Physical media of all kinds

[danky]

Hello!

We all remember 2020 so fondly I'm sure but what I do remember most of all is how when my wife and I went out for the first time in 2021 we went to a thrift shop we used to go to before the pandemic and browsed around the dvd's and cd's. During that trip we really got into the idea of collecting VHS tapes. We both had fond memories of it and they were very cheap. In most shops we would find them for 25-50 cents a vhs so we'd buy a few here or there.

Today we have over 500 VHS tapes. And it didn't stop there.

In 2023 I sat down to watch Young Frankenstein, an all time favorite of mine, and found out it wasn't on any streaming services! I went online and ordered the DVD and when it arrived I ripped it and put it on my local hard drive connected to an old raspberry PI that hosted Plex. Figured If I wanted to watch it, I'll watch it on Plex or pop in the dvd!

Our dvd (and blu ray) collection is now sitting around 900! Luckily a lot of these were very cheap because of thrifting them. It takes time to find what we want but it's out there waiting.

Physical media for us means more and more as time goes on. Not only because we can watch media we enjoy but we don't want to pay for 10 streaming services just to watch what we enjoy.

 

[Hitcore]

That's awesome, danky! I too have DVDs, though not nearly as many as you do. And certain titles I torrent. Not for being a cheapskate, but mostly because a lot of films are hardly to be found anymore. I feel your sentiment on streaming services, and another thing I have against it is that the selection is fairly limited. They basically decide what you are going to watch. Which pretty much means: the popular current thing, and a few classics. But I'm into some pretty obscure films. Or films from certain countries. Good luck finding Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon on Netflix! (And even if you do manage to find the films that you like, chances are that they'll get removed after a while. You will never own them.)

For music it's largely the same: certain genres and specific niches I find online and rip it into mp3. More mainstream music I have CDs of, and I enjoy playing those! There is something really fun about playing physical media, especially if the music is actually from the 80s or 90s. Also, CDs sound crisp, it is a lossless format, whereas with streaming music you'll always deal with some loss in quality.

In the village 4 miles from my home (I live in the middle of nowhere) there are three thrift shops! The second hand market is kind of a big deal here, and I love it! The coolest thing I bought in one of those shops was an old laptop for like 15 bucks. I installed Windows XP on it and gave it to my sister, who likes to play the original Sims games, from the early 2000s. She has those on CD-ROM. No Steam shenanigans, just clean offline play!

 

[Retro]

the DVD and when it arrived I ripped it

And certain titles I torrent.

Oh no, piracy! You do realise that you've put 100000000000000001 people out of work by your selfish actions?! Every download is a lost sale! <Retro rings hands in great consternation>

Right, the Koolaid was delicious, but on a more serious note, danky, I know how much maintenance VHS recorders need being somewhat like a car in this respect and how easily they can break down, so I hope you have more than one machine and have a way of servicing and repairing them, especially to prevent them from chewing up priceless tapes which could well be irreplaceable.

 

[danky]

That's awesome, danky! I too have DVDs, though not nearly as many as you do. And certain titles I torrent. Not for being a cheapskate, but mostly because a lot of films are hardly to be found anymore. I feel your sentiment on streaming services, and another thing I have against it is that the selection is fairly limited. They basically decide what you are going to watch. Which pretty much means: the popular current thing, and a few classics. But I'm into some pretty obscure films. Or films from certain countries. Good luck finding Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon on Netflix! (And even if you do manage to find the films that you like, chances are that they'll get removed after a while. You will never own them.)

For music it's largely the same: certain genres and specific niches I find online and rip it into mp3. More mainstream music I have CDs of, and I enjoy playing those! There is something really fun about playing physical media, especially if the music is actually from the 80s or 90s. Also, CDs sound crisp, it is a lossless format, whereas with streaming music you'll always deal with some loss in quality.

In the village 4 miles from my home (I live in the middle of nowhere) there are three thrift shops! The second hand market is kind of a big deal here, and I love it! The coolest thing I bought in one of those shops was an old laptop for like 15 bucks. I installed Windows XP on it and gave it to my sister, who likes to play the original Sims games, from the early 2000s. She has those on CD-ROM. No Steam shenanigans, just clean offline play!

Obscure films are usually an ebay visit for us (if we aren't hit with tariffs!) but even then sometimes its just lost unless you live in that country, which is so sad. Some sites like Mubi have done well getting a collection together but it isn't physical sadly :/

I've slowly built up a music library over the years as well but it's still so small. I'd love to use that full time instead of anything else, but maybe in a few years!

For offline games like that, I do like spinning up a VM and playing some of them if I can. Trying to bring back memories of Windows 95 and OSX5-7 in anyway I can most of the time!

Oh no, piracy! You do realise that you've put 100000000000000001 people out of work by your selfish actions?! Every download is a lost sale! <Retro rings hands in great consternation>

I do keep backups but they are only for me, and I still own the physical discs! That's been my understanding of the law here in the states for a few years but I do still buy new movies as they come so I'm trying to be good now lol When I was a teenager it was a different story because I didn't have a job but now that I'm in a career job, I'm doing my best!

I know how much maintenance VHS recorders need being somewhat like a car in this respect and how easily they can break down

Yeah.. our 3 VCR's are in a shop now being fixed up and cleaned. They all stopped at the same time! The closest repair shop is about 3 hours away so it took quite a trip but we're hopeful this will get them back to some idea of new!

 

[Hitcore]

Oh no, piracy! You do realise that you've put 100000000000000001 people out of work by your selfish actions?!

Yes, I do realize that because of me, Tom Hanks can only afford a Gulfstream G550 private jet, and not a Gulfstream G800.

Sorry, @TomHanks!!

 

[Retro]

Exactly!