Reply To: Prices

[Wolfie65 1275xp 0]

When they first came out – after the short early 90s interlude of laser discs, if anyone remembers those –  of  we were told that CDs and DVDs were basically indestructible, which they are most definitely not.

In ye olden days of the 80s and 90s, buying movies was still relatively uncommon, most people rented them from video stores, so VHS tapes went through a LOT of different hands, which did, eventually, lead to some decline in quality. Tapes are somewhat stretchy and you can only play, rewind and fast forward a tape so many times before it’s going to develop some issues.

However, buying used DVDs or CDs often carries the risk of smudges, scratches or even invisible glitches, despite the fact that these discs had, in most cases, only ONE previous owner. They had not been passed around among hundreds or even thousands of people renting them from a store.

Conclusion: far from being indestructible, digital media may actually be more prone to weird problems – and in a shorter period of time – than analog media.

My basic observation is that the more buttons something has, the more likely it is to break. The more sophisticated an apparatus, the more likely it is to fail under real world conditions.

I miss the static hiss of needle on a record. I do own a record player, but records have become virtually impossible to find since Hastings, a large media chain, went out of business and even thrift shops do not carry them anymore.

And I love those smudged, flickering, almost watercolor black&white movies from the 1920s and 30s, complete with the background crackling and hissing, but unrivalled acting and plots that actually meant something, as opposed to today’s mass market slop. Watching one of those almost feels like you’re watching someone’s dream