The Case for Physical Media

Samsung has announced that they will stop selling Blu-ray Disc players in the US. Samsung to Stop Selling BD Players in US

While this news probably means little to most, I'm sad to see this happening. Is this the first step in the demise of owning your own copy of your favorite movie? Perhaps.

While I enjoy streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime and love that I can access more content than I would every watch, I still prefer to own a physical copy of the movie.

Physical media has a permanence you do not get with these services. Without fail near the end of each month there are many articles posted about what's leaving Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. Some shows create such an uproar that the service even has to reconsider letting it's license expire. This is such the case with Friends on Netflix. Friends Uproar on Netflix

There are many advantages to physical media.

• No compression in sound or picture - streaming needs compressed in order to deliver content
• No license agreement with the streaming services - you own it for the life of the physical medium
• You can lend to friends
• You are not dependent upon an Internet Service Provider
• Privacy - your viewing habits are not monetized for the streaming services's gain

The same argument applies to video games. I collect the physical copies of games I have purchased going back to my beloved Atari. The importance of physical media was driven home by two events late last year:

Activision shuts down Guitar Hero Live servers, spawning lawsuit

Nintendo Wii Shop shuts down

And don't forget music albums! We used to buy the entire album to get that one single. Online definitely has lower price, but at what cost? What about songs that aren't singles? Today they'd be simply lost rarities. Back in the day the entire album contained a complete cohesive package - including incredible artwork. Some had hidden gems that could have been singles. For example Boston's first album gets radio play today. Guns 'N Roses' Appetite for Destruction album is another example. Those albums had a few singles, but over the years most of the songs on those albums have become classic rock staples.

Nothing lasts forever, but with physical media and working hardware you can be the master of your content.