How many times have we heard from tech pundits that physical media like CDs, DVDs, game discs, and books will soon be a thing of the past, all replaced by downloadable content? And yet, people continue to purchase all of the above in defiance of these predictions.
Microsoft recently got a particularly bitter dose of the reality that people still love their physical media and will fight to hold onto it. Despite the calls during the XBox One debacle for people to just "get over it" and step into the future of games, music, etc., those of us who still purchase physical media more often than digital content won out.
Are we just old-fashioned? Are we afraid of the future? Maybe to a small degree, but it clearly goes beyond that. I continue to purchase physical media for two reasons: I still like how these physical items, books especially, feel in my hands, and no one can tell me I don't "own" something that is sitting on my shelf.
Maybe it is quaintly old-fashioned of me to still love how a book feels and smells, but I'm ok with that. It's also a documented fact that we absorb information written on a page more fully than information displayed on a digital screen. I don't know why that is - maybe the scroll bar makes it too tempting to skim the digital page - but clearly books and notepads still have a solid market. And, when it comes to a graphic novel, a glossy page in your hands is naturally high definition. Even a Retina display won't top that.
As for games, DVDs, and the like, the idea that I would relinquish my ownership rights of something I purchased in favor of the "convenience" of downloading this content is one that makes me decidely uncomfortable.
In our house, we don't have cable. We cut that cord a couple of years ago, and for the most part, we haven't looked back. We get our TV shows and movies streamed from Netflix and Amazon. But, even so, we still have a large collection of DVDs and BDs. In fact, I just got a very nice boxed-set of all four of the Inuyasha movies that has an honored spot on our bookshelves. (It has a wooden box of all things - SO old-fashioned, but oh-so-nice.)
We've rented a couple of titles from Amazon to supplement the free Prime items and what's available for streaming on Netflix, but so far, we've only purchased one item from the Amazon catalogue. That single purchase was simply because there was no rental option, and we really, really wanted to watch that title.
I have yet to purchase one bit of downloadable content for the PS3, although there are definitely titles that are no longer available as physical discs or supplemental content that I've strongly considered purchasing. I just haven't gotten around to it yet... And, the great majority of music on my MP3 is music that I own on CD. I just like it better that way. These things can't suddenly vanish from my life thanks to a computer crash, a problem with my online account, or a company no longer hosting what I previously purchased.
To anyone or any company who says we should just deal with the idea of physical media going away, I say they need to deal with the idea that that day is not today or tomorrow or any day in the very near future. So, get over that.
