General

I miss the concept of renting VHS and DVD's. There used to be a Blockbuster near our neighborhood when I was a kid. We would occasionally rent VHS tapes until eventually the DVD player became more prioritized. My family rented DVD's from the library, Safeway, and Hollywood Video.

I'm actually just about to purchase a record player and casette/CD player that can also export the media into digital format...

Honestly, it's a gift for someone else, but I cannot wait to listen to the quirks of the older media formats.

I remember reading this quote, let's see if I can find it:


.... Well, I couldn't find it. But it was something along the lines of "The flaws of a technology become its greatest feature, retroactively."

I can't wait for the scratchy records and having to rewind the casettes.

The skippy CDs will still drive Me crazy, I'm sure, but in a warm way.

I miss buying a CD because I knew one song (that I liked a lot) on the track list. Then listening to the whole album for the first time and discovering which songs I liked (and which ones I didn't).

Midnight releases a GameStop used to be something epic now they just seem like a distant memory. It was awesome. Gonna be the first in line. Get the new copy of whatever game you wanted at that time.

I miss things being built to last. The ability to repair.

I restored a Japanese ps2 during covid so i could play games we never got in the states. I got one of the last models ever made. That thing was so dusty and dirt encrusted. I broke it down as far as i could and cleaned it all. Replaced the laser. Reassembled it. Works and looks like new. I guess the dust and dirt actually kept the outside from getting messed up and scratched somehow 😆. But i learned so much from that project. Gave me a new appreciation for something that I already had so much love for.

Also the right to own. Physical media takes up room yes. Its not as convenient at times. But you own it. You can lend it. You dont have to worry about it being revoked on a virtual store. Or rights to a song being revoked and not being able to listen to it anywhere online. Looks great on a shelf. You curate your collection. If you have a friend over and they look at your collection they get to know more about you etc. all you have to do is keep it clean and store it properly.

They still do this on occasion. ❤️ Depends on the game. And sometimes the store manager. After covid times there were several midnight launch parties with games/tvs and snacks for one of the pokemon releases. They even had pokemon trivia to win some of the store displays.

I so desperately miss cds and dvds and headphone jacks 🥲 I'm sick of everything being digital and spread across 12 million apps

Physical media is coming back.

I really love vintage electronics, they have a certain soul and feel to them, especially stuff dating from like the early 70s or even 80s. Though admittedly I've never had to work with any of it as I'm not an old timer so to speak. The fact they were able to do as much as they could back then with as little tech available is impressive even if it was annoying or finicky and always breaking. Also as much as I benefit from having a cell phone to write this one, I truly think this much convenience right in our hand is more of a distraction than good, and I desperately need to reduce my screen time! Phones are so addicting it's truly a disaster for us.

Loss of physical media has already been mentioned, but for me what I notice most is physical media is just falling out of fashion for videogames.

I love that I can easily buy and play hundred of games on Steam but the fact that I don't even really own the media and I'd lose them if anything ever happens to steam itself fills me with dread.