Streaming ≠ End of Physical Media

Hokeyboy, is that a Criterion Collection DVD or did you stream it? You know better than to be buying physical product.

 

Well, if your are streaming, then the chances are that you are buying a new device every few years. Maybe you can get away with secondhand, but eventually upgrades will force you to buy new. Now, you can probably find secondhand CDs and a player very easily (true also for LPs). Except for the electricity, they have next to no extra carbon footprint. And you are saving them from landfill.

 

Kinda irrelevant because I buy mostly secondhand (although this streaming has the advantage of forcing down prices - I got a nice Fear of Music target disc for £1.99 amongst other things).

 

What happens when people stop selling second hand CDs?

 

There are literally billions and billions of CDs out there. It will be a long time before everyone stops. Today is the boom time for used CDs (seriously good stuff for peanuts). Plus I own pretty much most of what I want. For new releases, I may want to stream/download, or get another format because the mastering is better.

 

You're talking about you, in the now. In the blink of an eye, comparatively, you're now will be gone.

CD is dying or dead, vinyl is a lurching zombie, streaming is the invading alien tentacles.

There's no way round that. Soon, even your dreams will be sponsored and have product placement.

 

Not at all, I should know better, thanks for the correction.

 

The future is doomed. The only real "future" is to be found in the past.

I'm sorry to hear that "you're over it now" with regard to those "beautiful LPs" you mentioned. Don't allow yourself to get swept up in the new trends just for the sake of it; what fun is there in sitting inside a house that's totally empty except for a tiny device that holds impersonal and soulless downloads?

Next thing we know they'll try to make furniture that can be downloaded so we don't need to be 'burdened by cumbersome physical clutter'. Maybe one day we can eat, do our laundry, and get dressed -- all from phones, while we're asleep.

 

Oh yes, I am first all about the needs of the planet, rather than making my own brief stay on Earth as enjoyable and amusing for myself as possible (without harming others, that is).

Maybe we can find a way to even download ourselves into our devices? Way less clutter taking up the planet without humans physically walking about all over the place.

 

"Hoarding" is the popular new trendy word that is randomly tossed about to denounce people who have neat, well-organized collections they enjoy instead of taking drugs or getting drunk to get their kicks. What point is there in owning a home that has several rooms, only to keep it all empty "in order to not waste space, and not have a load of clutter"?

And by your own wording here, you're suggesting it's okay to use that same space "to put something other than massive speakers and amps and other expensive doo-dads associated with high-end audio" . So if you are going to use the space "to put something other", where is the difference?

(PS - nothing sounds better than physical media, from what I've heard).

 

Bring on the downloadable furniture! God that would make moving so much easier.

 

Again, I'm not talking about you or your collection in particular. I'm speaking of those forces that both lead to the popularity of streaming and the realities of the current market for recorded music. You having a home to fill with stuff, that's what you can do, that's your business. 20-somethings in apartments with multiple part time jobs don't have that option.

 

Well, as someone who has moved many times myself I'll give you that ... but we've still got to get off our butts and do something.

 

I don't have my own home, and never will. My woman and I rent the upstairs floor of a private house, and we will always be renting (which we're okay with.. it's an actual choice). In addition to me collecting hundreds of records, books, music and movie memorabilia and DVDs, she collects dollhouse miniatures. So you might be able to imagine all the stuff we have in our tiny apartment. But we are planning to move to a bigger place soon, and when we do our collections are coming right along with us because we each gain so much joy and pleasure from them. (And believe me, we are not wealthy).

 

What you may not understand is, the "need" for physical media will never end, not for all humans... because people still enjoy collecting, browsing shops, holding tangible items, building an actual physical collection. I witness the glow in the eyes of endless young teens and college students who frequent my favorite record store. They are positively delighted to break the barrier of "streaming" like their more soulless peers, and they love this new world of collecting. This Friday will be annual RECORD STORE DAY ... and there will be people lined up outside the record shops, most of them younger.

Of course the term "Records" comes from "recordings". But still, there are distinct physical names given to different media ("Records", "Cassettes", "CDs", "Reel To Reel", "8-Tracks", "Cylinders" ---- even though they're all 'recordings'.

 

any how much product is available

I'm sure you would find a hard time finding a lot of things

 

I can always get what I want. If I want to buy Elvis' first Sun record on 78rpm.. it's out there. If I want to start an old reel-to-reel tape music collection, I can still buy a tape player and find music reels on tape. If I decided to forsake my DVD collection and buy an old 16mm movie projector and screen and reels of films, I still can. And always will, especially with the internet.

 

You need to edit this so that it's coherent. In any case, having music streamable means that a LOT more music is accessible to the average music lover now than at any time in the past, so that argument is bogus.

 

And if you wanted to, you could walk away from all of that and still have music. And more people want to walk away from all that "stuff" than want to fill up their apartments with physical media that do what their streaming does, just about anywhere. You want the stuff, fine. But market forces are heading in the opposite direction.

 

So you're drinking this Kool-Aid to, huh? No offense, but I have heard this cry for a decade or more now, and you know something? If one wants, they can still collect and purchase all kinds of older formats, from 1950's jukeboxes to Edison cylinders, and tapes.

And Vinyl has never ended, and can never die... it will outlast the cockroach. In fact, vinyl has been enjoying a resurgence in the last several years -- and how can this be, if "streaming is the wave of the future"? I'll tell you how: because it's being driven by teens and 20-somethings who are resisting the boring "download life". So I hope to see you there at the annual RECORD STORE DAY blitz for 2014 !

 

My point is that some people are claiming "all that stuff is dead or dying", with the implication being that it will all somehow "not exist anymore". I'm here to tell them that no, it will never vanish. As for market forces, who knows? They're making new vinyl records for new releases, where they weren't doing so 15 years ago.

So what are you going to have in your home, if there's "no stuff"...?

 

They never will stop. Today you can buy all sorts of older things that are no longer "new". You can get Beta tapes, VHS, 8-Tracks, Reel To Reel, Records, 45's, 78's... old Super 8mm or 16mm films... the list goes on and on..

 

I think it might be better for this planet if there were no people. But then, that may be just me.

CDs are not junk. Especially not those containing music of The Beatles.

Perhaps, but without the added enjoyment of the thrill of the physical packaging and formatting. No thanks, I think I'll just stick with littering up the planet.

 

But just because it's new and shiny doesn't mean we all have to buy it either. CD's sound better than downloads, they are generally cheaper than downloads, you can buy them used at an even cheaper price, and you get liner notes too. And if you want to put it on your I-Pod you can do that too. You actually get more for less.

 

Right, and physical products will become a niche product (vinyl, SACD, Blu-ray, etc.). I think that was the OP's idea.