Home-Media Players

I'm leery of not being able to purchase a hard copy of something, because of the inherently f*cked nature of intellectual property. If the only copies of cinema and music media are digital, then how will licensing, proof of purchase, returns, encoding, and most importantly (for some), private ownership be handled?

I don't like it either, I collect video games instead of movies and to me there's no real replacement for having a real CD or DVD in your hands after parting with your cold, hard cash.

I also periodically dig out old consoles to play my old games, what's to say I'll be able to do the same with my digital games?

I just think it places way too much control in publisher's hands, while taking too much control out of the consumer's cash. Which isn't fair when you consider who's forking out the cash in the first place.

Tell that to Sony, MS or Nintendo and they'll probably tell you to wait for the next re-release of some classic game which you probably already paid for years before but can't play any longer since you got it via digital download and your dead console can't play it any more.

I still play my original Gameboy with the original Tetris cartridge every now and then just for nostalgia's sake. It'll be a sad day when that will be all gone.

I also still like to have a physical copy of most things that I buy, like movies, music and software.

Speaking of nostalgia, I notice I'm starting to have these fuzzy warm feelings when I see a cassette tape.

Cassette tapes are one format I couldn't wait to get rid of. Bad quality, cumbersome and I always spent more time rewinding/fastforwarding the tapes to whatever song I wanted to listen to at the time.

Thank god for CDs.

I think I associate the image of the cassette with discovering the music that I really got into and continue to listen to now, more so than the performance of the format.

I've had my share of eaten cassette tapes and 8 tracks too.

I share your enthusiasm for CDs. When I first heard classic rock songs on CDs on jukeboxes, I was kind of surprised to hear the highs on those tracks again... Because my vinyl copies were probably worn out.

There was always something really special about making an actual mix tape. It took a lot more time and thought since you couldn't rearrange the playlist after you put it all together. It's not quite the same with Itunes.

Anyone else ever put your tape recorder up to the radio to record that latest and greatest song? Always ticked me off when the DJs talked over the music.

Concerning physical vs downloads, these days you are no safer holding a CD than having a Digital copy.

• Why do you feel safer with a CD than you do with a hard drive? They are both physical media.
• The copies on a hard drive can be copied to have backup copies, most CD media can't (or at least no easily)
• Having a CD in hand (or a digital copy) will not make a difference with the current crop of "activation" that is required. I recently was screwed on one of these deals. IOLO System Mechanic. Purchased a three user professional version. I had installed it on three machines. I subsequently (year + months later) had to wipe/slick/replace the hard drives in all the machines at different times. I didn't immediately reinstall the software. When I did finally reinstall it, it would not work or activate. When I called to get help, they explained that my subscription had expired. Nowhere on the box was there any mention of a required subscription. After going round and round with them, I just said fuck it and made other arrangements. There's too much free software to do the same things to even hassle with it. They can go bankrupt and rot in hell for all I care.

I still go for CD/DVD rather than digital content. I mean, I could really be proud of myself when I see my DVD collection all neat and tidy on the shelf rather than seeing their titles on a computer screen. It's a collector thing.

I can understand the nostalgia factor, since I feel the same way about video game cartridges, like the ones used for the NES, SNES, N64 and Gameboy since the first consoles I owned when I got into gaming were all cartridge-based.

Boanerges has brought attention to the hitch in software - activation. I wonder if consumers can get things their way in the future of IP?

Wow you mean there is an improvement or update to my eight track audio system and one to replace my 8mm projector? Damn I shouldn't have laid down for the long nap!

The main difference between having a physical copy of software or media you purchase is that you can exchange physical copies at stores for credit, you can lend them to friends or just take them over to a friend's house, and you can even sell it on ebay to get your money back.

With digital downloads you can't do that, in fact I read an article recently that digital downloads are killing the second hand video game market, which is really hurting major gaming outlets since it was such a major part of their revenue.

I, too, feel uneasy when people say "Oh, I don't buy DVDs/Blu-rays anymore because I can now watch movies for free online."  Yes, there are legal sites where one can do that, but there are so many Internet sites where most (if not all) the movies are pirated and then disseminated online either to watch right there or to download them for future viewing.  This might seem like a great thing to do and even a way of "sticking it to the Man" or hitting at the System, but it's really hurting the studios and all the actors, directors and crew who are deprived of the royalties they get from legally-purchssed non-digital media copies.

I put up with both eight-track and cassette tapes because they were the only affordable alternatives to LP vinyl records. Vinyl still sounds way better than digital media. including CDs, but CDs do have the advantage of track selection, no rewinding/fast forwarding, and even progammability.  The only downside is that some CDs that are taken off the market are lost forever when they get a bad scratch and therefore cannot be easily replaced!