I have a fair amount of dvds and vhs tapes from when I was a kid. They rarely get used but every once and a while something has been taken down on streaming or I want to watch at the highest quality regardless of WiFi or otherwise.
As the world moves more toward the internet, the temperature gets hotter, AI uses more and more water, and CEOs cancel or delete things for tax purposes it is important to OWN what you love and keep what you want to keep.
Thrift shops and goodwills are great for regaining a collection of older movies you want to keep around and then try to buy the new ones as they come out. I think personally it’s not about a completely filled out collection of EVERYTHING just things you care about.
And also rent stuff from the library! can’t keep it but if you don’t want to have streaming or anything. that’s how I used to binge watch tv shows in the summer when I was like 11.
Jan 22, 2025
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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?
3d ago
Get and keep a copy of a movie on a hard drive or Blu-ray somewhere. If you “purchase” movies through sites like Amazon Prime or Apple TV/iTunes (RIP) you’re merely licensing it and they can take away your access at any time for whatever reason they want.
I don’t advocate pirating movie content you don’t already own, but if you own a copy of a movie or show, go ahead and download a digital copy to back it up somewhere so they can’t take it away from you.
Feb 22, 2024
A physical form of favorite movies and shows…. something to display and showoff…. deleted scenes and extras… the cute little graphics and stuff on the inside cover… the joy of hunting for them at thrift stores….. the simple life isnt free on youtube anymore but its ok bc i own it on dvd!!!!!
Feb 21, 2024
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Feb 23, 2024
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it's the morning paper
Jan 30, 2024
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I will never lose my place. Just hitting pause for now.
Jan 29, 2024