In the post Wheaton describes the tactile sensations of how most of us Of A Certain Age grew up experiencing music, which can also translate to movies and books. More importantly he contrasts these experiences with the usefulness of streaming services.
Earlier this week I wrote about Google's Gemini as a useful tool. I see streaming much in the same way, even as I go hunting for physical copies of movies I want to watch.
I have one more store to check (if it's still open) but I made a big dent in this list tonight.
I'm also constantly searching for cool cassettes to purchase to re-build my collection - which was never all that extensive to begin with, because my music-buying experience mostly involved buying CDs1.
But I also subscribe to several streaming services for movies, as well as Spotify. Spotify pretty much covers all my music needs - Wheaton describes this very well in his post:
I love the convenience of streaming. I love the access to basically the entire history of human recordings, so when I feel compelled to listen to The Andrews Sisters and Tones On Tail in the same day, it doesn’t involve a trip to the mall. I love massive playlists of music they don’t play on the radio, that I can shuffle into my own sonic time machine. I can do all of those things I remember (except for going to record stores; I’ll still do that whenever I can), with the added bonus of never being stuck with a shitty record, ever again.
So yeah, this is why I enjoy Spotify. I completely understand the attitudes about streaming services - it definitely sucks to know that at any point in time, such a service could remove your favourite music! Heck, Neil Young famously pulled his music off Spotify (he returned, but the point still stands).
Video streaming services are even worse, when often you can't find titles at all (which is why I'm hunting for specific DVDs). Even more often, titles are there for a limited time - one day, it's on your watchlist, and then suddenly you go to watch it and it's gone2.
Bottom line, streaming services are not to be relied upon for longevity.
But I agree with Wil Wheaton. Streaming services have a space alongside physical media. If you want to be able to watch a movie in perpetuity or share what you love with future generations, you definitely need to own a physical copy. Studios and services won't be able to come into your home and take them away from you.
But sometimes it's just easier to stream something. Maybe I'd love to listen to a specific album that I have on CD, but I'm at work. I don't have a CD player at work. The solution is to stream it on Spotify on my phone. Maybe I want to watch a movie and want to throw something on super quick, or I'm traveling and want to watch something on the go. I can't do that with physical media.
I don't think that we should be pitting these things against each other, like "Streaming vs. Physical". I know some people have dumped their streaming services and that's fine for them! I just know that for me, having both as an option is the best of both worlds.
I'm 40. Cassettes were very much a thing during my early years, but when I became more interested in buying music, CDs were infinitely more popular. Sure, I listened to cassettes a lot growing up (before we got a car with a CD player, my parents would play tapes on our long treks out east), but the music I bought was mostly on CDs; it's why I have such a large collection sitting on a shelf in my basement.↩
This happened to me with Heat, Arrival, and Prisoners. Heat wasn't on my purchase list but I happened to find a copy along with two other movies in a buy 2, get 1 free deal at a thrift shop, so I picked it up.↩
