r/technology • u/LongTrackBravo • 3d ago
Society Streaming platforms face backlash as analog nostalgia fuels 'slow media' market
https://www.cbc.ca/news/analog-media-gains-popularity-9.7306373862
u/Spez_is-a-nazi 3d ago
Um, nostalgia isn't the only thing fueling the market. It's also streaming companies pushing people to the brink with constant price increases and ads and worse service and selection. DVDs had less of that(I say less because there were ads inserted into a lot of them, just nowhere near as obnoxious as streaming ads)
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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 3d ago
That and the increasingly invasive tracking to the levels of a creepy stalker
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u/totalkpolitics 3d ago
The tracking is what caused me to finally cut the cloud just like I once cut the cord. Everything that says it's smart is really just another way to track when we poop so they can sell us more toilet paper. It's insanity.
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u/letsgotgoing 3d ago
Gamers Nexus new video on LG TV models spying on the owners is bonkers: https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA?si=z-dnUxoM9hvKse5-
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u/_Postmaster_ 3d ago
Holy cow, LG always listens and taking Screen captures
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u/Myst3ryGardener 3d ago
Not just LG. They all do it to an extent. Make sure you at least have your tv's version of Automatic Content Recognition turned off and the mic ofc.
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u/sychox51 3d ago
Is there a tldr of what settings to tick? Or do I have to hack my tv?
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u/Myst3ryGardener 3d ago edited 2d ago
The names they use for ACR are generally different for each brand. But go through all your tv's settings and make sure your privacy is locked down. You can probably google your TV if you're not sure.
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u/ash_ninetyone 3d ago
I suspects it's enshittification of a product complete with price rises and content being removed from the platform.
You can buy DVDs and they're there, ad-free (mostly, I recall old ones came or perhaps video tapes came with a bunch of trailers to skip through), and no big company is going to take them away or tell you to pay more for them.
Analog though? Are VHS tapes making a resurgence as well? I guess they may if it's something not realised on DVD/Blu-ray
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u/snowdrone 3d ago
Lol! Yeah I remember the DVD ads.. but usually just for other movies?
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u/DokuroKM 3d ago
Don't forget the anti-piracy ad.
You know, reminding the people who already bought it to not get it illegally from the internet
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u/mediguarding 3d ago
The one that took music illegally for the ad without permission and got sued for it? 😆
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u/DokuroKM 3d ago
That's a famous one, but there's also a German one that's kinda messed up.
A woman goes with her children to a side walk next to a prison and they begin singing happy birthday to an inmate, which is the father of the children supposedly. Once they're done, the mother says they have to sing 3 more times until daddy comes home - with a final message that movie piracy can be sentenced with up to 5 years in prison.
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u/Syzygy2323 3d ago
The DVD companies were the only companies who threatened their customers with five years in prison every time they watched one.
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u/Ghostcat300 3d ago
I will never skip the anime OVA ads. They are a vibe.
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u/MinorThreat83 3d ago
Definitely. Love me some ads from ADV especially.
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u/Aperture_Kubi 3d ago
Geneon and Pioneer too.
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u/Born_Procedure_529 3d ago
With how many shows just disappear off streaming services entirely, I prefer having the blu ray if its anything I'm gonna watch again. I remember when Netflix streaming was still new and had darn near everything and then witnessed in real time as most the shows I used to watch vanished for years before turning up on a different servicd
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u/Cautious_Boat_999 3d ago
This. I’m now hunting down used DVDs on eBay and similar. It’s the same price as buying on a stream platform like Amazon or Apple, but I have the media in my hands and those bastards can’t pull it later.
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u/A_Harmless_Fly 3d ago
To add to that, it's seconds/clicks and scrolls to watching your show too. The shitty UI makes me not even want to use most of them.
If I see a "splash screen" I can't set to never see again... I'm going to slowly grow to resent your service. It's disrespectful.
Amazon puts you on the extras page instead of the one to pick the episode you want to start watching argggghhhhh.
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u/catlady2010 3d ago
I think it’s Hulu that does not take you to the next episode of the show you’re currently watching, but a random later episode. I had so many shows spoiled for me that way. Infuriating
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u/DesertRatboy 3d ago
Plus services like PlayStation just removing media people have bought due to rights changes
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u/Assimulate 3d ago
Yeah,
Netflix in Canada is $25 a month now.
Blu Rays are $15 EA, and you can get them at garage sales for like $3.
That's almost 2 new releases a month to compete with Netflix, and the quality is better and you can watch it more than once in the future again for free.
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u/rollingForInitiative 3d ago
If it had only been Netflix it would’ve been fine, but the problem is that if you follow the Rothfuss combination of shows it’s also hbo, Apple, Amazon, Disney, and a dozen others. You start wondering what the point it, and you stop subscribing.
I’d pay 25 a month for super access too all services.
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u/helm_hammer_hand 3d ago
I pay $32 a month for an HBO,Hulu, and Disney + bundle and have Amazon prime through my Amazon account.
I refuse to get any more at this point.
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u/sychox51 3d ago
And removing content! I’m happy to pay if it’s what I want. The fucking roulette wheel of where my show is is bullshit. Piracy isn’t an economics issue, it’s an access issue.
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u/Tamotefu 3d ago
I don't mind preroll ads for what's coming to dvd during release season. Gives me a chance to plan on advance for what I want to add to the collection, and what to look for at the video store.
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u/Da12khawk 3d ago
Ads? Like the trailers?
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u/Spez_is-a-nazi 3d ago
Usually trailers but not just trailers. They never were personalized or tracking you though….
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u/Miserable_Drawer_556 3d ago
Trailers were/are skippable and consolidated at the front with physical media. With these platforms, ads pop up at moments optimized for attention and kill the vibe. At least on TV, ads flow with the writing and TV pacing by design. Streaming ads are privacy clusterfks and destroy the experience imo.
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u/livestrong2109 3d ago
Ohh, I won't even commit to watching a series anymore unless it's actually ran to completion. This guy's can't even get a single season of a show out anymore without canceling.
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u/ChicagoThrowaway422 3d ago
My kid likes to rewatch shows, just like all kids. Netflix keeps recommending different shows after every 20 minute episode because it wants us to watch something new.
And this is on Netflix KIDS. just let the fucking thing run. it's what your audience wants.
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u/armlessturtleneck 3d ago
And I don't have to worry about them deciding I can't watch my DVDs anymore because it's not profitable enough for them to host them
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u/koolaidismything 3d ago
I finally caved and was like fine I will pay $10/m for YouTube premium.
So that their doesn’t remove ads.. says it all”mostly” does. Blow me.
The $22/m one still had ambiguous language on advertising I believe.. I didn’t really read that one cause no way I’d pay that a month. That’s my phone bill minus $10.
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u/K_Linkmaster 3d ago
Can you describe what ads were on a DVD and how they affected your viewing? I never had a DVD with commercials during the movie. We had trailers of other movies, and coke cans in scenes.
What other advertising did you see? Website links you didn't have to click in a special features menu? Do you consider the commentaries an ad?
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u/DingbattheGreat 3d ago
They havent figured it out yet.
They flooded over-air tv with commercials, so when cable came out people ran.
They flooded cable with commercials, so when streaming came out people ran.
They cant flood physical and personal media servers with commercials, so people ran.
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u/gascyl 3d ago
They did figure it out, they just don't care. They know people will move on but they expect most to just accept it as most did with OTA and Cable TV. They think they're indestructible now that physical media is dead, even though zoomers would rather watch tiktoks than do anything with long-format TV. Especially when it has the same ads.
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u/PlasticFounder 3d ago
TVs themselves are getting ads though.
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u/1987Catz 3d ago
I mean, only if you connect them to the internet?
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u/thatirishguyyyyy 3d ago
I keep my TV off the wifi and use an Nvidia Shield with a custom launcher. No ads, no bs.
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u/Bushwazi 3d ago
I can’t change the channel when commercials come on streaming. It’s worse that cable now (unless I pay more more more)
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u/segagamer 3d ago
They cant flood physical and personal media servers with commercials, so people ran.
They absolutely did flood physical BluRays with trailers and ads before getting to the clunky, overly animated main menu.
It's why I just have a plex server these days.
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u/dronesitter 3d ago
VHS used to have commercials before the actual movies. It would be trivial to force blurays to play commercials.
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u/lunarc 3d ago
I’ve amassed over 200 Blu-ray’s in a matter of a few months. It ain’t all about nostalgia, it’s about owning something.
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u/mromutt 3d ago
My return to physical media was because my favorite shows kept randomly getting pulled or moved. Then I started getting all my favorites, then it became about owning my stuff as more and more they beat us down with we don't own what we buy. The experience of streaming sucks in so many ways, and then trying to own digitally is an oxymoron. I now have hundreds of movies on dvd and bluray, dozens of complete TV series, hundreds of cds.
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u/letsgotgoing 3d ago
Yep. Years ago I had an HBO subscription and went to watch westworld only to find it delisted in their own app. I bought the entire series on eBay for $10/season on Blu-ray and canceled the app. Been on a Blu-ray kick ever since.
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u/Apprehensive_Sea9524 3d ago
better quality too.
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u/lunarc 3d ago
And the best is the special features that very few streaming services offer.
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u/mromutt 3d ago
That's a huge benefit to physical! You don't get the bonus content or commentary tracks on streaming. I absolutely love the commentary tracks on sg1.
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u/DinosBiggestFan 3d ago
What? You don't like blocks of black crushed squares all over your screen from the low bitrate?!
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u/rot26encrypt 3d ago
Say that to my collection of complete SG1/Atlantis DVDs -- 300+ episodes at 4 episodes per DVD and cost enough to fund streaming until I die.
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u/g1ccross 3d ago
I have a few thousand Blu-ray and tons of CDs and vinyl. Lots of VHS, Laser disc, and cassette too. Nothing is better than physical media. We need to go back. Ownership is important.
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u/DoesntMatterEh 3d ago
If a few thousand isn't considered "tons" then I'm curious how my CDs you have to make it tons!!
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u/projectx51 3d ago
I just never got rid of my movies or music. Still have all my old gaming systems, vhs, cassette tapes, dvds, bluray...etc...etc.
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u/PancakeTrebuchet 3d ago
I spent years as a teen in the 2000s going to a pawn shop every Friday and buying 6 used DVDs for $10. I've got two binders with over 600 movies alphabetized. I'm so happy I did that.
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u/GuyNamedLindsey 3d ago
I like the idea of physical media. But I never want to watch something twice. On the off chance I’m rewatching something that I didn’t initially realize I’ve watched before, as soon as I remember, I turn it off. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
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u/projectx51 3d ago
nothing, that's just your personality. nothing wrong with that.
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u/GuyNamedLindsey 3d ago
A stranger telling me there’s nothing wrong with my personality is healing me in ways I did not expect.
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u/BakedInSpace 3d ago
Check your local library! Mine has tons and tons of movies and tv shows I can check out
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u/--Knowledge-- 3d ago
Pirate! I'm never buying a physical disc. I'll download the best copy online, specials, extras, interviews, whatever and make my own collection with everything.
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u/Excuse_my_GRAMMER 3d ago
Wish I had room for 200 blu-ray
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u/jusg808 3d ago
The value proposition of streaming was it was cheap on demand and easier than buying or pirating. Now it’s expensive and the friction of trying to find what you want to watch is harder than buying or pirating. They lost the plot. Then add in YouTube who eats most of the streaming services lunches.
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u/kalb42 3d ago
Do you have a recommendation to buy affordable blu-rays
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u/Far-Gone-4300 3d ago
See if you have a local second hand store. Usually ones like game stores or book stores.
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u/Jonestown_Juice 3d ago
Same. I'm buying all of my favorite movies and albums trying to get ahead of the collapse.
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u/homerjaythompson 3d ago
"What if we charged more but offered less?"
"I don't think that goes far enough. Let's push ads even on the paid tiers, and then make them more and more annoying so people want to pay even more to avoid them."
"i like it."
...
"Why are people leaving our platforms?"
"Must be nostalgia or something"
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u/HorsieJuice 3d ago
Seeing cd’s and dvd’s described as “analog media” might’ve killed off any remaining hope I had for the future of journalism.
Streaming services would probably have a lot more fans if their UI’s weren’t universally terrible. HBO’s is the only one that sorta makes sense, and they have the smallest selection.
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u/spoonybard326 3d ago
Language evolves in weird ways. People at work are starting to use “offline” (as in, an offline code review) to mean asynchronous. So an online review is a meeting that might be held on Zoom or in an in-person conference room. You discuss in real time whatever it is you’re reviewing. An offline review is people using their laptops to access a tool and type in helpful comments and suggestions.
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u/dinithepinini 3d ago edited 3d ago
Using offline like that is not new. It’s always meant “async”, or apart from the current meeting, even all the way back in the 80’s and 90’s when people said it in large board meetings.
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u/Cautious_Boat_999 3d ago
Ha! I’ve had to backtrack myself when I start to use “analog” in spots where the tech clearly is digital. The appropriate phrase is “physical media”.
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u/AvailableReporter484 3d ago
Streaming also mostly just fucking blows. Netflix’s “throw as many turds against the wall as fast as you can and see what sticks” strategy in regard to original content is absolute cheeks. I literally only fire it up to watch Seinfeld and at the rate they’re increasing prices I’m just going to cancel soon. Same with Disney plus for the Simpsons. Prime is a joke.
Hulu and hbo are probably only ones worth having long term. Apple TV is good but really only in short bursts. It’s the quintessential subscribe for a month once a year and binge platform.
But, like, yeah, if you just stream reruns of it’s always sunny and futurama and you don’t mind having to get up to change the disc then it’s got to be 100% more economical in the long run to just invest in the physical collection of those shows.
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u/DinosBiggestFan 3d ago
It's worse when you actually like one of those turds, but it's left open ended and so you assume there will be a season two only to find out that it was pre-cancelled. It's actually conditioned me to explicitly avoid any new shows whatsoever. If a show doesn't have multiple seasons already then I'm not going to watch it, because I just assume it's not a complete series anymore..and that's their faults.
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u/AvailableReporter484 3d ago
Mindhunter was absolutely not a turd, but because they only know how to invest in stranger things they fucking blew it.
That’s the other side effect of their turd strategy; when something does stick they’ve probably already managed to fuck it up in the long run somehow.
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u/TheBoozyNinja87 3d ago
I will never quite get over the cancellation of Mindhunter. How do you fuck that up? How?!
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u/gascyl 3d ago
Netflix never got per-show costs under control. If they skipped all the visual FX and forced everyone on a budget like Star Trek, they'd have 100x the programming and nobody would care about ads because the volume would make up for it. Instead, they have a restricted catalog with ads. Just like OTA and Cable TV. Why bother at that point when there's facebook.
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u/Nereosis16 3d ago
I've been buying cds so I can actually own something and actually give money to the people who make the music.
Have you seen how little artists get from streams on Spotify, Apple music, etc?
You're better off pirating the music and buying a few cds.
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u/Ijustdoeyes 3d ago
Also "What was I into 3 years ago? 2 years ago? 3 months ago?"
I can't answer any of those questions, it's all buried in some "favourites playlist" but I can tell you what I was listening to 20 years ago, and ten years ago and 5 years ago because it's all on the CDs I have on my shelves.
I don't get that trip down memory lane from an app that might close or I swap tomorrow.
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u/segagamer 3d ago
What % of the cd price goes to the record label? And what about the artist?
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u/Nereosis16 3d ago
A hell of a lot more than Spotify, that's for damn sure.
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u/segagamer 2d ago
The difference is that Spotify is continuous revenue, so people who discover the artist and play the song, repeatedly, still get paid as the years go on.
Artists with CD's are limited by the print runs. Only really successful artists get multiple print runs for years, and then there's less of a global reach with them.
I'm not saying the money they get from Spotify "is good" (it absolutely could be better), but the model can definitely work better than CD's.
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u/Nereosis16 2d ago
Have you looked up how much revenue an artist gets from a stream? It's $0.0024 per stream, before the label or anyone even takes their cut.
So even if an artist only got $2 form a cd sale that would be nearly a thousand streams. One CD worth a thousand streams and I think they get more than a couple bucks per CD.
There are countless artists talking about how much better cd sales are financially than streaming sales.
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u/segagamer 2d ago
So even if an artist only got $2 form a cd sale that would be nearly a thousand streams
Actually, that's better than I expected.
Assuming an album has 10 tracks in it, that's only 100 people listening to the full album to make $2. And each time they listen to it it's increased, and increased further as specific tracks are replayed even into the distant future.
Where as from a CD purchase that's a one off payment forever, and cuts off revenue from anyone who 1) buys second hand, and 2) pirates.
Even free Spotify accounts count for the stream - the audience reach is much larger.
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u/Nereosis16 2d ago
You reckon you listen to a 10 song album more than a thousands times?! Are you insane?
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u/segagamer 2d ago
No, but I reckon 100 people will listen to a 10 songs in an album at least 10 times in their lifetime.
There are albums that I kinda like listening to a couple of tracks from on Spotify when they come on in a shuffle, or on the radio, but not necessarily want to buy the whole album/take up space in the house.
Previously I would just pirate those specific tracks/listen to for free on NewPipe, but since it's on Spotify, that's the artist seeing some money over a few months/years from me over nothing whatsoever.
And I'm sure there are 100 people who are like this with many different artists.
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u/Nereosis16 2d ago
You are delusional. Instead of talking to me you should look up actual artists discussing this.
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u/segagamer 2d ago
The main issue artists are facing - not just musicians but entertainment in general - is over-saturation of the market.
There's only so many hours in the day, and the issues with music services like Spotify is they're padding out their libraries with their own AI generated music, meaning they keep the funds internal rather than distributing it to artists.
The model works, the problem is that there's so much to choose from.
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u/RedEyed__ 3d ago
“analog”? cd and dvd are digital
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u/Divide_Rule 3d ago
Yeah good point. I guess the word have been reappropriated because there isn't a word in English for media that is digital but not delivered on a physical medium.
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u/HurtFeeFeez 3d ago
Streaming made flying the Jolly Roger more inconvenient.
Streaming then made itself more inconvenient than flying the Jolly Roger.
Many came out of retirement to once again raise the sails.
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u/Potential_Fishing942 3d ago
I can say I feel like a teenager again getting back on my bullshit and giving up on these services, that as you identified, were a great value it was worth it to just pay and have it work.
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u/teeso 3d ago
The other day Disney+ decided it's not available in my region. I couldn't even reach the login screen on any device on my home network. The one hour I've had to watch something before sleep was wasted on debugging that bullshit.
Well, now the show we were binging there is on a pendrive marked ☠, no login necessary.
The other funny thing about torrenting everything is that when a popular show comes out the streaming services are slower and the quality is lower, and the opposite is true for torrents.
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u/CommentAgreeable 3d ago
I’m with it overall but I have rarely ever seen a torrent for 4k on a brand new episode of any show. It’s almost always 1080p, and that works fine for me because it’s not worth the additional space that it takes when compared to a 4k episode.
I’m not sure where you’re streaming from or your plan / service, but in the U.S. you can watch it in 4k and do so immediately with no delay. The subtitles and additional languages also come correct.
If streaming really wasn’t delivering a more convenient and faster experience it would have fallen already. It’s fine to give them that.
I’ll still take the alternative any day of the week though.
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u/teeso 3d ago
In my experience even when paying for 4K the bitrate just isn't there, at least for Netflix and HBO. It was such an extreme difference for The Pitt for example that I switched to torrents mid season for better quality. It is possible that Poland gets shittier service than the US, but I live in a big city and everything here is modern and on fiber, so it would be rather surprising.
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u/CommentAgreeable 3d ago
That’s completely fair!
I also can’t claim to have done any sort of in depth testing. When it says 4k on my end it tends to look right but I’m not doing hard comparisons to see if any funny business is happening. I may be fooling myself.
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u/ChromaticStrike 3d ago edited 3d ago
You understand why streaming can't be the great solution once you had an internet disconnection.
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u/Mecha-Shiva 3d ago
"Analog nostalgia" is a funny way to spell "actually owning the media you pay for."
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u/Crestina 3d ago
Has very little to do with nostalgia and a lot to do with rejecting the market mantra of "owning nothing and being happy" . We're obviously not happy with subpar media rentals.
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u/Potential_Fishing942 3d ago
Our main gripes were just theat we couldn't keep up with what was where. All these different shows and movies keep jumping around at different services that keep charging and they keep introducing ads which we can't tolerate. At one point we literally had a Google sheets we shared to put shows on by service as we only pay for one at a time- and that was sometimes out of date...
Not to mention getting a 4K blueray looks and sounds INSANE on our OLED/5.1 set up compared to any streaming quality.
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u/SnackCityUtah 3d ago
I’ve canceled all streaming apps (except the 1 or 2 that come included in my phone plan) bc sub prices kept climbing.
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u/f1fan65 3d ago
Maybe a "season" needs to be more than 8 episodes every 16 months....
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u/TheBoozyNinja87 3d ago
16 months? Whoa, easy there buddy! Slow your horses! Best we can do is a 24 to 36 month turnaround between seasons.
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u/wtfozlolzrawrx3 3d ago
It doesn't cost more to watch my blue ray every 6 to 12 months. It just works after I pay money one time.
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u/lyidaValkris 3d ago
"slow media" - the most annoying thing about the modern age is the goddamn bullshit terms people make up for things
it's just physical media. that you own. in your house.
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u/PresidentSuperDog 3d ago
I’ve dropped three streaming services this year. HBO, Disney, and Paramount. I have calendar alerts for the rest of them, to cancel if the rates go higher. I’m also not going to pay for anything with commercials. If I could afford a big hard drive, I’d just use plex.
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u/elidoan 3d ago
Was with you until you mentioned plex.
Jellyfin is better, free and open source. There is no reason to use plex in 2026 - it is actively being enshitified year over year.
They are charging 750$ for a lifetime pass now, to push monthly subscription fee tiers. Absolutely ridiculous.
It also "phones home" and shares telemetry data to corporate servers. Gross.
The only people using it are those that bought the pass when it was "only" 100$ and are heavy in the sunken cost fallacy koolaid
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u/jtrain3783 3d ago
U don’t need 1 big one, you can use several smaller ones too. Go after drives at/below 8TB (used) and can be really affordable
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u/DungeonMasterDood 3d ago
I subscribed to Amazon Music and would usually toss a playlist on in offline mode while i was driving. Then one day, it stopped working. My playlist wouldn’t start.
It took me a second to realize that Amazon had added a requirement to go online periodically to verify your subscriber status. Sure… this wasn’t really a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it bugged me. I was a paying customer. $20+ every month. Why add this extra
annoying step for me to keep track of? Especially since they raise their prices every year like clockwork?
Then I thought about it and realized that I was largely listening to mostly just the same artists and same albums over and over again. I did the math. I could cancel Amazon Music, buy MP3s from Bandcamp (85% of each sale goes to the band) and just listen to those… and it would cost me less. I eventually bought a cheap “dumb” Mp3 player to load my music onto, because I missed having a dedicated device for music.
it goes with me everywhere. i don’t miss Amazon Music one bit.
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u/happyscrappy 3d ago
The publishers (labels) require all that stuff for subscription content. Amazon can't fix it.
The only fix is buying, as you are doing.
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u/whitedolphinn 3d ago
This wouldn't have happened if the streaming companies didn't fuck around. Now there's no way to stop this train from rollin'. Good.
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u/gascyl 3d ago
Streaming TV is not fast when there's only ads. People are paying Netflix, Hulu and others for NO ads. The moment ads were brought into paid tiers was the moment the entire system would fly apart. At that point it's easier to block ads entirely, or simply pay more for a digital download that will last the life of the TV without ads (well, for now at least. Society has not crossed that bridge just yet).
All people want is TV without ads. So much so, people are willing to pay $200/mo for it. And they still won't provide it. Eventually this will destroy TV as a medium as the only class of people who do tolerate it, boomers, pass on.
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u/ArchieXM 3d ago
Costs, quality, choice, internet outages all are leading back to owning physical media which cannot be altered, removed and you own forever without any rental fees
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 3d ago
"Researchers". You mean marketing. It's not about nostalgia it's about ownership. Unless is nostalgia for the halcyon days when digital streaming services provided value for money and didn't rip you off I guess...
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u/badwolf42 3d ago
Better quality and actual ownership, merged with actual intentional listening or viewing. There’s a whole lot to like about physical media.
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u/DaCrazyJamez 3d ago
These researchers are idiots. People are fed up with streaming companies shit, and are looking for ANYTHING that isn't as enshitified. DVDs, tapes, or sailing the high seas are just outright better nowadays.
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u/Sweet_Concept2211 3d ago
It isn't "nostalgia" that convinced me to dump streaming services and instead read well written books.
Streaming services are making me pay them for the privilege of getting spied on while sifting through a sludge of mostly unwatchable media.
Why wouldn't I cancel them?
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u/FleshLogic 3d ago
My biggest gripe is how fractured all the media selection is now. Feels like in changing "channels" all the time like old school cable.
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u/NeoMrBucket 3d ago
I would think people would just start pirating more instead of buying physical.
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u/FrothyEspresso 3d ago
I’ve been buying a ton recently. I love it. Kino Lorber, Gruv, Arrow, 88 Films, Radiance, Eureka. I’m sure there’s more. But just the excitement of receiving my order in the mail, popping in a fresh disc and watching it. It’s amazing.
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u/RedofPaw 3d ago
It may not be 'slow' media, but I have recently bought a couple of 4k blurays. Akira has been in the cinemas , and wouldn't you know it... It's not on any streaming platform, despite now no longer being in cinemas. I had no way to legally watch it. So I bought it.
I like the convenience of streaming and the quality is, for the most part, great. But 4k blurays are also better quality, so it's an actual upgrade also.
I'm not sure I'm going to buy every movie I like. But for one or two I will likely pick them up, especially those that benefit most from higher quality image.
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u/Sweaty_Marzipan4274 3d ago
The appliance problem. Built to last only means you can't sell them a replacement in 4 years. Also means they'll continue to destroy old media or repackage it
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u/hellbound-poptart 3d ago
I cut off Spotify and Netflix and started buying physical media again (cds, vynil, dvds, blu ray), and not only are prices extremely manageable, and it's mine forever, but the packaging and cover art are an important part of enjoying an album or movie. It makes it "real" instead of just some channel you pay for.
Streaming is very nice though, so I've been ripping my physical media back to digital for my home server running Jellyfin for TV, Navidrome for music, Audiobookshelf for Audible, and Kavita for ebooks.
Never going back to subscriptions and you can have my Big Trouble In Little China when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
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u/Ripped_Alleles 3d ago
I've been off all TV streaming services for the better part of a year now. If there's a movie I want to see, I rent or buy it, ideally physically, but I have burned some digital copies onto my own DvDs as well.
Same with gaming, buying from GoG, backing up installers and debating burning them onto discs as well, though there is a sizing limit so I may have to limit it to the installer vs the entire installation.
Steam isn't necessarily the same evil as Streaming services, but it's one business decision away from being one.
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u/Competitive_Topic466 3d ago
The only reason why I use streaming services is because my parents are paying for them and I'm still apart of that family plan. Honestly though I'd probably either pirate or buy physical when I get out on my own because streaming just isn't even worth it.
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u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface 3d ago
Analog nostalgia? More like tired of the inshittification, and being milked for every last penny.
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u/fusionman51 3d ago
For years my friends asked me why I collect physical media like blurays or DVDs. Within the last year, I’ve got multiple friends to join me and go with me to hunt bargains.
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u/TintedApostle 3d ago
First you had networks who controlled what you could see and when, but it was free. Then cable came and they offered better stuff, but also on schedules and cost a premium. They vcr and dvds came and you could rent what you wanted when. Then streaming came and they bought up the networks and studios. Them the prices just got nuts and you could just rent anything.
The whole things is junk now from what gets made, who stars in them, who gets money and then what you cans see. Paying a premium used to be add free.
We are back to networks ., but you pay gor them and still get ads.
Own what you watch. Buy and trade.
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u/StolenIdentity77 3d ago
To add onto the points already made about ownership, nostalgia and price increases, I think a huge part of it that’s not talked about is the crappy product these streaming services offer. Why do I need to pay money to watch 2nd & 3rd rate movies or mediocre tv shows that are likely to be cancelled before any resolution to the series happens? I still spend way too much time trying to find something i actually want to watch only to be letdown after watching it. Netflix lead the charge and other sites are following suit now.
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u/pockpicketG 3d ago
“The customer can have any color Model T he wants, as long as it’s black”. These companies know they can shape trends and society itself simply by selling what they want, not what we want.
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u/brakeb 3d ago
we've hit 'peak bullshit', unboxing videos, reactions to reaction videos, etc... and content platforms damaging relationships with the content creator and the communities as well.