a while until Ghost came out with their new album last year, Skeleta. It was at that time I was debating if I wanted to just buy Spotify Premium or get the CD. I was so tired of hearing ads and I just wanted to enjoy music, so I thought: should I get rid of the ads or buy the CD? 

I actually ended up doing both. Why? Because I liked the idea that I could listen to anything I wanted on Spotify. But I also wanted to support a band I enjoyed by buying the CD. I thought about how, if people stopped buying them because of spotify, then the bands might stop making them. And if that were to happen, what could happen if I stopped paying for Spotify, the band decided to remove their music from Spotify, or something happened to Spotify all together.  

I wanted to have the entertainment I like forever. Sure, sometimes physical media gets damaged, but most of the time, if you try your best to take care of it, you’ll have it for a very long time. I still have cassette tapes that play just fine.  

It’s About Owning Your Entertainment

Relying on our entertainment to be on these digital platforms leaves us forced to hope those platforms don’t take it away from us for whatever reason. Just look at what happened with Sony before their digital games announcement. They removed 551 digital movies due to expired licensing agreements.  And people won’t even get their money back! 

In the end, they didn’t really own those movies. It was probably cool to have them on their playstation at the time. But now they’re gone. I want to own my entertainment and have it for as long as I want. I don’t want anyone to be able to take it away from me. 

So, I’ve decided to start collecting again. I still enjoy digital media plenty. But if I can find a movie I really like for a decent price, then I’ve decided to get it now. I don’t necessarily want to rush out and buy everything, especially not with some physical media really expensive (I’m calling you out anime!), but over time, I add to my collections.

Conclusion  

If we want to stop companies like Sony from taking physical media away from us all together, then we need to make sure we show those companies that we want the physical media. Of course, the high price tag of physical media right now is also an issue, but that’s a blog post for another day.  

While I find digital media great in some aspects, I still want to own what I buy. I don’t want my entertainment to be held hostage by companies. Who knows what decisions they’ll make in the future. For all we know, some of them could go out of business and their streaming platforms might not even be a thing anymore. Sure, that sounds weird to say right now since they are so popular, but Toys R Us was once really popular too.

The closest thing I have to certainty when it comes to my entertainment is just to have it physically myself. And this goes for every type of entertainment out there: movies, TV series, video games, music, books, etc. I’m making collections for all of them.

What’s your thoughts on digital and physical media? Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to the blog.