Physical Media might not be dead, but Physical Media in Retail Stores are accelerating the death (4 Viewers)

[jcroy]

I don't want to pay Criterion prices for Warner Archive titles!

It will likely happen once wallyworld eliminates the $5 dump bins entirely.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't want to pay Criterion prices for Warner Archive titles!

I think an unfortunate reality going forward will be that as sales continue to decline as the hobby is no longer subsidized by average consumers contributing volume, that there may be some upwards price adjustments. That’s just the reality of having the same overhead costs but fewer buyers. But on the other hand, many labels including Criterion do have sales throughout the year that bring prices down, so there are windows of opportunity to get good deals. But that’s the nature of all products that go from mainstream to niche. New vinyl costs more now than it did when vinyl was the only way to purchase prerecorded music.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I don't want to pay Criterion prices for Warner Archive titles!

Well, we can't have it all... even though it seemed like we could (close enough) for a good long while...

At least current Criterion pricing still seems substantially better than what good LDs cost back in the day, especially once we account for their occasional sales and present value of $ -- and Criterion generally offers better extras than WAC...

_Man_

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Well, we can't have it all... even though it seemed like we could (close enough) for a good long while...

At least current Criterion pricing still seems substantially better than what good LDs cost back in the day, especially once we account for their occasional sales and present value of $ -- and Criterion generally offers better extras than WAC...

_Man_

Some of the higher priced Criterion laserdiscs and box set prices were $89 to $129. I started to collect them when the format was being phased out and paid a fraction of the original price.

 

[Dave H]

I remember my older brother telling me he paid something like ~$80 for the original VHS release of Apocalypse Now when it was released in the early to mid 80s. Factor in inflation since then from a format now deemed as horrible quality...and we are still getting great deals at $20-30 whether from UHD BD or BD.

 

[jayembee]

This is what separates casual viewers from real enthusiasts: enthusiasts will never be satisfied catching random movies on cable/Netflix/streaming. I'd rather have a large collection of discs collecting dust than be flipping through cable looking for any old thing.

That's actually part of a more general generational change. From what I've been reading, younger people have a lesser desire to own stuff. It seems to be largely driven by a desire to be more flexible about how and where they live. Being anchored by a lot of possessions makes it harder to uproot and try something new in a new place.

 

[Malcolm R]

Some of the higher priced Criterion laserdiscs and box set prices were $89 to $129. I started to collect them when the format was being phased out and paid a fraction of the original price.

And early seasons of TV shows on DVD were frequently $100-150 per season.

Honestly, I have more discs than I'll likely ever watch in my lifetime, and really don't have room for a lot more at the moment, so a slow down in physical releases isn't totally bad, IMO.

 

[jayembee]

The (lack of) money one gets for used discs hardly makes it worth the time/effort to sell them.

Yes and no. I live in Bull Moose country. Pretty much every time I go to a Bull Moose store, I bring in a bag full of discs (DVDs I've upgraded to BD or BDs I've upgraded to UHD). It obviously depends on what I'm bringing in, but I find that I almost consistently get an average of $4 per title (in store credit vs cash in hand). Which doesn't seem like a lot in comparison to what I likely paid for them in the first place, but I figure I got enough use out of them in the meantime, and I get enough to knock a goodly amount off what I pay for new discs.

And I haven't even started to bring in books or graphic novels...

 

[jayembee]

I remember my older brother telling me he paid something like ~$80 for the original VHS release of Apocalypse Now when it was released in the early to mid 80s. Factor in inflation since then from a format now deemed as horrible quality...and we are still getting great deals at $20-30 whether from UHD BD or BD.

Yup. When the home video industry started circa 1980, the studios would released some of their films on VHS and Betamax for $80 a pop. Paramount was the first to try "sell-through" pricing a couple of years later, putting out their films on tape for $30-40.

When laserdiscs got going, they were about $30-35 each. Criterion had a two-tiered price scheme. The CAV editions -- which required more platters -- were generally $125 MSRP and CLV editions were $100. Some larger sets, like their edition of Brazil, were upwards of $150.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That's actually part of a more general generational change. From what I've been reading, younger people have a lesser desire to own stuff. It seems to be largely driven by a desire to be more flexible about how and where they live. Being anchored by a lot of possessions makes it harder to uproot and try something new in a new place.

Definitely. Also, gone are the days when most people could expect to work a single job for a single employer and retire with a pension, and where one salary could keep a whole family afloat. Home ownership is out of reach for a lot of younger people, particularly those saddled with student debt, which was taken on because employers want college degrees for positions that don’t require them. It’s a whole societal change for sure, but in short, when it feels impossible to put down roots (for a variety of reasons beyond the ones I mentioned), the things one would do if they had roots become harder to do.

And that says nothing for the basic fact that changes in how media content is distributed and consumed means that in many cases, one no longer needs to possess an object to have access to the information stored on it.

It’s a different world out there, for good and bad and indifferent.

 

[bujaki]

Definitely. Also, gone are the days when most people could expect to work a single job for a single employer and retire with a pension, and where one salary could keep a whole family afloat. Home ownership is out of reach for a lot of younger people, particularly those saddled with student debt, which was taken on because employers want college degrees for positions that don’t require them. It’s a whole societal change for sure, but in short, when it feels impossible to put down roots (for a variety of reasons beyond the ones I mentioned), the things one would do if they had roots become harder to do.

And that says nothing for the basic fact that changes in how media content is distributed and consumed means that in many cases, one no longer needs to possess an object to have access to the information stored on it.

It’s a different world out there, for good and bad and indifferent.

As Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi: I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. 71 tomorrow!

 

[TravisR]

And early seasons of TV shows on DVD were frequently $100-150 per season.

One of (if not) my first purchases from Amazon was the first season of The X-Files on DVD because it was about $100 instead of the $150 MSRP that I would have paid at Suncoast. It was a great deal at the time.

 

[Mike Frezon]

As Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi: I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. 71 tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Jose!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

As Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi: I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. 71 tomorrow!

Happy birthday, friend!

 

[Robert Crawford]

As Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi: I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. 71 tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Jose!

 

[bmasters9]

And early seasons of TV shows on DVD were frequently $100-150 per season.

Indeed! I don't know exactly how much it was, but I was at the Best Buy in Greenville with my brother and sister-in-law one time, and they had seasons of Voyager w/price tags of at least $100 (and that was for each individual go).

 

[Vegas 1]

As Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi: I'm glad that I'm not young anymore. 71 tomorrow!

I'm right behind you I will be 71 on Monday. Happy Birthday Jose!

 

[albert_m2]

Are we coming full circle? Didn't movies on video start mostly with third party companies until VCRs sales really took off and then they wanted to do directly use it as a major revenue stream?

 

[bujaki]

I'm right behind you I will be 71 on Monday. Happy Birthday Jose!

1950 babies! Great year for movies! Happy birthday, Alvin, and enjoy many more.

 

[Guardyan]

[...] I do miss the store experience but I get my kicks now from the mailman, Amazon couriers and, occasionally, UPS. They bring me movies on an almost daily basis and that, my friends, is a LOT easier - and healthier - than schlepping to a store with little to no product. [...]

Oh... the joy of having the doorman hand me a package that's just been delivered!

And, oh... that horrible anxiety about opening the package to find out that my special edition BD boxset/magazine/book has dog ear, creases, crushed corners or some other BS due to poor handling or bad packaging.

That never happened when I bought things at the store, because I could handpick my copies... but the stores always charged me more than online retailers, so...

Josh, here's something to consider. Doesn't entirely negate what you say and doesn't apply to the masses generally, but it's another dimension to this.

The Rise, Fall, and Hopeful Rebirth of I Luv Video

Through his celebrated video store, owner Conrad Bejarano built a film archive that educated and entertained for decades. Now, the search is on for a successor to Austin’s cinematic lifeblood.

www.austinmonthly.com

Wasn't there another article recently published about that same video store?