Hey there!

If you're anything like me, you're a relatively digital person. You have a pretty modern phone, you probably keep tabs with your favorite shows, your Stranger Things, your Euphoria, through specific streaming platforms, and you probably have a similar subscription to a music platform to closely follow along your favorite artist's discography.

One question that has lurked the back of my mind, though, for the longest time since starting my journey into adulthood... What are your backup plans for when your favorite things disappear entirely?

I know, I know. It's not a fun thing to think about. But in a day and age where corporations have started axing anything and everything off of their platforms that makes less pennies than what they proclaim to be the next big thing (even if it's the same recycled idea or even AI-generated). What, then, could be the solution for protecting our favorite movies, shows, music and more?

Well, the solution has fortunately never been more clearer: PHYSICAL MEDIA COLLECTION!

So... Why?

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of this AI tool being pushed on that subscription service for more money than a platform deserves. It's agonizing and a rising problem for consumers whose attention spans are consistently flooded by every corporation wanting to push out the next Big and Shiny thing. To summarize some of my favorite points from two of my favorite videos on the manner of digital versus physical media, Drew Gooden and Jaiden Animations have agreed that the push for profit has resulted in advertisements everywhere, a serious risk for expenses becoming largely out of our budget, and overall this encroaching feeling that the devices we once turned to for entertainment are hardly able to be called that in this capitalist climate.

Furthermore, within the attention industry, there's a strong uptick of having to access everything immediately. We grow so unaccustomed to waiting because we take things so quickly, we find ourselves feeling empty and even disgusted by that emptiness when we have to slow down. It's a state of constant anxiety and impatience, and in my personal experience it's continued to wear down on my mental health. So with the help of my dad, I decided to start weaning myself off of some modern day digital spaces, and going backwards so to speak by collecting more physical media. I've found that accessing things physically helps me learn how to slow things down more-- instead of immediately accessing an album, I get to wait for a CD to come in the mail and look forward to the sound more. I have to take genuine time to load up a DVD into my player, or pull a book off the shelf to read it. It helps a lot more than you think.

My proposed idea with my project is bringing awareness to the physical media movement and providing helpful resources for collecting physical media to my fellow budgeting college students. Unfortunately, Harrisonburg itself does not appear to have a major in-person store scene for physical media, so I’ve taken it upon myself to recommend stores from my hometown of Richmond as well as provide online sites.

These options are meant to be as accessible as possible, while avoiding larger corporations like Amazon so that consumers don't have to rely on one company so much. I'm lucky that my dad has an Amazon account and lets me get some of my media from there, but I understand options like Amazon are not always accessible to consumers.

Ideally, if you want to take it even further than just movies, books, music and games, I would also strongly recommend keeping a physical sketchbook and drawing supplies, or even a physical camera for taking photos. While I have personally grown more accustomed to digitally drawing a bit more, I have found that returning to a pencil and paper has given me the best results in cooling down from screen fatigue. I was also lucky enough to receive a polaroid camera and film, which I plan to use in capturing my planned sentimental moments i.e. meeting online friends in real life.

Arguments are often made about the expenses of camera film, among the other media forms listed, however it's been found that monthly subscriptions for streaming or digital storage space are quite a bit more expensive than physical collection in the long term.

Piracy is a rising option, of course, but what I find for physical media collection to benefit me over piracy is that I can genuinely own it instead of constantly having to find website resources to look for a specific movie or album. There are also increasing risks in piracy, mainly the risk of certain viruses being injected into your device. One of the most infamous examples of this was the former music downloading platform, Limewire, which was infested with viruses that ultimately did more harm than good in trying to provide more accessible music for its user base.

Did you know?

The rising popularity of digital streaming is primarily as a result of older audiences. While millenials were the primary target of the shift from physical to digital, there's actually been a decline in interest for streaming from people my parents' age and younger. Rising subscription prices are a major factor in this (see Netflix subscription tier prices), which has lead to digital streaming being more expensive than cable.

You might just consider one streaming subscription, sure, but as addressed in one of my earlier points, no one streaming service can have everything you possibly enjoy watching on it because the corporation behind it can remove your favorite movie or show at any time.

Another likely cause for older audiences supporting streaming more is that they have more funds to subscribe to several platforms. Meanwhile, being generation Z myself, I only find myself able to access one streaming service because its content in full is almost entirely limited to its platform. That's right, folks, I'm gonna talk about Dropout for a moment!

But Charlee, if you're so anti-streaming, what could Dropout possibly have to make you subscribe to them?

Well, until they announce physical media deals, my current running favorites from them--Game Changer and Make Some Noise--are available solely on Dropout. The major differences are, though, that they never remove their shows no matter how little they're watched, and they also pay each part of their crew fairly from actors to writers. If there's a streaming service I do endorse, it's Dropout. So if you're queer, a nerd, a queer nerd, or just want to support probably the least corrupt streaming corporation of the modern digital age, an individual monthly plan with Dropout is only about $7. You can even share your account password with anyone you want-- in fact, Dropout encourages it!

Books

I've loved reading and literature ever since I learned how to read and write, with my favorite book franchise being Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. My library journey has mostly consisted of school reading, however my go-to since then in my hometown has been the Richmond Public library. Now, more than ever, I believe reading physical books consistently is important in developing vocabulary and reading skills. While e-books can be helpful and more accessible for people who are unable to regularly leave their house, physical books don't have the added disadvantage of blue light (which is quite harmful for eyesight) or more of an avenue for distractions from an electronic device in general.

Your best bet for free options is a library like Massanutten Regional Library, although if you want discounted and permanent access I recommend Thrift Stores like Gift and Thrift or online stores such as Thriftbooks and DeepDiscount. I highly recommend looking into other libraries near you! Library cards are completely free!

A physical book, as they have existed for all of time.

eBooks came to life in the 1970s, however, much more recent than the physical books we all know.

Games

I have a 3DS and Gameboy color, and both consoles have been really fun for low-effort games for a more relaxing experience than online gaming. While I also have a Steam I enjoy playing games through, I've found my most stress-free gaming experiences come from having a handheld right in front of me.

I'd say my biggest interest in physical game collection versus digital began in my later years of high school, when I found out Nintendo was closing the eshop for the 3DS in 2023. I was quite upset because I had only just figured out how to get the parental controls lock off of my 3DS, which meant my access to the digital game store was already incredibly limited. My brother would eventually help me in homebrewing my device to get games whenever I wanted, but before that I was in a time where I was out of luck trying to explore any new 3DS games in the supposed quick timeframe that digital releases were supposed to provide. In that time, I grew to appreciate the physical cartridges I had collected much more, since I had complete ownership over them and could access them for much longer than digital games before I learned how to homebrew and emulate.

Don't just limit it to handheld consoles, though-- plenty of entertainment can be found in home consoles! And there's no need to shill out an arm and a leg for a PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch 2, either-- thrift stores, yard sales or even retro game stores will likely have older consoles in stock, too! I've got my Wii I plan on setting back up after years, and my dad has his own Xbox 360 he still hunts for games for!

Physical cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released in America in October of 1985.

A woman appears to be playing a first person shooter through an online platform.

Movies and TV

The biggest platform to cause a great shift between physical movie collection and digital streaming was the founding of Netflix. Initially, it began like a regular DVD rental service, yet the company decided to instead introduce digital streaming due to issues like mail delays. It would soon go on to become Blockbuster's prime competitor, before finally beating it out and causing the VHS company to go out of business in 2010.

Movies have been my second biggest interest in physical collection alongside music. Sure, the movie you want could be available to stream on Netflix or Amazon, but the problem with streaming services hosting movies or even TV shows is that they can be removed at any time if the corporation decides it's not making them enough money. Before it got a DVD deal, one of my favorite TV shows, Infinity Train, was pulled unexpectedly from HBO Max in 2022, and its creator Owen Dennis had to beg his audience to pirate the show so it wouldn't be at risk of becoming lost media. Ever since then, I've been emboldened to collect DVDs as often as I can.

I think I've gotten the luckiest in my physical media collection within the movie department, particularly because I'd already had a collection of DVDs and a player due to my family's collection as a child. While I've given away a good portion of my childhood movies, I still have plenty, and my dad's even helped me begin expanding my collection to include more adult-based films. One I'm most looking forward to watching--he got me this in a collection for Christmas--is a Marilyn Monroe film I've heard great things about, Some Like It Hot.

Currently, there are much more available means of accessing DVDs over VHS tapes due to higher DVD demand; however, online VHS stores including Retrospekt offer tapes at affordable rates.

VHS tapes were first created in 1976 as a concept for home video recording.

DVDs, on the other hand, were invented in 1995.

The first modern streaming service, Netflix, launched in 2007.

Music

Streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music, while quick to access like other digital platforms, actually pay much less in royalties to creators than buying physical music copies have. According to Kosign Music, streaming a song on Spotify actually only pays around $3-$5 per 1000 streams, and that's if an artist is lucky enough to receive at least 1000 streams for just one song!

My dad has his own vinyl record collection from both his dad and himself, but I decided within my budget that I'd prefer CDs for playing music. He's let me borrow from his collection mostly for now, although I've started my own collection. One of my favorite finds I've found within an antique store was a four count CD collection of the greatest hits from Elvis Presley's prime years, for only four dollars. That's a dollar per CD!

If you want more affordable physical music, I recommend looking into sites for CDs, such as CC Music or even an artist’s official website. I recently ordered the latest album from one of my favorite artists, Melanie Martinez, because buying directly from artists means all of the money from the purchase goes directly to them. If you have the budget for records, though, then I recommend stores such as Wax Moon Records. Among my listed resources, I personally recommend BandCamp the most-- not only do they pride themselves on artists making much more in royalties than on many streaming platforms, but every so often they run an event known as "Bandcamp Friday" where 100% of profits from music sales go to the artist!

(Fun fact: CDs are also compatible with some DVD players!)

Vinyl records are probably the oldest relic I've mentioned here, their creation being dated along with the phonograph all the way back to 1877!

CDs were first launched in Japan in 1982.

Streaming services in music were mostly found in the 2000s, such as Spotify in 2006.

What about reselling?

If you have some of your own physical media you wish to generously give away, I thank you on behalf of my fellow collectors! In my personal experience, my preferred re-selling websites are Discogs for music, and World of Books for DVDs and books.