The Importance of Having Real Things:

DVDs, CDs, and Books

By Todd Robinson

Digital media has become the popular way of obtaining entertainment and art. People watch Netflix to watch movies, read books from a nook, and listen to music on Spotify. This allows people to access anything they want to engage in. This isn’t a bad thing, but this can cause a problem. Since people nowadays mainly buy things digitally, they tend to forget about physical media.

The tangibility aspect of having a disc or a book is a great feeling. Animation instructor and coordinator Bill Blenk of Suny Niagara mentioned that he keeps a stack of CDs in his car and listen to music that he enjoys. “Here I am, spending an afternoon with a singer/songwriter which adds to the excursion,” Blenk said. This is why the tangibility of physical media is so special, because an individual has something they own, rather than going on Spotify or Apple Music to listen to the songs they downloaded. Sure, it’s convenient, but it doesn’t have the same effect as opening a disc with an album cover that a person can hold and touch.

An article from CNN, Henry T. Casey stated, “Thanks to the limits of modern home internet, 4K Blu-rays will always look better than versions on Netflix or Prime Video, as the data is all local.” 4K Blu-ray discs hold up between 70-90 gigabytes and a movie from a streaming service tends to hold up between 10-15 gigabytes. Streaming services also have to compress the movie way down because it can’t handle the file size. This results in a movie looking worse than usual.

Casey also mentioned “some movies just can’t be found on streaming services or even as digital purchase or rental.” If someone is trying to access a film they want to revisit, there may be a chance it’s inaccessible. This is a major flaw when it comes to relying only on streaming services for entertainment.

Blenk mentioned that he collects DVDs because they have special features, which streaming services don’t offer. What makes special features special is that it provides behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes, and audio commentary. This adds so much content and depth to the movie experience. Some people would say special features aren’t necessary, but film lovers would disagree because they would like to see how the creative process was done.

Even though there are cons to digital media, there are pros, for instance Blenk said digital platforms like Netflix and Prime Video can help indie filmmakers quite a bit. Indie filmmakers struggle to get broad appeal, so having digital platforms can give them attention in ways that weren’t possible decades ago. It is understandable why artists may like digital platforms, because they allow for more personal stories and abstract ideas to be explored and seen by audiences.

Blenk had an interesting perspective on how the digital era has affected books. He explained when people have audiobooks read to them, they tend to lose the voice of the author. One of the fun things about reading is that we all have our own ideal version of how the characters sound. If we lose this element in the story, this could affect how people interpret the characters.

It’s vital that we keep physical media around and not let it be forgotten. Digital content is more convenient, but it doesn’t come close to the feeling of having your own disc or book. If physical media were no longer a thing, what would happen to society? This is an important question we need to think about because this future like scenario could happen one day. Next time when you go out in a store and pass by DVDs, Blu-rays, books, albums or records, just think about buying it because you never know when this will all go away.