I'll state this now. I'm biased. I am a collector of video games, movies, TV shows and anime. While downloads and streaming are convenient, they lack that sense of ownership that a physical item provides. Not only that, they put control of these pieces of entertainment in the hands of corporations and out of ours.
Over the past decade, acceptance of streaming services and downloadable games have taken a huge bite out of the sales of physical media. Some big box stores don't even carry CDs any more. The DVD/Blu-ray sections of stores has shrunk as more and more people are content with streaming over owning a library of movies and TV shows.
This shift in consumer behavior has moved us from a focus on ownership to a focus on convenience. And while I don't have a problem with digital distribution being an option, I do fear what will happen if and when it becomes the only option.
When you buy that disc or book, its yours to use however you want, whenever you want. You can lend it to a friend or resell it. You never have to depend on a third party to make sure its available to you when you want to use it. You don't have to rely on your Internet connection to access it. I've had problems with every streaming service I've ever used, and I've lost access to them entirely when Internet outages occur. Some parts of the country do not have access to reliable broadband, so physical media is the best and sometimes only way to access these types of media.
Some movies and TV shows may never become available on streaming services. If you want to watch Three's Company or Back to the Future, you have to actually own it. And there's no guarantee that your favorites will be there in the future. Contracts for content licenses are renewed and expire regularly on streaming services. Owning the content is the only way to assure you will be able to enjoy it in the future.
Movies, TV shows and video games that don't land on a digital distribution service are in danger of being lost forever. How can we play digitally distributed games that are removed from gaming marketplaces (without using legally and morally questionable practices?) There's been a sudden rise in interest of VHS cassettes recently due to the number of movies and shows that never received a release on DVD or which aren't available to download or stream. Physical media will ensure that these things are preserved, remembered and enjoyed by new legions of fans.
Of course, there are exceptions and ways around these pitfalls, but for those of us who aren't tech savvy, access can be a big problem. I want to make sure that my children are able to experience the movies, tv shows and video games that I grew up with and actually owning a copy of these pieces of entertainment is the only way to be certain to have that option.
