Nothing compares to the experience of being eight years old and buying a video game console for the first time, like a Nintendo GameCube, worth $200 with from money earned from helping neighbors around the community.
Immediately after buying a couple games with the game console, a game enthusiast will distinctly remember hassling with the different discs. They loved the games themselves, they loved running home after school and playing MarioKart for hours. They loved playing strategy games with their father late into the night and did not love those discs. They had to make sure the disks stayed safe, that they didn’t get scratched up or lost. They may have only been eight, but at that tender age they realized that game discs, CD’s and DVD’s were inconvenient.
Years later, technology enables the average gamer, music listener or movie watcher to experience streaming media without a physical objectpurchase.
Technology is still a couple of years out from being able to exchange information quickly enough to dish Blu-Ray quality video to houses instantly via internet. But it is nearly time to let go of the past and embrace the digital age.
, whenever and to watch.Vinyl records seem to be the exception breaking streaming trends and the internet. Not because they are practical to use them, but because it feels and looks cool.
By contrast there is absolutely nothing cool about a DVD. The cases are clunky and the medium itself isn’t much to look at.
People that grew up with physical media may try to hold on to it but at some point, society will move on.
It is also important to consider the business side of the equation, streaming is economically advantageous.
Physical copies allow people to re-sell media. This cuts studios and production houses out of profits. Although this is financially convenient for those of us not in producing media, the economic advantages of moving to digital surely means we will transition towards the medium.
Suppliers can ensure every time a consumer buys their product they get a cut of profit. Inevitably, the market will shift away from cumbersome physical storage into easier to handle digital storage.
The greatest knock against modern streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) is that they have such limited options.
At the present moment, it feels very unyielding having to juggle multiple subscriptions to multiple platforms. Streaming platforms must develop payment plans that allow users to access more content at a higher quality without jacking prices up to unreasonable levels.
A lot of the big-time players today will get ousted by new startups in the next few years unless they can evolve and adapt.
New minds will have to develop ways to make high-quality HD streaming more expedient, as millennials are obsessed with speed and convenience. Businesses will have to battle against the mega powers of companies like Netflix to create distribution platforms that are easy-to-use and can excite consumers. People naturally dislike change, and there may be stragglers that refuse to give up tangible media.
But if the brightest, up-and-coming minds of the technology world can discover new platforms for media distribution that allows consumers to watch quickly for prices they are willing to pay, then the days of physical media will be far, far behind society.
Sam Balas
can be reached at
arg-arts.uidaho.edu