Not only do we own our media when we collect it, but we are preserving it. There are some movies that you can’t stream, and without physical media to rent or even purchase, it’s become increasingly difficult to access movies and shows. A recent and resonant example is the film “28 Days Later”—there was a period about a year ago where it wasn’t streaming anywhere. Just poof 💨 gone. And physical copies of the movie are super hard to find.
We are losing the recipes if we don’t collect, keep, and treasure our media. I got into the mix with VHS tapes and have also begun to rebuild my DVD collection. And my goodness, what a treat it is to watch the era-specific trailers when I pop a tape on. The whole viewing experience becomes an event.
All of this is to say, renting my media digitally no longer works for me. I don’t trust media companies and big corporations to not fumble the bag with our art, our culture, our history. We owe it to ourselves to be the stewards of what we love and care about, because there’s no guarantee Spotify will have that song tomorrow.
Addendum: As of last month, the oldest title on Netflix streaming is from 1973. Now imagine if Netflix was the only platform you used to stream, how would you even come into contact with something earlier than 1973? Where and how would you access earlier media?