4 ms·

Physical media is officially back

16 points by herbertl 2y ago

andrewfromx 2y ago
Creates conversation starters in homes. Enables sharing and trading with friends Provides protection against digital censorship and content removal. Serves as souvenirs and memories from travels Offers a more intentional way to consume content Concerns about streaming services removing content. Desire for true ownership rather than licenses Support for creators who earn more from physical sales. The decorative and social aspects of displaying media collections
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tbeseda 2y ago
Right on. I can definitely appreciate collecting media. I've been buying cassette tapes from artists on Bandcamp. I am already buying their digital album, it's usually only a few bucks more to also get the tape. They're small and I've got a cool Bluetooth player[0], but they're mostly for show. On the other hand, I don't buy physical media for movies or shows. Those are backed up digitally and served with Jellyfin for when they're inevitably unavailable on paid streaming. [0] https://www.wearerewind.com/products/lecteur-cassette-bluetooth-orange-serge https://www.wearerewind.com/products/lecteur-cassette-blueto...
k310 2y ago
Woo Hoo! I just got a 10 record set of Boston Pops concerts. But they're special to me. I grew up hearing all these pieces on the FM radio.
saturn8601 2y ago
Blueray is being discontinued slowly, the only manufacturers of drives left are LG (terrible reliability) and Pioneer (great reliability but slow if you are backing up and for 4K usually locked down blocking ripping). Ironically I hear DVD sales are still going somewhat strong because of the the last cohort of boomers clinging onto physical media. It feels like maybe we got a few more years left and then its over. The only people using physical media then will be hipsters looking for nostalgia. I try to support it as much as I can, buying vinyls on Bandcamp not to listen to them but to look at them, support indie artists, and collect stuff but if companies stop releasing the new stuff then what do we do?
talldayo 2y ago
Wait until you find out what happens to physical media after 20-30 years.
- M95D 2y ago
  After 20-30y they keep looking good on the shelf. I listen/watch their digital copies from NAS, now the 4th generation of HDDs I used for media storage.
biohcacker84 2y ago
But how is development of new forms of media? Which hold even more data, write and read it faster, and last longer. And thus can be used as long term backups? How much innovation and progress is happening in that? Microsoft has Project Silica but that's crazy expensive. Only huge corporations, government and maybe churches could afford it. Not individuals. What are the chances we some day see something like Project Silica as a cheap commodity product, femto lasers and all?
- vidanay 2y ago
  I was promised hologram cubes!
- TylerE 2y ago
  I’m not convinced that’s really a market. Consumers are in cloud storage and don’t want to go back to buying and managing hardware. Enterprises want, well, enterprise solutions.
ksec 2y ago
We need a media that offer us at least 1 to 5 TB of Data, that is fast, low enough latency ( not tape ), cost less than $1 per TB to manufacture, durable that last longer than 50 years under ideal conditions and smaller than the size of our palm. And right now we don't have something like that. Not even on a roadmap.
- M95D 2y ago
  Not economically feasible. You'll never replace them periodically. You'll never buy a second time the files that you wouldn't loose when they won't be unreadable. The industry expects you to buy SSDs that you write once, keep 5 years while having nightmares about going bad at the same time as the backups, then buy another set, worse than the current set but you'll never know until too late, and replace them all. Rinse and repeat.
joeyagreco 2y ago
Feel like there will be a resurgence in demand for physical media over the next 10-15 years.

16 points by herbertl 2y ago

Creates conversation starters in homes. Enables sharing and trading with friends Provides protection against digital censorship and content removal. Serves as souvenirs and memories from travels Offers a more intentional way to consume content Concerns about streaming services removing content. Desire for true ownership rather than licenses Support for creators who earn more from physical sales. The decorative and social aspects of displaying media collections

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

tbeseda 2y ago

Right on. I can definitely appreciate collecting media. I've been buying cassette tapes from artists on Bandcamp. I am already buying their digital album, it's usually only a few bucks more to also get the tape. They're small and I've got a cool Bluetooth player[0], but they're mostly for show. On the other hand, I don't buy physical media for movies or shows. Those are backed up digitally and served with Jellyfin for when they're inevitably unavailable on paid streaming. [0] https://www.wearerewind.com/products/lecteur-cassette-bluetooth-orange-serge https://www.wearerewind.com/products/lecteur-cassette-blueto...

k310 2y ago

Woo Hoo! I just got a 10 record set of Boston Pops concerts. But they're special to me. I grew up hearing all these pieces on the FM radio.

saturn8601 2y ago

Blueray is being discontinued slowly, the only manufacturers of drives left are LG (terrible reliability) and Pioneer (great reliability but slow if you are backing up and for 4K usually locked down blocking ripping). Ironically I hear DVD sales are still going somewhat strong because of the the last cohort of boomers clinging onto physical media. It feels like maybe we got a few more years left and then its over. The only people using physical media then will be hipsters looking for nostalgia. I try to support it as much as I can, buying vinyls on Bandcamp not to listen to them but to look at them, support indie artists, and collect stuff but if companies stop releasing the new stuff then what do we do?

talldayo 2y ago

Wait until you find out what happens to physical media after 20-30 years.

M95D 2y ago
After 20-30y they keep looking good on the shelf. I listen/watch their digital copies from NAS, now the 4th generation of HDDs I used for media storage.

biohcacker84 2y ago

But how is development of new forms of media? Which hold even more data, write and read it faster, and last longer. And thus can be used as long term backups? How much innovation and progress is happening in that? Microsoft has Project Silica but that's crazy expensive. Only huge corporations, government and maybe churches could afford it. Not individuals. What are the chances we some day see something like Project Silica as a cheap commodity product, femto lasers and all?

vidanay 2y ago
I was promised hologram cubes!
TylerE 2y ago
I’m not convinced that’s really a market. Consumers are in cloud storage and don’t want to go back to buying and managing hardware. Enterprises want, well, enterprise solutions.

ksec 2y ago

We need a media that offer us at least 1 to 5 TB of Data, that is fast, low enough latency ( not tape ), cost less than $1 per TB to manufacture, durable that last longer than 50 years under ideal conditions and smaller than the size of our palm. And right now we don't have something like that. Not even on a roadmap.

M95D 2y ago
Not economically feasible. You'll never replace them periodically. You'll never buy a second time the files that you wouldn't loose when they won't be unreadable. The industry expects you to buy SSDs that you write once, keep 5 years while having nightmares about going bad at the same time as the backups, then buy another set, worse than the current set but you'll never know until too late, and replace them all. Rinse and repeat.

joeyagreco 2y ago

Feel like there will be a resurgence in demand for physical media over the next 10-15 years.