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Physical Media might not be dead, but Physical Media in Retail Stores are accelerating the death (1 Viewer)

BobO'Link

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I think that's generally been true for most people for most of movie history, though. I think, like you pointed out, that for a brief period, buying a DVD was cheaper than renting a movie, so for a short while, people went that route for convenience. The side effect was that they wound up with a pile of movies that they weren't likely to watch again, and as soon as streaming became cheaper and more convenient, they were happy to go to that. I think streaming is actually quite wonderful, particularly as a rental medium. I'd prefer to purchase a physical hard copy for anything I want to own, but it can be great to open up Vudu or iTunes or Netflix and try something on a whim, rather than having to put on my shoes, leave the house, and hope that the video store has what I'm looking for. But the film industry needs fans who simply want to watch things in order to keep going, so I'm not sure it's such a bad thing that there are so many casual viewers who love the practice of watching a movie but aren't as into the level of detail and history that we are.
With the fairly recent bottom falling out of the disc resale market I've begun considering rentals via streaming as a viable option for newer movies. In the past I'd just wait for it to go on sale, purchase a copy, and if I didn't like it, sell it. It was rare that I didn't mostly break even with that process, at most paying a couple of dollars for the "rental." With many new movies not being worth a rewatching, at least for me, it's becoming more attractive to do a streaming rental and should I want to watch it again make a physical purchase at that point. If I like a movie enough to watch it a 2nd time I'll usually watch it several more. Of course there's still that nagging feeling that I could just purchase a disc copy for $5 or less and still be out little more, if any at all, than a rental.

And you're absolutely right. Casual viewers are good to have. I have a cousin who, before he married and had less disposable income, would see every movie that came out. It didn't matter what genre it was. He'd still come over and watch "old movies" with me, and had favorites he'd occasionally request, but he had no desire to own his own copies of any of them. Even if I could afford it, I'd not see everything that comes out.

But it's that lack of interest in detail and film history that's killing catalog title sales of movies. Oddly, there still seems to be interest for certain classic TVonDVD titles, at least around here. Those make up the bulk of the TV titles the WM stores here carry. Almost everything else here is new(er) movies, kids movies, or seasonal titles with those seasonal title seemingly the same 20-30 titles every year. It truly pains me that WM has the best selection in town. Target is 2nd best but has cut back ~20% over the past year.
 

Josh Steinberg

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With the fairly recent bottom falling out of the disc resale market I've begun considering rentals via streaming as a viable option for newer movies. In the past I'd just wait for it to go on sale, purchase a copy, and if I didn't like it, sell it. It was rare that I didn't mostly break even with that process, at most paying a couple of dollars for the "rental." With many new movies not being worth a rewatching, at least for me, it's becoming more attractive to do a streaming rental and should I want to watch it again make a physical purchase at that point.

That's where I'm at these days too, especially for new release titles.

The thing that will get me to purchase a disc for a movie I've never seen before is if it's an older title, where the disc is presenting a new transfer and/or special features that aren't available digitally. Companies like Kino, Twilight Time and Warner Archive have at times been putting out new restorations of movies that are better quality than the HD streaming version that you could rent at iTunes. In those cases, I can see the value in buying the disc, even if its a movie I'm unfamiliar with. I got a bunch of early John Wayne movies from Olive last year where they had Blu-ray versions available, but the same titles were only available for rent in SD from iTunes. In that case, paying $10 or $15 for the disc made sense to me since I was getting something I couldn't get anywhere else.

On the other hand, I wanted to see "Central Intelligence" with The Rock and Kevin Hart, so I rented it online - I know that for a brand new movie, it's almost certainly going to be the same master used on both iTunes and the disc.

But on yet another hand, if it's a new release movie that I saw in theaters and really liked, I won't hesitate to buy the disc.
 

bmasters9

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These are often people who will not watch a BW movie *because* it's BW as that makes it old and/or not as good. I know people my age who feel this way and we grew up in the era of BW TV, seeing most movies, color and BW, on those BW sets.

I myself have enjoyed some B/W series (and at least three of them are select ones according to me):

Perry Mason
M Squad
Wanted: Dead or Alive


To be honest, it's Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin, and Steve McQueen (all deceased, sadly) who made those B/W series select to me (as Perry Mason, Frank Ballinger, and Josh Randall respectively).
 

Bobby Henderson

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Jeremy Lancaster said:
Depending on the source, there are typically only nine (9) plots. Why do we not get bored with our best literature and films?

But a painfully predictable plot may not be the plot, but the overall story-telling. Imagine a remake where we loved the original actor and were left disappointed because of the novice presentation of both a poor director, poor set design, and poor acting.

Yes, there are only so many basic plot lines. But any really good story requires characters made out of something more than cardboard. It's also vital for the motivations of properly developed characters to drive the plot rather than allowing the plot to drive the characters (which is very common in many movies these days).

The book, Save the Cat! has been turned into a kind of bible for screenwriters and producers. Unlike other books about screenwriting, this one reduces the emphasis on character development and motivation (stuff anyone would study in an acting class). Save The Cat! puts far more emphasis on story "beats" happening at specific points in the movie. One example is the "all is lost" beat just before the climax when the protagonist(s) somehow get their lucky break (often through eye-rolling lame circumstances) to overcome the antagonist. Modern movies pull that one all the time.

By contrast, series TV is not bound to those conventions. It might look like a hero in the series is about to win a big battle, defeat a foe, etc but then he gets killed. Viewers are surprised and upset, maybe even screaming at their TV sets. I would bring up some specific examples, but I'm not into spoiling shows. Anyway, the point is Hollywood movies are bound to so many very boring, very predictable conventions. They almost always require a happy ending. A TV series can end with its main character taking the dirt nap, losing the love of his life, etc.
 

zoetmb

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It's very simple: the retailers are dropping physical media because consumers aren't buying it. This really isn't rocket science. In the U.S. music market, physical media (CDs and LPs) are now just 16% of the market in dollars and the overall music market is a third of its former peak size, inflation adjusted. Like it or not, good or bad quality, streaming dominates. Consumers have spoken.

U.S. physical media video sales were almost an $11 billion business in 2009. In 2017, it was $4.7 billion.

In addition, general retailers used to sell media in part because it increased "dwell time". And increased dwell time statistically increased overall sales per capita. Media was frequently used as loss leaders. Since so few consumers are still buying music, that doesn't work anymore.

It's not the retailers who are the problem. It's consumers. Get over it. It doesn't mean that physical media completely disappears. It just means that they'll be fewer physical releases, fewer examples of special packaging, fewer restorations and generally just a single pressing unless something turns out to be a surprise hit in physical media. With the big chains dropping media, maybe some independent retailers will pop up.

The combination of streaming and Amazon's dominance has doomed much of physical retail. And it's only going to get worse. My apartment building has 200 apartments. The building gets 300 packages a week and far more around holiday periods. There's a price to pay for that - it dooms much physical retail.
 

Paintbeanie

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It's been mentioned several times about how quickly a theatrical release can now be purchased for home viewing. I grew up in the days of it taking a year, or longer, before a movie *might* show up on TV. I know the studios are trying to get those sales while the movie is still fresh in people's minds, that whole "That was a good movie. I'll buy it." mentality. Based on today's offerings I can't say that's a bad thing as most are pretty forgettable and after a year just don't seem to look as good. I also think that practice is hurting theatrical attendance.

The movies that just left the theater appear to mostly be what's keeping physical alive as people just don't seem to care for catalog titles, especially anything made before they were born (ask a later gen Millennial if they've seen a pre-1990 movie and the answer will likely be along the lines of "No - there were no good movies back then"). Even then, the younger demographic is often purchasing digital over physical. They don't see, or just don't care about, the pitfalls many of us who've "been around a while" see in that delivery method.

It's not much different than when VHS/Beta came out. A few people purchased a personal copy but most would just rather rent. They're content to see a movie, or TV show, whenever a network or cable channel decides to air it, or just rent a copy at the local video store for a one-off viewing. Streaming is taking the place of that local video store. People like streaming because it's cheap and convenient (no more driving to the video store or Redbox kiosk) and there are no late fees.

Most of this group absolutely do not care about quality and are generally not true movie lovers. Sure they love to watch a movie, and may see lots of them, but they don't dissect a movie to see what makes it work, or watch to see a classic performance, or seek out catalog titles to get a historical slant or just watch an old master (actor, director, or other participant) for a better perspective of current movies. These are often people who will not watch a BW movie *because* it's BW as that makes it old and/or not as good. I know people my age who feel this way and we grew up in the era of BW TV, seeing most movies, color and BW, on those BW sets.

When DVDs finally made ownership rather affordable, with a far more sturdy product, they purchased a few favorites, got a few more for the kids (good, inexpensive, keeps 'em occupied) and realized they didn't rewatch those favorites after all. Now that attitude has changed to "They're available for streaming somewhere, so why keep buying?" They've likely not experienced that favorite disappearing... yet... People are returning to a rental model but now it's streaming instead of going to the video store. The video stores were partially responsible for keeping physical sales higher. After all, they, too, had to purchase a physical copy, multiples for new titles, for you to rent. With streaming, they're gone and along with them those extra sales.

In the long run, it seems that the studios want streaming to better control access to their content. But they also seem to realize that the current streaming model is costing them revenue in sales. Digital "ownership" seems to be the answer they've been looking for as you can't pass along any part of your collection which opens the door for sales they feel they'd have otherwise lost. It also provides them with the system to fully control distribution, eliminating the middle-man and giving them maximum profits.

My grandson said it quite well just yesterday, although about video games rather than movies. He was telling me about a friend who wouldn't purchase a physical copy of a game because he "prefers digital." The physical copy, with bonus material, was on sale for $15. The stipped down digital version was $60. My grandson said his friend was rather dumb for making that purchase. I can understand why his friend would prefer digital for gaming (after all, there's no disc to lose or damage and kids just don't know how to properly treat media), but not at that price difference. I see the same thing with physical over digital purchases of movies with the physical copy often being much less than the digital, yet people purchase that digital copy instead thinking it's better. I think that group is in for a rather rude awakening one of these days.
I just wanted to say thank you soooo much for saying later gen millennial. I am an early gen millennial and I truly appreciate that you noticed there is a distinction between our experiences in this generation. Not many people acknowledge or understand it so I really love that you made that distinction.
I also love your post. While I don’t like it what you say is true. I teach college and it really disturbs me what college students don’t know. You can mention famous stars or movies/tv shows from the 80s and even 90s and just get blank stares. I know I watch more than most but they don’t even have basic knowledge at times. To me it can be somewhat sad, they are missing out on some truly interesting and amazing things.
 

Ushabye

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I'm from Dublin, Ireland. And, ironically, pretty much the only shops left in the city with a physical selection of DVDs and Blurays, besides the cool shop at the Irish Film Institute, is Tower Records. There are actually two of them, one bang smack in the centre and another just across the river. Both selections are very extensive too. Most of the surviving branches of our local brand Golden Discs, have reasonably large if basic DVD sections, but only a single rack of blockbuster type Blurays. Though, in one branch, they do have an entire floor of vinyl!

I can't get with any cloud/streaming services as a far as collecting films go. For many of the reasons you fellas have pointed out, not ACTUALLY owning the copy (i.e. it's licensed to you), not getting the commentaries (the few that still have them, though many rep. blurays still do) and in a lot of cases, the digital copy being technically inferior (low bit rate) to the physical one, a these copies are predominately intended for phone/tablet use. Though with the onset of Apple and Amazon home boxes, the quality has improved dramatically, I imagine.

Personally, I've chosen to create my own home cloud collection, most sourced from my own physical disc backups. In most cases, I resell or pass on the physical copy afterwards. Still I curate and maintain a core collection on a single tall book shelf in my living room. I moved house five times in three years, having to drag a thousand DVDs and blurays in the process. This experience 'cured' me of having to maintain masses of physical media -though not at the expenses of technical standards. Since I've done this, over time, I've found I watch more of my favorite pictures repeatedly, like putting on a album when your in the mood. Removing the task of opening the case, taking the disc out, firing up the player, checking you've got it in the right region, loading the disc, going through the logos, getting to the menu etc. did have quite an improving effect on my viewing.

The sub standard picture and sound quality John Q. Public excepts these days can be quite shocking. I find this with DCPs also. I'm one the last standing film projectionist in Dublin, and despite the universal DCI standards, the quality of one DCP to another can be very dramatic. Even talking into account artistic choices of film makers. The younger generations black & white prejudices are hugely ironic considering how socially progressive they tend to otherwise be! My nieces and nephews are big Doctor Who fans. When I started recommending stories from the1960s run, they balked simply because they weren't in color. Its a bit sad, as properly remastered b&w is one of the wonderful delights of high definition.

As for home 4K, I give it a serious look every 12 months or so. In the theatrical experience it can be fantastic, for example, watching The Third Man 4K DCP through a laser projector, is an absolute treat! But I'm still using my seven year old Panasonic plasma at home. It's continuing to do a fine job. Another year and I'll see where things are at.

My latest purchase, a physical copy, in a shop, was a 4K UHD copy of Blade Runner 2049. I just went in for the bluray, but you could get the 4K, blu & download together in one box, so I picked up that edition. Life browsing outside a browser would be such a cultural and social loss. We'd all be the worse off for it.
 

Vic Pardo

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My physical media purchases have tended to be driven by obsessions with Asian countries' film/TV offerings and pop culture. And for a lot of these interests, physical media was the only way to enjoy these obsessions for a very long time. This applies to anime, Hong Kong cinema, kung fu films, classic Japanese films, Japanese superhero TV shows and J-pop concerts. These were generally not shown on cable or in theaters nor were they usually available in any quantity from rental shops, although this began to change as interest in anime grew and as certain Hong Kong film stars and directors (e.g. Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, etc.) became popular, but that was only for those titles released in the U.S., a tiny percentage of what was being produced in Japan and HK. So, for a long time I had to go to dealers' rooms at comics shows, Japanese video stores, and Chinatown shops to find the films/TV shows I wanted, first on VHS and then on DVD. Luckily, there were a lot of those in NYC in the 1990s and 2000s, so I built up quite a collection of titles I couldn't see any other way. When Shaw Bros. released its library of classic Hong Kong films from the 1960s-'80s on Region 3 DVD starting in late 2002, I went nuts and bought up hundreds of titles as they were released to Chinatown stores over a period of about five years, before the market tapered off. The classic kung fu titles in this library were mostly eventually picked up by Dragon Dynasty, Tokyo Shock, WellGo and other U.S. distributors, but there were so many non-action titles--musicals, comedies, melodramas, fantasies, crime thrillers, historical epics--that could only be purchased from Chinatown on R3 DVD or VCD (video compact disc--a cheaper format, inferior to DVD).

Now, a lot of that market has dried up and most of those shops have closed. There's one Japanese video store left in Midtown where I go to get new anime and live-action superhero shows on disc, mostly in Japanese without subs., although lately, they've been releasing more titles with English subs. But very little of this material is available on streaming services. Amazon Prime is getting better, however, since I've been seeing more classic kung fu and Japanese yakuza films on it.

As for J-pop, I have to order CDs and concert DVDs directly from Japan. (Luckily, the exchange rate has been very favorable for us dollar users in the last few years, because the prices for the concert discs, which usually come in 2-disc sets, can be pretty high.) Sometimes a concert actually streams live over the web from Japan and I and every overseas J-pop fan on Facebook get up in the middle of the night to watch it live. If it's a good one--and they usually are--I'll purchase it on disc. Of course, web-savvy fans manage to find a way to access a lot of the J-pop concerts and Japanese superhero TV shows and share them on the web, so even if no official distribution source offers them on the web in the U.S., they manage to find their way to their audience.

P.S. Shout Factory has been releasing box sets of the complete series of Super Sentai shows from the 1990s, in Japanese with subtitles, that formed the basis for "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" and the subsequent Power Rangers franchise. I've been snatching up every one of these eagerly awaited box sets as they've been coming out. I previously only had sample episodes of these shows on VHS, in Japanese, but untranslated. "Seijuu Sentai Gingaman," the basis for Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, is the most recent release. The first was "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger," which provided action and effects footage for the first two seasons of MMPR.
 
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AndrewCrossett

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The movies that just left the theater appear to mostly be what's keeping physical alive as people just don't seem to care for catalog titles, especially anything made before they were born (ask a later gen Millennial if they've seen a pre-1990 movie and the answer will likely be along the lines of "No - there were no good movies back then"). Even then, the younger demographic is often purchasing digital over physical. They don't see, or just don't care about, the pitfalls many of us who've "been around a while" see in that delivery method.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers grew up with open syndication on television. A huge proportion of what we watched on daytime TV was stuff made before we were born, or when we were infants. Since they restricted the syndication rules in the 90's that doesn't exist anymore. Most Millennials (the younger ones at least) and iGen kids have never had occasion to see an episode of TV from before they were born, unless they happen to channel-surf past TVLand and see part of their 24/7/365 airings of The Andy Griffith Show.

This pop culture disconnect is the biggest one between generations since that between the Baby Boomers (first generation to grow up with television) and their parents. It's like the Steely Dan song says... "We've got nothing in common... no, we can't talk at all."

If anything saves physical media, it will be corporate greed. When broadband Internet companies start metering data and charging people exorbitant rates for heavy usage, people might start seeing the advantage of owning offline media again. Until we get to the point where the same tiny handful of mega-corporations own both the media and the means of delivery, in which case they'll have us boxed in. Maybe that would be a good time to start reading books again, if we can find any.
 

Rick Thompson

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I'm with you on this. I have thousands of Blu-rays in my library, and am seeing that many of them now look exceptionally better on an LG 65" Oled TV versus my previous LED tv. Absolute gold has been found in my collection. As for buying 4K disks, I own two (2), both produced in Native 4k and not an Upscaled 4k edition. Buying 4K requires to make a study of the online reviews to determine if the money deserves to be spent and if the gain is worth the purchase.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but I've never seen it asked. Since HDTVs will upscale DVD to HD (not true HD, but interpolated HD), I'm assuming that 4K sets will upscale HD to UHD (again, not true UHD, but interpolated UHD). If that's the case, why bother with a 4K disk that's upscaled 2K? Is there a visible difference between an upscaled 2K disc and just letting the set do the upscaling itself?
 

Jeff Flugel

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I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers grew up with open syndication on television. A huge proportion of what we watched on daytime TV was stuff made before we were born, or when we were infants. Since they restricted the syndication rules in the 90's that doesn't exist anymore. Most Millennials (the younger ones at least) and iGen kids have never had occasion to see an episode of TV from before they were born, unless they happen to channel-surf past TVLand and see part of their 24/7/365 airings of The Andy Griffith Show.

This is a good point, and very true in my case. As a kid growing up in the 70s and early 80s, I not only watched the then-current, prime time network shows, but also a ton of classic series syndicated on local TV stations. The original Star Trek was the most notable, of course, but I saw numerous classics on KSTW Channel 11 and KCPQ Channel 13 in Washington State as a youth. I gravitated to mysteries, westerns and more fantastical offerings like The Twilight Zone, The Wild Wild West, The Invaders, The Rifleman, Have Gun - Will Travel, Bonanza, Tarzan, It Takes a Thief, Perry Mason and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I also watched a lot of shows, not because I was any kind of fan, but just because they were on - series like Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Our Miss Brooks, and The Andy Griffith Show (which I love now), etc. Color or black and white, old or new, it didn't matter to me. Those syndicated stations cemented my love of classic television and movies, and I'm eternally grateful to them.

When channels such as these phased out classic TV programming, in favor of infomercials, talk shows and endless reruns of Friends and Seinfeld, subsequent generations lost the opportunity to be exposed to older shows and movies, and so had no chance to gain any appreciation for them. A sad state of affairs, really, but there we are. At least there's hope with all the digital sub-channels that have proliferated in recent years, like Me-TV, Cozi-TV et al, which have brought a lot of older shows back into public circulation again. Maybe some kids will accidentally tune in and get turned on to these shows. That is, if they can tear their eyes away from their smartphones and video game consoles long enough...

(End of old man rant)
 

bmasters9

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When channels such as these phased out classic TV programming, in favor of infomercials, talk shows and endless reruns of Friends and Seinfeld, subsequent generations lost the opportunity to be exposed to older shows and movies, and so had no chance to gain any appreciation for them.

How true, how true! Those two 90s comedies are still, IIRC, infinitely rerun in syndication, despite being out in full on DVD. And, as Howie (Bob O'Link) has quite truly pointed out, some (like his wife) will insist on seeing shows like that (or whatever they see) with ads in syndication, whether or not they have the DVD or Blu (of course, it's not my place to judge those people for that choice; after all, it is their choice).
 

atfree

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Have you been to the Spartanburg BBY? I'd like to get an opinion compared to Greenville since I rarely get down that far.
I've always been surprised at that store compared to even most of the Charlotte stores with their stock.
It's certainly nothing like 2005-2010, but the store to store variation seems quite high I'm sure for a reason.
The Spartanburg BBY (I live in Boiling Springs SC) is like most now. Still have some disks in stock but nothing compared to the heyday. I bought my new 4k TV there last month, but I haven't bought a disk in store for several years due to the convenience (and generally cheaper pricing) at Amazon.
 

Worth

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Maybe this is a stupid question, but I've never seen it asked. Since HDTVs will upscale DVD to HD (not true HD, but interpolated HD), I'm assuming that 4K sets will upscale HD to UHD (again, not true UHD, but interpolated UHD). If that's the case, why bother with a 4K disk that's upscaled 2K? Is there a visible difference between an upscaled 2K disc and just letting the set do the upscaling itself?
The only real advantage of 4K discs from 2K sources is HDR, for superior contrast and colour.
 

David Norman

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The Spartanburg BBY (I live in Boiling Springs SC) is like most now. Still have some disks in stock but nothing compared to the heyday. I bought my new 4k TV there last month, but I haven't bought a disk in store for several years due to the convenience (and generally cheaper pricing) at Amazon.

Convenience maybe, but given the number of damaged discs I've gottne from Amazon I'm not even sure about that.

Price at worst is the same since BBY matches Amazon and most of the time Amazon is matching BBY anyway,
Plus BBY offers me easier returns, pickup discounts, RZ discounts, and a 45 day return/price protection guarantee. Amazon makes me pay
for returns (for non-damaged merchandise) and gives me zero day price protection for non pre-orders. .
 

Paintbeanie

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I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers grew up with open syndication on television. A huge proportion of what we watched on daytime TV was stuff made before we were born, or when we were infants. Since they restricted the syndication rules in the 90's that doesn't exist anymore. Most Millennials (the younger ones at least) and iGen kids have never had occasion to see an episode of TV from before they were born, unless they happen to channel-surf past TVLand and see part of their 24/7/365 airings of The Andy Griffith Show.

This pop culture disconnect is the biggest one between generations since that between the Baby Boomers (first generation to grow up with television) and their parents. It's like the Steely Dan song says... "We've got nothing in common... no, we can't talk at all."

If anything saves physical media, it will be corporate greed. When broadband Internet companies start metering data and charging people exorbitant rates for heavy usage, people might start seeing the advantage of owning offline media again. Until we get to the point where the same tiny handful of mega-corporations own both the media and the means of delivery, in which case they'll have us boxed in. Maybe that would be a good time to start reading books again, if we can find any.
I think you have some good points but there is a major one that is missed. Many younger people flat out refuse to watch older movies/tv shows, particularly ones in black and white. If it is not in color or the special effects are not current it does not exist (with a select few exceptions). There is no desire at all for anything “old.” It is not just a limited exposure starting in the second half of the 90s (there were plenty of channels showing old movies and tv shows for me anyway in the first half of the 90s) but also there is literally no desire for any of this by some younger millennials and those younger than that.
 

Vic Pardo

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This pop culture disconnect is the biggest one between generations since that between the Baby Boomers (first generation to grow up with television) and their parents. It's like the Steely Dan song says... "We've got nothing in common... no, we can't talk at all."

As a Baby Boomer, my recollection is a bit different, unless I'm misunderstanding you. When I was growing up, a lot of my friends and I, esp. in college, were intensely interested in our parents' pop culture, mainly 1930s and '40s movies, but also the music--big band, jazz, vocalists like Billie Holliday, etc.--and novelists like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I remember when CASABLANCA came on TV, my siblings and I all watched it, eager to see our mother's favorite movie. And I would sit up at night watching old movies with my father often, one of the few things I enjoyed doing with him, because he was actually calm during these sessions.
 

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