Rebuilding Rob

Back in October, Best Buy announced that they will no longer stock hardcopies of DVDs, Blu-ray, and video games in their stores, effective 2024. The process of removing the materials from storage has already begun.

Of course, this was inevitable; especially given the explosion of streaming media, as well as the availability over the good old fashion, Internet. But for Gen Xers, like myself, this really is the end of an era. For a significant portion of my late adolescence and early adulthood, my CD, DVD, Blu-ray and book collections became something of a status symbol; not unlike the way some men boast about their sports car, other computer set up or even their home stereo system.

I, for one, am not ready to give up on my hardcopy media. It’s a pain lugging it around; especially if I move from one home to another. However I like knowing that it’s there. Here are my reasons for maintaining a personal library of hardcopy media:

Supporting the artists

I really like a book, TV, series or movie – that is to say if something is so good that I will rewatch it or re-read it multiple times over the course of my life, I like to support the artists in their endeavors. And the best way to do that is to buy physical copies of the product.

I’m not an IP lawyer (although I do have a buddy who does that for a living) but it doesn’t take much research to find out that artists make a fraction of the profit from digital media that they used used to make off of its traditional hard-copy counterpart. Even during the golden age of Napster and other online digital file sharing services, I would still make a point of purchasing the actual albums of artists who I really enjoyed.

Streaming media, and it’s bill of false goods

“It’s gonna be awesome!” We were told. “One day, all the major studios will have their own streaming platforms just like Netflix. They’ll have everything they EVER made available on one platform!” They added.

Wrong.

Streaming media apps are not some noble gift that the entertainment gods bestowed upon humanity. It is still another way of making money. Content that isn’t profitable gets removed from streaming services. I’m sure most of us can think of a TV series that we watched, exclusively on streaming, that was mysteriously, anti-climatically yanked from the platform.

The truth is, the big entertainment companies don’t want us having high-quality copies of their material. Given their druthers, they would continue to charge us over and over again for the same product. Heck, they’re doing it already. Some of my fellow Jen actors might remember that Disney was the last major American film studio to embrace the DVD format.

Recently, Star Trek fans were bent out of shape that the first 10 Star Trek feature-length movies moved from Paramount+ to Max. Much like a man spitting into the ocean, I tried, in utter futility, to explain to fans on the various Facebook groups that this wasn’t a permanent move. Warner Bros Discovery is NOT taking over the Star Trek franchise. Paramount+ is still “the home of Star Trek“. Rather, this is a money making venture on the part of Paramount. Studios do this all the time. They outsource some of their content to different providers for the chance to make a few more bucks off of it, before it comes back to its original home. And yes nerds, the Star Trek movies will eventually return to Paramount+. Speaking of Star Trek…

If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it.

Chancellor Gorkon to Captain Kirk, Star Trek VI

Star Trek and the future aesthetic

1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is arguably the most popular movie in its franchise. WOK features the return of a classic Trek villain and tells a great story about life, death and the inevitable march of time. However, WOK also introduces an aesthetic of life in the 23rd (and eventually 24th) centuries, that is still a part of the franchise to this very day. A subplot the movie involves Admiral Kirk’s birthday. His two best friends, Spock and Dr. McCoy give him a hardbound copy of A Tale of Two Cities and a pair reading glasses respectively.

This may not sound like a very big deal, but it shows us that in this futuristic world of warp speed, transporters and starships, humans still appreciate things like traditional hardbound, copies of books, even though the proliferation of computer technology deems them archaic. Likewise, even though the crew of the Enterprise lives in a time where corrective surgery is available to fix most visual impairments, people still appreciate a traditional pair of reading glasses.

These anachronisms have become a part of Star Trek future history. In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data even explains to his human creator, that even though humans move forward into the future, they like to hold onto pieces of the past. This can also be seen in the futuristic skylines of San Francisco in Paris, in the various Star Trek, movies and TV shows. There one can see futuristic skyline that still include landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower.

Before I go any further, I feel that I must point out that yes I understand that Star Trek is just a TV show. No, I don’t believe that the future history laid out in Star Trek is the absolute future history of humanity. But I do very much like this idea of humanity, hanging onto pieces of its past while moving forward into the future. While hard copy media will not be produced on levels that we have seen for several decades, it will continue to exist.

Closing time

I still like my hardcopy media, and for the most part, it’s not going anywhere. Sure, I may have phased out most of my VHS cassettes exchange for DVDs, or even Blu-ray. Likewise, I listen to more music via streaming than I do on my compact disc collection; but I still keep my CDs as well. Also, I believe that online retailers such as bestbuy.com and Amazon are going to continue to stock hardcopy media. It is only in stores that we will no longer see this product available.

Obviously, I am not anti-technology. But if you give me the choice between an e-book and a traditional hardbound, copy of a novel, I will choose the hardbound book any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

What are your thoughts on brick & mortar stores no longer carrying hard copy media?

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Sunday is borrowed time
• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)

The article “Wither, hardcopy media?“ first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.