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-   -   The end of physical media. (https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=181774)

G6Tanuki 9th Jul 2021 6:20 pm

The end of physical media.
 
See https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...ling-dvds-cds/

Sainsburys stop selling CDs and DVDs, because streaming has made them obsolete.

Guest 9th Jul 2021 6:35 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
There was an interesting discussion on the radio (4 or the Wold Service) that said the carbon impact of a CD is about 17 downloads. And you get compressed audio (not that it bothers me) at, say 20% of the original size, then you are down to 4 uncompressed plays to make parity. Remember these streaming services stream every time you listen.

I am a half way dinosaur, I have my CDs on my server, sort of "pre downloaded".

paulsherwin 9th Jul 2021 6:39 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Journalists like to bang on about this endlessly. It's more an issue about movies on DVD than anything else. It doesn't help that the big studios have imposed lots of conditions on the DVD system that makes them difficult or irritating to use - blood curdling copyright warnings that can't be skipped, irrelevant trailers for movies you're not interested in etc.

G6Tanuki 9th Jul 2021 6:49 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell (Post 1388777)
There was an interesting discussion on the radio (4 or the Wold Service) that said the carbon impact of a CD is about 17 downloads. .

Not that I really fret about my 'carbon impact' but in times-past I accrued quite a collection [probably around 500] CDs which I probably only ever listened-to once or twice.... all now consigned to the great pile-of-junk-plastic because I was fed-up with storing the things.

[The CDs I liked I ripped to magnetic/solid-state media two decades ago]

I wonder - honestly - just how many times a particular CD/DVD actually gets listened-to/watched? Does anyone ever buy a movie on DVD or Blu-Ray and watch it more than a couple of times?

My local charity-shops now don't want donations of DVDs; nobody buys them and the charities then have to pay commercial rates for disposal.

CambridgeWorks 9th Jul 2021 6:50 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
That link wants me to sign up for a "free" trial.
This one should work:
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog...s-from-stores/

However, vinyl will still be available in some stores.

We've seen it all before. Buy vinyl. Buy cassette. Buy cd. Every time you will pay copyright royalties for each different format of the same artist performance.

Moral? Everything turns full circle if you wait long enough!
Rob

emeritus 9th Jul 2021 7:06 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Another factor is that a lot of new laptops have no CD/DVD drive.

stevehertz 9th Jul 2021 7:29 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
A true vintage man, my hifi will consist of CDs, LPs, cassettes and reel to reel tapes (and FM/AM tuners) until I depart this earth. There's not that many new release CDs that I drool over these days either so I'm sure I can satisfy my hunger adding to my already too big CD collection buying older stuff on the second hand market.

Streaming has robbed musicians of a lot of money. And not all of those musicians are multi millionaires, far from it in a lot of cases.

Paul_RK 9th Jul 2021 7:55 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by stevehertz (Post 1388804)
Streaming has robbed musicians of a lot of money. And not all of those musicians are multi millionaires, far from it in a lot of cases.

Yes - just as LPs didn't go away when the supermarkets stopped selling them, I don't think we'll be seeing the demise of the CD for a very long time yet. Revenue from streaming won't go very far at all except for the most prominent performers, and there are many others with committed if not vast audiences. So I doubt my accumulation of physical media will have to end while I'm still around with a working pair of ears, and in the last three months I've bought five newly recorded and released CDs, two or three from a back-catalogue sale and two retrospective box sets, which is about par for the course.

Paul

Nymrod121 9th Jul 2021 8:00 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I 'backed up' (ahem!) my entire Enya CD collection to a USB memory stick ... it gets plugged & played on any long journey (not many of those in the last eighteen months).

Storage space is always going to be an issue ... but it's nice to think "ooh, I feel like watching 'The Dish' tonight" and spend the next 5 minutes tracking down the DVD, firing up a most excellent Sony DVD/Blu-Ray player (whiskas, take a bow) and settling in for the evening.

Streaming is OK, but next April I shall be telling a certain broadband provider (Richard Branson, don't take a bow) to take a long walk off a short pier because of their eye-watering 'we don't give a monkey for your loyalty' price hikes - and there will be no "loss of streaming" cudgel hanging over me ;)

Nuvistor 9th Jul 2021 9:29 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I think CD’s will be around a while yet but after saying that I haven’t bought one for quite a few years. I have a collection and no interest in expanding it. I have bought album downloads but perhaps a couple a year.

Even though musicians don’t appear to get paid very much for streaming, for myself approx £100 a year is more than I am prepared to pay to stream music, the radio works well for me and musicians get paid from the station via some third party.

Perhaps if supermarkets stop selling them it will give the smaller stores a chance or perhaps the sales will be from online shops.

Paul makes a valid point about DVD’s, the warnings and trailers that cannot be skipped is to me an insult after buying the copy. Anther reason few of those have been purchased over the years and none lately.

Paul_RK 9th Jul 2021 9:54 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuvistor (Post 1388848)
Perhaps if supermarkets stop selling them it will give the smaller stores a chance or perhaps the sales will be from online shops.

I'd guess it takes quite a large town these days to support a music-based shop. Thinking again of the five new CDs I've bought lately, three were purchased directly from the artists - all pre-orders, one involving a larger financial contribution toward the making of the disc - one came direct from a small classical label, and only the fifth was from a - very well, the - major online retailer. I've no interest in streaming, and have now and again paid for a download but only when no physical release was available. Maybe all that marks me as part of a dying breed, then I wonder how many diehard vinyl purchasers in 1990 had any confidence that new releases would still be appearing on the medium thirty years later.

Richard_FM 9th Jul 2021 10:38 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I've got 500 odd CDs & no desire to give up on them. All have been ripped to my hard drive.

Add to that at least 200 DVDs.

Nuvistor 9th Jul 2021 11:24 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard_FM (Post 1388861)
I've got 500 odd CDs & no desire to give up on them. All have been ripped to my hard drive.

Add to that at least 200 DVDs.

Do you play the CD’s, if not and only listen to the ones on your hard drive then in a way you have given up on them.

Uncle Bulgaria 9th Jul 2021 11:46 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell (Post 1388777)
There was an interesting discussion on the radio (4 or the Wold Service) that said the carbon impact of a CD is about 17 downloads.

I'd like to see some data on that - do you remember the programme?

Building and running a server, from the mind-boggling array of chips required (and the associated mining, building of fabs, clean rooms, processing and other-side-of-the-world pollution); added to the always-on electricity and data requirements (when I lived in Sweden, I remember Facebook put a server farm in the far north as the cooling requirements made it economically viable); and then the Internet footprint to allow downloads and payments 24/7, all this seems gigantically energy-intensive...

It just seems unlikely to be more 'sustainable' than a person powered by bread putting some vinyl on a lathe. A smaller-scale, of course, but perhaps we should all be buying less, more locally and appreciating more.

I remember I worked with someone (before Spotify) who boasted of his online piracy as it meant whenever someone came round they could listen to what they liked. I didn't get it, as going round to someone's place is a good time to leaf through their records/CDs/books and find something new.

There are some people making new 78s on old lathes, using their own DIY materials, so even muscle-and-clockwork, off-grid acoustic playback of new music isn't out of the question!

:thumbsup:

Terry_VK5TM 10th Jul 2021 12:38 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki (Post 1388785)

Does anyone ever buy a movie on DVD or Blu-Ray and watch it more than a couple of times?

Yes, my wife does.

We have a large collection of DVD's that she has watched multiple times and still does. I don't see the attraction of watching a movie more than once.

As for CD's, I don't remember the last time I bought one let alone even browsed through the shelves at any of the few shops that still sell them. Must be over 10 years or more.

Besides, I can find more than enough to listen too on the likes of free streaming radio services.

electronicskip 10th Jul 2021 5:47 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
For me its the joy of owning the Physical media.
I buy DVDs at a rate of knots , both new and 2nd hand.
Yes.. ive accrued a huge collection over the years but ive no intention of getting rid of any of them anytime soon.
Im the sort of person who can watch a film again and again and i frequently do but half the enjoyment for me is browsing through my collection, watching the extras which you dont always get .
Its the same with Videogames, i collect those and have an even bigger collection stretching back to about 1974 , but with the event of consoles being designed for download, only even that media eventually will disappear.

Nuvistor 10th Jul 2021 7:30 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
An article from the BBC interviewing a few people about their choice of which type of media and why. I am not arguing for any type of media, I feel we are very lucky to have the choice, we use the one that suits us best.

'My music is always there when I need it' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57780853

dglcomp 10th Jul 2021 8:21 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I also like physical media, for one is something that cannot be easily deleted or have its servers turned off.
Also I find it's a good way to support an artist whilst at the same time getting something special, plus I think a download doesn't necessarily properly represent the hard work and effort that went into making the music/film.

Like probably a lot of people here all CD's do get ripped on to the computer (using WMA lossless) as for work and on the go it's naturally easier to have a box of sounds than loads of CD's, plus looking for a song in WMP is far easier than trying to search for CD that could be anywhere!

I see some parallels here in the world of synthesisers and effects units, yes a VST/plugin may be easier and in a lo of cases cheaper nothing replaces having the real hardware right in front of you, something companies like Behringer are very much finding out.

Pfraser 10th Jul 2021 11:46 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by electronicskip (Post 1388892)
For me its the joy of owning the Physical media.
I buy DVDs at a rate of knots , both new and 2nd hand.
Yes.. ive accrued a huge collection over the years but ive no intention of getting rid of any of them anytime soon.
Im the sort of person who can watch a film again and again and i frequently do but half the enjoyment for me is browsing through my collection, watching the extras which you dont always get .
Its the same with Videogames, i collect those and have an even bigger collection stretching back to about 1974 , but with the event of consoles being designed for download, only even that media eventually will disappear.

It's interesting to reflect on how storage media have become ever less substantial with each technological advance.

Cylinders became flat 78s; still quite hefty. Then slimmer, lighter LPs. And 45s. Then cassettes. Then CDs, and now...precisely what? Streams of digits, which to me seem more conceptual than actual. Sealed electronic devices which can store mind-boggling amounts of magnetic or electronic representations of the actual product.

To me, there's nothing like the physical, actual product. Album art, decorated inner sleeves with all the lyrics, promotional inserts. The record companies made a good effort with the first CD album releases, to transfer some of the LP experience across. Booklets squashed into the case aren't the same thing.

dglcomp:
Quote:

I see some parallels here in the world of synthesisers and effects units, yes a VST/plugin may be easier and in a lo of cases cheaper nothing replaces having the real hardware right in front of you, something companies like Behringer are very much finding out.
Quite! It's also interesting to see the digital world producing plugins which emulate analog artifacts, e.g. vinyl noise, tape dynamics, valve colouration of the signal

Richard_FM 10th Jul 2021 12:17 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuvistor (Post 1388874)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard_FM (Post 1388861)
I've got 500 odd CDs & no desire to give up on them. All have been ripped to my hard drive.

Add to that at least 200 DVDs.

Do you play the CD’s, if not and only listen to the ones on your hard drive then in a way you have given up on them.

I supposed you're right, I normally give them just a play or 2 these days before ripping them.

At the moment I mostly listen to music while working as the company I work for doesn't mind as long it's through earphones.

Guest 10th Jul 2021 12:49 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I like to "rip" my film DVDs (lots from charity shops) to my server for at least two reasons, one, most smart TVs can't take a DVD and two, if ripped correctly with something like Handbrake you can get rid of the annoying junk and be left with just the film. I often do two versions of non 16:9 films, the original aspect ratio and a 16:9 to fill the telly.

Paul_RK 10th Jul 2021 2:45 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
It's the other way round here, ripping CDs to a hard drive ended as soon as my commuting days (Durham to Leeds) were over, but any downloads that are worth it still get burned to CD. And some of the CDs themselves are listened to a good many times, unlike LPs in late pre-digital days when I played them just the once to produce a cassette copy and save wear.

Ted Kendall 10th Jul 2021 2:54 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I note that Sainsbury's are dropping polycarbonate but continuing to stock vinyl. Proof, if proof were needed, that the customer is always right, even when he's wrong. And what is the carbon footprint of a vinyl pressing?

wave solder 10th Jul 2021 3:03 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I like to buy my CD's to support the artist and I listen to them many times, I only buy DVD's if I'm really interested in the movie and will be watching it many times.

Radio Wrangler 10th Jul 2021 3:28 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Would I be right in thinking that in all the weaselly fine print associated with downloads there might just be a get-out clause that content may be removed at any time? and so you could lose access to what you thought you'd paid for?

I really don't like unskippable trailers and unskippable ads where I'M locked out of control of MY equipment.

There could easily be a wave of reaction against these things if enough people think their rights have been trampled, or that they've been mislead.

How about an add-on like an ad blocker that overrules their locking of your play controls?

Physical media like CDs is currently the only way of avoiding Hollywood's control.

David

The Philpott 10th Jul 2021 3:59 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Our local Smyth's toy store has (had?) a machine for polishing scratches out of CD/DVD discs- and they weren't charging the earth when i last went in there. It would be a shame if that sort of facility dried up in due course.
I never got round to experimenting on unwanted discs to see just how valid the claim that sunlight can corrupt the data...actually is.

It makes total sense for a supermarket to stop stocking this sort of media- simply because of Amazon and Ebay and the like. Just a business decision rather than the death of a format that the media would like to paint it as.

From the theft point of view presumably vinyl isn't quite so easy to stick down your trousers- but given time i imagine this supermarket will also drop vinyl (again..) because of market forces.

Dave

Nuvistor 10th Jul 2021 4:04 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Re post #25
As for music downloads I can only speak about Apple, once downloaded the copy is yours, when they first started it was DRM encumbered at the request I understand of the music industry but hasn’t been for many years. However you can keep the files on Apple servers and listen to them similar to streaming, if Apple pull the plug then if you don’t have a local copy then they are lost. Easy enough to have it local.

Streaming is a different supply system, you pay to stream the music but not own a copy, stop the monthly fee and the streaming stops.

Guest 10th Jul 2021 4:45 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Skipping DVD rubbish... https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how...s-and-g-114466

slidertogrid 10th Jul 2021 5:00 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Maybe time to put a load of CDs away! Vinyl records came back into fashion then cassette tapes. 8 tracks and open reel still has a following. It seems that once it is obsolete it is only a matter of time before it is wanted again...

I still buy DVDs mainly second-hand from ebay of old programmes to play on my old tellies.
I can't remember the last CD I bought or played though. I have all the music I listen to on records and the odd tape. I don't listen to the stuff they produce these days. I preferred it when musicians wrote proper lyrics and could actually sing and play instruments ! 8-\
Rich

G6Tanuki 10th Jul 2021 5:46 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler (Post 1389026)
Would I be right in thinking that in all the weaselly fine print associated with downloads there might just be a get-out clause that content may be removed at any time? and so you could lose access to what you thought you'd paid for?

What I see a download/subscription model paying for is the ability to conveniently access a range of content vastly in excess of what I could ever afford to buy were I to restrict my activities to physical media.

A tenner a month won't buy you many CDs/DVDs... and with streaming you don't come across the issue of "I spent £9.99 to buy this CD and only like one track on it".

I don't want to 'buy' digital-online content and keep it in perpetuity [a la iTunes] - just as my tastes in cassette and CD content have changed over the decades [resulting in most of my CDs/DVDs and all of my cassettes having been dumped] I guess my taste in digital music will change with time too - which is much easier to address with the subscription/streaming model.

Different people like different things, Alhough he cannot read music or play any instrument, a friend collects sheet-music: I regularly josh him by asking when he's going to get himself an Orchestra so he can hear his music-collection :)

GrimJosef 10th Jul 2021 7:02 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki (Post 1389064)
... I regularly josh him by asking when he's going to get himself an Orchestra so he can hear his music-collection :) ...

Wait until he finds out about Sibelius. This can both OCR his scores and also play them back using a synthetic orchestra created from the digital instrument library of his choice ;D.

Cheers,

GJ

jamesperrett 10th Jul 2021 7:05 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
To follow on from Ted's point regarding vinyl - there is currently more demand than ever for new vinyl. In Europe pressing plants have waiting times of around 5 months while in the US I recently heard of people waiting a year for their discs to be pressed.

jamesperrett 10th Jul 2021 7:10 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler (Post 1389026)
Would I be right in thinking that in all the weaselly fine print associated with downloads there might just be a get-out clause that content may be removed at any time? and so you could lose access to what you thought you'd paid for?

If the service is providing a universal format like mp3 or flac then they're not going to be able to stop you playing that file. However, if you lose the file and want to re-download it then you might be disappointed. I don't know how the Apple environment works although I think their m4a files are now also playable by software other than iTunes.

Terry_VK5TM 11th Jul 2021 12:55 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by The Philpott (Post 1389030)
I never got round to experimenting on unwanted discs to see just how valid the claim that sunlight can corrupt the data...actually is.

I can verify it is a problem having lost data that way, particularly on recordable DVD media.

All mine are now put away in a dark place.

I can't see it happening on pressed DVD's or CD's but haven't tried it to find out.

Radio Wrangler 11th Jul 2021 11:03 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Regarding the comments about supermarkets stocking or not stocking CDs as a business decision based on turnover. The same mechanism is also why supermarket CD racks are probably not of interest to our particular group. They only seem to stock the latest top 20 and the latest compilations and that's it. So it's a choice of pretty uninteresting stuff. Losing it is therefore no hardship.

I think most of us have our collections on our preferred formats, so the discs/tapes we would purchase are unlikely to be chosen as stock items at supermarkets.

David

emeritus 11th Jul 2021 11:51 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
The last record I bought new was the vinyl remastered version of the original (Richard Burton) "War of the Worlds". Otherwise I have been getting my vinyl from local charity shops. We inherited a collection of classical and opera LPs from my late brother-in-law, and the advantage of vinyl is that you can read the libretto that usually comes with opera releases without needing a powerful magnifying glass.

electronicskip 11th Jul 2021 11:58 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
We have two indie Vinyl shops near me , and both do a very good trade in physical media especially new releases/niche stuff/preowned.
With the event of supermarkets dropping physical media these shops will come into their own even more , so the circle goes around again.

Craig Sawyers 11th Jul 2021 12:18 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I had the opportunity of taking over a major vinyl record collection, that would have occupied 14 shelf metres. All classical, with many boxed sets.

I had to turn it down. We don't have that sort of storage space. And if I listened to one record a day, it would have taken nearly 20 years to listen to them all.

If anyone wants to take this lot over, let me know in a private mail and I'll set the contact up.

Craig

AC/HL 11th Jul 2021 1:06 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
As Mark Twain reputedly said of himself, The reports of [my] death are greatly exaggerated. It's all still here, from 78s to 405 TV, it just moves gradually down the scale from mass consumer to enthusiast. The progression is rapidly speeding up, but as David says no-one here need be overly exercised by such slow news day features.

Paul_RK 11th Jul 2021 1:42 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by AC/HL (Post 1389239)
it just moves gradually down the scale from mass consumer to enthusiast. The progression is rapidly speeding up...

I wouldn't say that, the CD has already enjoyed about as long a lifespan as the wax cylinder had, and is in a vastly better state 38 years after its commercial launch than the cylinder was in 1927. And 73 year old microgroove "vinyl", after its transition from mass consumer to enthusiast, has at least a strengthening consumer niche again.

mark_in_manc 11th Jul 2021 5:20 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
(My kids were watching a fantasy film yesterday, and from the front room I heard the unmistakeable wails of Led Zep's 'Immigrant Song'. But I had forgotten the name, and so have a lot of other people as the search 'Led Zeppelin aaaahhhh song' auto-completes in the search box! I was about to play it to them on the PC, but elder daughter (16) said 'do you have the record' - and I do, so we listened to all of it. And they played with the round-ey thing on the sleeve (LZ3) and asked me if this is what we did before the internet :) ).

MurphyNut 12th Jul 2021 8:04 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard_FM (Post 1388861)
I've got 500 odd CDs & no desire to give up on them. All have been ripped to my hard drive.

Add to that at least 200 DVDs.

I'm in the same boat, countless hundreds of CDs in my collection and I keep buying them for next to nothing and all have been ripped to my hard drive.
CD's are now almost worthless, even my local charity shops don't take them anymore!

Nuvistor 12th Jul 2021 9:10 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by MurphyNut (Post 1389425)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard_FM (Post 1388861)
I've got 500 odd CDs & no desire to give up on them. All have been ripped to my hard drive.

Add to that at least 200 DVDs.

I'm in the same boat, countless hundreds of CDs in my collection and I keep buying them for next to nothing and all have been ripped to my hard drive.
CD's are now almost worthless, even my local charity shops don't take them anymore!

With that number of CD’s there must be hundreds if not thousands of hours of content on your computers. Do you just dip in and play whatever takes your eye or have you a system to rotate them? Is there any that get forgotten about?
I had a spell of buying from charity shops and the 3 for 2 at HMV, after looking at what I had accumulated it was obvious that a large number were not listened to either on the computer or the CD. That provoked a clear out, luckily charity shops were still accepting them.
Not suggesting you do the same just interested in how you listen to them.

Paul_RK 12th Jul 2021 10:41 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuvistor (Post 1389439)
Do you just dip in and play whatever takes your eye or have you a system to rotate them? Is there any that get forgotten about?

CDs here are shelved more or less alphabetically by artist, within a few very broad genres, and one day a few years ago, conscious that there were many I was never likely to hear again, I resolved to set aside an hour each evening for listening to one of them, starting at the beginning of the alphabet. I wasn't even close to reaching B before enthusiasm for continuing had died.

We must have something over a thousand CDs, and something like four thousand books. I'm sure there are a great many I'll not turn to again, the problem would be to know which they are, and it finds me thoroughly in the dark - there's hardly anything I've found rewarding to listen to in the last 50 years and don't now - so no clearout is in prospect. If I'd followed the prescription I recall hearing from one anti-clutter guru, of getting rid of whatever one doesn't use in the course of six months, I suspect there are plenty of CDs I'd have bought a dozen times by now.

Paul

greenstar 12th Jul 2021 11:17 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I tend to do this in reverse. A lot of music online that I like. I have a drawerfull of cassettes I bought from the tip years ago when they were actually recycle-reuse centres, rather than crush and send abroad with dubious practices but spin correct places. I record from computer to cassette, great to listen to in my car. I find in practice I do not trust digital storage, having lost a year's worth of photos in one back up, and now and then find empty folders where past backups have not succeeded.

Uncle Bulgaria 12th Jul 2021 11:31 am

Re: The end of physical media.
 
We have CDs, tapes, DVDs, records and thousands of books. All are in use. One aspect of physical media that is overlooked is their bodily memory.

In discussion with a friend, I can be reminded of a phrase or idea in a book, and go and find it. The act of reading means I have an idea that it was near the end at the bottom of the right hand page, or wherever it may have been. If that were a PDF or on an e-reader I'd have no idea as the act of reading is divorced from physicality.

In a similar way, making a mix-tape I can think of the track I should have next because all the music I have is redolent of a time and place, so I know it all and can put my finger on the physical recorded media.

Books in particular are like artworks - they populate a place. A house without books is uninhabited, in my opinion, no matter how much the entire wealth of knowledge is contained on an electronic device somewhere. I can open a 200 year old book as easily as one published last week, which is of course not the case with digital files.

Welsh Anorak 12th Jul 2021 12:50 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I thnk if you grew up with physical media, which most of us here did, then the prospect of simply having a 'licence to listen' is a bit un-nerving. Most younger listeners/viewers have no such problem. I used to buy a good few CDs a month, so my subscription to a streaming service is easily justified. However i still have all my CDs and LPs, (and books, come to that) so I can listen when I choose and, since my car is relatively old, take a CD off the shelf to listen to on a drive - often a CD I have rarely listened to which can surprise me.
One thing is the concept of an 'album' is fast vanishing. I grew up with LPs which ran for 40 minutes and had tracks arranged by the artist to form a whole. Ditto CDs which could run longer and didn't need turning over. Now you get to stream single tracks, so it's in the artists' interest to make an 'album' of singles and you lose the narrative flow. Fine for some music, not fine for others.

Vicboduk 12th Jul 2021 1:12 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
" I can open a 200 year old book as easily as one published last week, which is of course not the case with digital files."

For me this is the main issue, as the recording medium gets more complicated so does the player technology. Once all the lasers in our CD, DVD & Blu-ray devices fail, how do we recover the data?

However, I’m sure I could cobble up a turntable and stylus maybe even a rudimentary head for magnetic tape but I know the optical system for CD’s,DVD’s & Blu-ray would be beyond me.

Vic

GMB 12th Jul 2021 6:06 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
I have yet to us use a streaming service. I am unsure how they work in a situation where no Internet connection is available.

But if I did, will they deliver CD quality (i.e. uncompressed) data?

duncanlowe 12th Jul 2021 6:18 pm

Re: The end of physical media.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicboduk (Post 1389520)
" I can open a 200 year old book as easily as one published last week, which is of course not the case with digital files."

Vic

To be fair, that's not quite true. Paper deteriorates. Bindings disintegrate. Ink can fade. Not suggesting that digital media are better in any way, simply that books are also not immune to ageing.


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