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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

Re: The end of physical media.
 

Skipping DVD rubbish... https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how...s-and-g-114466

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

Re: The end of physical media.
 

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 :)

Re: The end of physical media.
 

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

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.

Re: The end of physical media.
 

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.

Re: The end of physical media.
 

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Re: The end of physical media.
 

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.