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Are you finished with physical media?

Books, magazines, newspapers and LPs, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays--are they all on their way out of your life?

Steve Guttenberg
Ex-movie theater projectionist Steve Guttenberg has also worked as a high-end audio salesman, and as a record producer. Steve currently reviews audio products for CNET and works as a freelance writer for Stereophile.
Steve Guttenberg
2 min read

It was just the other day when I had a conversation with CNET Senior Editor David Katzmaier about movies, and he told me he was getting rid of nearly all of his DVDs and Blu-rays. Whoa, that news hit me hard; Katzmaier has reviewed a gazillion TVs and loves movies, but he no longer feels a need to keep the discs.

Steve Guttenberg

I know it makes sense for a lot of folks, but not me. I like having my stuff around, and I like the process of selecting music from my huge collection. It's pretty organized, so I can find most titles in a few seconds, but I also like just randomly pulling up something, and holding the cover in my hands. I have a strong attachment to this stuff, and I don't want to ever let it all go.

The flipside to all of this is, if you never touched "it," are movies and music real to you? If you're young now and never buy and hold them, how do you think that will affect your "relationship" with your favorite movies and music in the decades to come? When I pick out a LP I bought 30 or 40 years ago, and played dozens or hundreds of times, the music feels like it's part of my DNA. But if your music or movies are in the cloud, it has to feel different. Or it doesn't feel like anything at all. I don't know how that will work out, we'll see. I've got mine. Of course it's not just movies and music--books, magazines, and newspapers--they're all on their way out, right?

Have you already stopped buying all physical media, or do you want to keep your books, but eliminate movies and music, or the other way around? Or are you like me, holding onto every last one that matters to you? Sound quality issues have nothing to do with my stance. If you're purging, where does your stuff go? Do you sell it or give it away? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section.