general media Physical or Digital Media?

[Trot Shuffle 3,560]

On 2023-04-25 at 4:41 AM, Samurai Equine said:

Both.
Across the board in all ways, both. I voted indifferent, but really I meant BOTH.

Same here, both are very important and useful to have! Having a digital copy is really convenient to have especially when I'm on the go with the various forms of entertainment media but physical is just like nothing else, maybe a bit of a novelty factor there. Admittedly, collecting junk can be a little addicting 

Steam for games is super useful, no wonder they're dominant as a video game storefront. Make it as painless as possible and people will be okay with it. But, the games I really love I own physical copies of mostly for the collection aspect of it. They went all-out with the designs back then, probably because when you're in the store the box of the game itself IS the marketing so they're selling the product to you right there. The only downside (mostly concerning PC, especially older titles) is you need the game disc to be constantly in or to install you need to keep putting those discs in and out over and over because of limited storage on those medias. At least when installing from "the cloud" you just pray that your internet doesn't cut out (or their servers go down). The "always online" aspect is a bit of a separate issue but that's also annoying to deal with (and seems to go for all software these days as their way of countering piracy, the old way was to have an offline license key which needed to be "understandable" for the installer or program... DRM in general is yuck, it makes people more willing to pirate).

With music, if I want to buy it I either have to go to Bandcamp or Amazon Music (or the official website of a record label or artist if they sell it there) or something like Beatport or junodownload. Otherwise, YouTube is my main platform of choice for streaming. Most of the music I listen to, someone has already digitized it from obscure vinyl which isn't available on services like Spotify. And, if I want the vinyl, I'm going to be paying about $100+ for a good condition copy sometimes and that's not including shipping. Yeah, no thanks. Unless I'm super desperate for it, I'll stream it on YouTube. Plus, I enjoy people chatting in the comments about the songs and their own experiences with it, it's super wholesome and something which other services lack.

With books, I think it carries over to general printed media as well right? Like magazines. I do prefer physical over digital for books. And for magazines, the ones I look at have some interesting tips and guides for certain things which are genuinely helpful and they're not too long so I don't mind it in a digital format.

With movies and TV shows, honestly I don't really watch much beyond random YouTube videos so streaming here for me is more useful. It's nice to have it physically though. Those fun little menus are definitely a thing of the past.

 

 

On 2023-04-25 at 4:41 AM, Samurai Equine said:

I've also seen people say that physical media often gives you the absolute best quality for sound, video, and other technical things. And while I am mindful of quality (I'm more of a videophile than an audiophile), if a song, movie, or TV show is being officially posted by the studio that owns it, I tend to relax a little bit. They are the ones posting it, so it's in their best interest to post the best quality they can. And usually, they do!

I want to build on this a little from an audio perspective. Yep, technically speaking it can be better but it does depend a bit which one we're talking about! But realistically, and most importantly, nobody will care as long as they can listen to their favorite music, they'll be fine. How many well-loved vinyl recordings uploaded by random people on YouTube can you find with millions of views? (by "Well-loved" i mean they've been played so much by their owner(s) that they've lost their "quality", like the vinyl noise but noisier. It's one of those things you know about when you hear it.)

And yep, these companies always put what's presentable out there in as many formats as they possibly can, especially these days!

Oops, mini rant incoming.... 

Audiophiles are really the worst about this, as some of their main arguments revolve around "I bought these $5000 pair of flat frequency response Hi-Fi speakers paired with my $2500 amplifier to listen to this album from the 1970s remastered on a CD released in the 2000s I got from my local thrift store for $2, just as the artists and audio engineers intended it."

Okay, how about this: they made the song so it can sound as good as it can on as many places as possible! They don't know if you're going to be listening to their work in the car, with a portable speaker, headphones, or in a cafe, or wherever else! That's why they need to use those fancy flat frequency response speakers and headphones so it works everywhere! And, especially on many songs from the 1970s - 2000s, the mentality was to use really bad speakers to make the songs sound good on them. If it sounds good through them then it will sound good everywhere else, and clearly it's been successful given that there are many classic hits from that time period which were made on really bad speakers... intentionally so! But of course, an audiophile would not listen to this information and tell people to buy the most expensive thing they can... such nonsense! I love the innerworkings of hardware too but it's not just about making things louder by spending more money, my friend. >.>

Oh, and many don't acoustically treat their listening rooms well, if at all. So lots of frequencies will clash and get lost or stay too long and they lose how dynamic the song actually is, therefore they don't listen to how the song was meant to be played. It's like taking a club or concert system and squeezing it into a small room. It will not be ideal nor is it the "intended" way that they want you to listen to it.

I have to give credit where credit's due, at least those who have their own movie theater setups actually treat their spaces decently well so the movies they watch sound (and look!) great! Audiophiles on the other hand don't know they're supposed to point the speakers towards their ears in their preferred listening position (since they want to listen to how things were "intended" so so so much, well there you go that's step one!)

And dont get me started on their weird reasons for "Vinyl vs. CD/DVD vs. Cassette vs. "Digital"/Streaming". Most of the time they give reasons that don't make sense at all! (like, "Vinyl is higher quality and doesn't give artifacts"... what? I love me a good vinyl, but they do degrade over time the more you play them and that's not even getting into the proper maintenance and care a record player needs. Vinyls degrade over time and are susceptible to warping and other side effects when they're played a lot (or improperly taken care of). Even your speakers matter but there are nice pairs of speakers available which don't cost an arm and a leg today. If they want no artifacts, they can rip the file from a CD/DVD and play them through their phone as that will literally be the highest quality a work will ever be publicly released as. And that's just the start to how many pros and cons I could get into (in-depth concerning audiophiles and their reasons, with the everyday person it's much more simple) but that would be too much to get into.

They really do take the fun out of listening to music. It's like they stopped enjoying their favorite songs! Oh well.

 

 

On 2023-04-25 at 4:41 AM, Samurai Equine said:

Not saying everyone should do that. It's a hobby that can take a lot of time and money. Only do it if you are really committed to doing so. But for the most part, you probably don't have to worry too much.

Agreed! 

Having these digitized copies is always useful but does take a bit of time and money. But it can also be fun! IMO The only perk to owning physical media is you get to own it forever (or as long as you live or before you give it away/sell it off or before it genuinely starts to actually degrade. Tapes, vinyls, and neglected books are the best examples I can think of for relatively rapidly degrading media). Additional perk I guess if you just like to collect things for the collecting aspect, I understand completely as it is fun to do that! No shame there.

(I'm sorry if I made anyone reading this feel like I was mocking you for owning physical media of things you like. That's perfectly fine to do so, I do it too and that's not what I get upset about! It's just there's jerks out there who I am sick of who give ridiculously silly reasons for it and I'm constantly told, very rudely, that I'm wrong. Just like what those aforementioned audiophiles do! Audiophiles genuinely speak nonsense!)

[Samurai Equine 45,722]

@Trot Shuffle

(Eats popcorn while reading your post) I could spend all day reading and agreeing with your post! 

And you know, I didn't mention this because I thought it goes without saying... But different things tend to work for different people. For those who live a very casual lifestyle, you might have an easier time going all digital. You won't miss it too much when a song, movie, book, game, etc. is no longer available. By the time others would notice, you'd probably move on to the next thing, at most shrugging it off if you notice the missing content.

Unfortunately, I can't live like that. I've been alive for a long time. I get nostalgic for old movies, shows, music, and games. I can sometimes be a collector, trying to get every piece of content related to what I really, really like. I'm not afraid to go digital, physical, or (as a last resort) piracy. I have definitely imported stuff from other countries.  But it's still interesting! I have video games that haven't been posted or shared online. I have music that isn't available digitally nor through piracy. I know some movies and cartoons that I can't find online. ...But occasionally, I find stuff that was (or still is) available digitally only.  It's like this weird cosmic balance, but I imagine as the decades go on, there will be more and more cases of digital content; both preserved and lost.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Samurai Equine

[Cash In 21,492]

I still generally opt for physical media for everything if possible. Only exception is music and games on something like Steam.

[Fluttershutter 2,114]

I've been trying to get some discs like the A New Generation movie and The Orville Season 3. I don't mind if they're knock-offs since that's what the companies are making me resort to but I wish these bootleg sites would take paypal. I'm not gonna trust them with my credit card number.