Do you regret hoarding old dvds/cds/games?

[Kaido]

No:

1. We keep all of our disc-based stuff in a large storage bin in the garage

2. We rip it to our PLEX server to stream to our Roku players

3. Online streaming has proved annoying. For example, I share a VUDU account with my family, which currently maxes out at 8 devices. So my brother will buy a movie, I'll input my Ultraviolet code, etc. & we're able to share everything, but I have 3 devices at home (living room TV, basement projector, and a small TV in front of my elliptical), my brother has a few, etc., so we've already maxed that out - which is really frustrating when I want to add another streaming device because I can't, whereas I can stream my Plex account over the Internet to whatever devices I want, so I'm not limited in that way.

It's more convenient to do an instant purchase on Amazon or VUDU, but it's less convenient when you want to share a movie with friends or family. Unfortunately we're already a couple dozen movies into the cloud system & I'm not willing to buy them again

 

[Nashemon]

Games, no. I'm a collector. I only buy the gems, though. I'm amounted a nice collection from NES - present. Probably around 300 carts and disks.

For movies, if I'm only going to watch it once, I'll download it (sue me). If it's something I really enjoyed (Indiana Jones, BttF, Full Metal Alchemist), I'll buy the collectors edition or complete boxed set when it comes out.

Same for books, I'll read it on my kindle, and if I liked it enough to read it again later, I'll buy a hard copy of it second hand if I ever find it somewhere and put it in my library. I'm a bit old fashioned, though.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Between over 40 Playstation 1 and 2 games, my only regret is putting my PS1 games inside a multi disk case instead of keeping the original cases and manuals. (In my defence, I wasn't even 10 at the time)

My Cardcaptor Sakura blu ray set I don't regret at all.

 

[Ichinisan]

Wow ...



I stopped buying DVDs years ago as I could foresee the advent of online streaming cutting into sales of physical media. I have tried to convince the wife and asked her not to buy me any more DVDs but she still buys a few for herself each year. As for the comment above ... when the day comes that the DVD format goes the way of the dinosaur I plan on ripping any dvds that I wish to a common format that will hopefully survive me.


As for games ... I have a "treasure chest" full of games as old as late 90s that I treasure greatly. I may not play them much but I do have the memories. I have no regret abouth those ... or buying used PC gaming software as it becomes avaialble.

Regardless of DMCA bullcrap (conflicting with our fair use rights), I view the disc as my licence to rip into whatever format I want and use it however I please. I don't buy random movies. Only movies I love (usually, something I already saw in theaters). It's always frustrating when you want to show someone a great movie, but it has disappeared from Netflix / Amazon / whatever. Owning the disc gives me a little bit of comfort in that regard.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

No. But I regret hoarding old mayonnaise, that's come back to bite me on the ass.

 

[Newell Steamer]

VHS tapes thrown out when DVDs came along. I didn't even think twice and I had maybe less than 20 VHS tapes.

CDs were thrown out in 2000. It's all digital now. I am never buying another physical CD. Maybe if I get to the point of having disposable income I'll start a vinyl collection. But, physical music, nope.

DVDs were recently copied backed up - lots of TV series. I am never buying another DVD. Steaming content from Prime and possibly Netflix is good enough. I don't even want to hoard digital copies of movies & TV shows. But, again, I did put away physical copies of my DVDs and stream them when I want to watch Married with Children.

BluRays,.. my GOD,.. you don't fuck with the image quality. And 30GBs is just too much to stream/store. Nonetheless, I've limited my BluRay collection considerable. I was at one point thinking of buying BluRay versions of all my DVD movies/TV shows - but, that would have been an insanely high cost.

 

[Ichinisan]

How about piles of VHS tapes. We don't even have a VHS player. Saved all the Disney movies for grandchildren.

Honestly, even as a Disney fan, I perceive no value on the VHS tapes. They're all 4:3 pan-and-scan, so you're already missing a significant amount of the picture. Playback degrades over time. The experience of rewinding...it's just not worth it anymore.

I'd probably keep a Disney DVD 1) if it's one of their really good ones and 2) if it's wide-screen.

 

[Ichinisan]

I still buy full album CDs so I rip lossless and sync to my devices through iTunes Match. It's $1-$3 per disc at the local Goodwill thrift store.

 

[soulcougher73]

Dirty, filthy pirate.

Keeping rips after you sell the originals is not fair use in any sense.

I almost care, but alas i dont.

 

[dainthomas]

I probably have way too many blurays. But there are many that I watch over and over. Particular the LOTR and Marvel movies. I usually don't pay more that $5-10 and streaming can't touch the audio quality of bluray.

 

[poofyhairguy]

And 30GBs is just too much to stream/store.

That honestly made me chuckle, as my collection of over 300 Blu Rays are all sitting on my server ready to be streamed alongside all my DVDs. Heck 5GHz N can stream the biggest Blu Ray we have gotten so far, it is all very doable.


OP, the only media I have regretted buying was stuff where a better version came out later on. For example I have bought the movie Serenity four times- once when it came out on DVD, then the special edition DVD, then the HD DVD, and then the Blu Ray. I only watch the Blu Ray, so the rest were pretty much a waste.

That is part of the reason I have bought three times as many Blu Rays as I ever had DVDs- I feel that Blus are about as good as some of this old content is going to get or needs to be. Sure maybe I will buy a 4K Serenity disk one day, but honestly with some older movies like Star Wars the greater detail will just date the movie more than it already is. Seeing as how streaming options are worse yet good enough Blu Rays seem like a good bet.

Honestly it feels like physical purchases for media is going away. Just like Spotify and the like ended for most people the buying of CDs, I know many friends who only watch movies when they end up on Netflix or Prime. This scares me because in these services you can't control what is offered you, the media contract (which can expire) does. We are being conditioned to take what we are given, which sucks when so much of out society and culture (and therefore who we are) is defined by these pieces of art. A story of my life without say the Back to the Future Trilogy, or Cowboy Bebop, isn't really the story of my life as that media affected me greatly.

DVD was the pinnacle of optical disks carrying video data, in many cases for certain shows and movies the DVD was the only chance we ever got or will ever get at a digital copy that you can store locally. I used to scoff at them, but in an age where your favorite old show can be dropped off of Netflix overnight because the media contract expired having a shot at a digital copy that I can manage locally has me actually collecting all those old disks again. Then you get into what version of the DVD had the best transfer and etc, which is why I am all of a sudden buying foreign DVDs too. My goal is to own the best version of every single piece of media me or my wife has ever loved so that my server can basically be a time capsule of our cultural media experience on earth to be shared with our offspring.

 

[soulcougher73]

That honestly made me chuckle, as my collection of over 300 Blu Rays are all sitting on my server ready to be streamed alongside all my DVDs. Heck 5GHz N can stream the biggest Blu Ray we have gotten so far, it is all very doable.


OP, the only media I have regretted buying was stuff where a better version came out later on. For example I have bought the movie Serenity four times- once when it came out on DVD, then the special edition DVD, then the HD DVD, and then the Blu Ray. I only watch the Blu Ray, so the rest were pretty much a waste.

That is part of the reason I have bought three times as many Blu Rays as I ever had DVDs- I feel that Blus are about as good as some of this old content is going to get or needs to be. Sure maybe I will buy a 4K Serenity disk one day, but honestly with some older movies like Star Wars the greater detail will just date the movie more than it already is. Seeing as how streaming options are worse yet good enough Blu Rays seem like a good bet.

Honestly it feels like physical purchases for media is going away. Just like Spotify and the like ended for most people the buying of CDs, I know many friends who only watch movies when they end up on Netflix or Prime. This scares me because in these services you can't control what is offered you, the media contract (which can expire) does. We are being conditioned to take what we are given, which sucks when so much of out society and culture (and therefore who we are) is defined by these pieces of art. A story of my life without say the Back to the Future Trilogy, or Cowboy Bebop, isn't really the story of my life as that media affected me greatly.

DVD was the pinnacle of optical disks carrying video data, in many cases for certain shows and movies the DVD was the only chance we ever got or will ever get at a digital copy that you can store locally. I used to scoff at them, but in an age where your favorite old show can be dropped off of Netflix overnight because the media contract expired having a shot at a digital copy that I can manage locally has me actually collecting all those old disks again. Then you get into what version of the DVD had the best transfer and etc, which is why I am all of a sudden buying foreign DVDs too. My goal is to own the best version of every single piece of media me or my wife has ever loved so that my server can basically be a time capsule of our cultural media experience on earth to be shared with our offspring.

Media companies have you hook line and sinker

 

[Leyawiin]

I still use DVDs for movies (have a nice Oppo DVD player I'll never get rid of). As far as games go, yes, I never buy them on physical media anymore but still hang onto my old DVDs of them.

 

[Thump553]

Games-yes, they are clutter.

DVDs and bluerays-I have very, very few. I never understood the desire to see anything but one of your most favorite movies again. Heck just turn on cable if you want to see reruns over and over again.

Music CDs and vinyl: I have a huge physical collection and will probably keep adding to it till my last days. Music can be enjoyed repeatedly, and even if you grow tired of something a few years (or decades) later you may enjoy it all over again-happens to me all the time. Plus music is going to retain its resale value. I have lots and lots of stuff that isn't on the common streaming providers plus it is a lot better audio fidelity.

I do admit though for my day to day listening I always rip my CDs to FLAC (loss-less) files, mostly for convenience and to preserve my original media.

 

[destrekor]

I am actually very sad I did not hold on to old games and game systems. I keep movies and am slowly building up a Blu-ray collection over time (and have zero regrets about that, for the movies I truly want to enjoy, streaming is never the answer), though I might not care if I suddenly did not have my DVD collection, as I do not like upscaling.

I used to trade in old games and systems at GameStop/EB Games/Babbage's back in the day, and I very much regret that. It was nice in the day because even though you usually got a pittance, sometimes I got some good credits to buy a few new games, and as a kid who had no income, this was great.

But now, I wish I had some of the old systems and games to break out for nostalgia. Plus, I like the idea of a true collection on display.

 

[waggy]

Not at all.

Though i admit to buying far less movies.
It's cheaper to buy a blu-ray for $19 then it is to take the kids to see whatever is out. This way i can pause, rewind, and eat cheaper.

Also i can't think of a movie we haven't watched at least twice.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Also i can't think of a movie we haven't watched at least twice.

When I was a kid, I could watch the same movie over and over again. Nowadays, not so much.

 

[eng2d2]

I know someone who owns a 4 bedroom house with 2 rooms pack full of CDs floor to ceiling. It was so full the collection snake out to the living room.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Media companies have you hook line and sinker

Not really. I violate the DMCA every time I rip a drmed disc, which is all of them.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Here is the problem: I will NEVER... EVER... depend on the movie companies for streaming.

I can see it 10 years down the line they go bankrupt, scrap the streaming process, etc... and your $20 purchase no longer exists. Hence, I need a PHYSICAL disk on hand.

Until streaming costs go down, what the fuck is the point? They charge the same amount to stream movies as they do to produce a phyiscal copy. Sorry kids, I work in the business work and they just cut out their entire production and distribution costs and you want me to pay the same or more? Heh, you're funny.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I only have, like, 15 movies on dvd and maybe 100 cds - so, no I don't regret holding on to them. In fact I'm more likely to buy CDs these days. If a disc costs the same as a download, I'll get the disc every time.
Movies are a lost cause - I haven't bought one since blu-ray came out. I did buy a blu-ray drive for my pc but haven't installed it yet. :\

 

[Cerb]

No, my CD collection is still growing.

This. How do you get music not available on other formats[, if not pirating it], without buying CDs?

I also buy discs of movies not readily available for streaming, or for which I want the extras.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Alright.

Let's get rid of personal libraries of any kind, while we're at it.

Who needs any books in their house? It's not like you ever read a book twice, eh? You can get them from public libraries if you need them. And if public libraries don't have the title you're looking for, you probably don't really need that title anyway. You got a Kindle and Amazon.com, that's all you'll ever need.

Same goes with music and films. We'll always have the internet available to us, as well as services like Netflix, right? So why bother with discs? Who the hell watches "Casablanca" four times, anyway? And who cares about some "making of" documentary or a director's commentary accompanying the film? Only pretentious bastards, that's who!

As for music, who needs to have a collection when YouTube parties are all the rage nowadays?

The internet is here to stay, electricity is a given, and anyone who says otherwise is a luddite.








... And then you wonder why "Idiocracy" is no longer a satire, but a self-fulfilling prophecy...

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I hoard a bunch of books/papers/old school work that I tell myself I might need one day. Then once a year I go through a cleaning frenzy and end up throwing it all away anyways..

 

[michal1980]

I regert selling my ps2 and game collection. Why? I cannot rationally tell you why.

However I have no regrets selling off my xbox 360 and its game collection.