Why Physical Media is Important (Now, More Than Ever)

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus recently but I wanted to take some stuff to talk about something that means a lot to me, which is the idea of physical media. Physical media are things like books, vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, or anything that would otherwise be digital on a physical storage space. It has evolved throughout the years and its current iteration has the format on its knees begging for its life. It’s dying, and it’s because of the reliance on streaming. If you ask me, it’s over reliance.

I started collecting Blu-Rays in 2015. Among some of my first were the Star Wars Complete Saga and the Lord of the Rings films. As I started to collect more, I found myself falling in life with movies more. I found that collecting was an easy way for me to discover films that I hadn’t before. It was also an easy way for me to keep the movies I love close to the chest. Through collecting Blu-rays, I found movies like Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver. That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

As 2016 went on I found myself coming home with giant stacks of movies from the local library and getting lost in them for weeks at a time. Some of my favorite movies today came from those…. overdue stacks. When the last video store in Loveland announced its closure, I went in and bought as much as I could. Even if they were rental copies, I still wanted to have them. As far as I was concerned, they weren’t going to be any different as long as the movie was there. As long as I was getting the full experience.

I was lucky enough to be around for the era of video stores. While some still exist, the iron foot of streaming has pretty much made them extinct. I have fond memories of going to Blockbuster when I was 8 years old and picking out the movies that would define my character today. I can almost smell the store, as it had a very particular popcorn and dusty carpet smell to it. As streaming and Netflix’s DVD mail service started to take hold, stores like Blockbuster began to struggle to stay afloat. They filed for bankruptcy in late 2010, and only one remains to this day.

There’s a big enough support campaign to keep it going, but unfortunately Netflix making documentaries about it doesn’t do it much justice. Since every major studio has its own streaming app now, it’s easy for that studio to put their catalog of films on that app instead of producing Blu-rays and DVDs. Another slap in the face to the physical media community is the streaming conglomerates like Netflix producing documentaries about the cultural impact of Blockbuster. Especially the last one standing.

Here’s the important part: It’s also easy for that studio to remove that film or TV show from their app. It’s their IP, they can do what they want.

Don’t listen to the advertisements that tell you that you can “OWN THE BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER OF THE YEAR ON DIGITAL. TODAY!” Because you can’t. The studio can still take it away whenever you choose. So that $20 you spent on the new John Wick film for your digital collection essentially means nothing because they stole your money for you to watch the movie….WHEN THE STUDIO WANTS you to.

This is one of the biggest advantages to physical media. The others being, good picture quality. When you watch Avengers Endgame on Disney+, you are watching a super compressed and dilated image, and a muted sound mix. They can advertise it as HDR all they want, but it’s simply not true. It’s compressed as hell. Another advantage is accessibility.

I recently tried to watch Michael Mann’s Thief on Amazon Prime and I found that I couldn’t get through 10 minutes of it because there was no subtitle or caption track to help me understand what was going on. As a hard of hearing person, I need this. Even at the loudest volume, I couldn’t get myself into it because I couldn’t follow what was going on. Caption and description tracks are guaranteed on physical media.

The point is, don’t walk past the DVD/Blu-Ray section next time you see it. If you had the thought that you wanted to watch one of your favorite movies when you were a kid, it’s better to buy the physical copy of it that is $40 and will collect dust on your shelf for three years than it is to digitally own a movie that the studio can jack from you anytime they want.

This goes across the board for music, books and video alike. We shouldn’t give into these corporate bodies telling us when we can and can’t watch our favorite shows and movies. Especially if they think they can take them from us anytime they want. It doesn’t matter about the circumstances, you should be allowed to watch your favorite movies or listen to your favorite music without worrying about whether you will be able to tomorrow.