Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Cranston37

I say just subscribe to something like Apple Music and save yourself the effort!

No, thank you. I can just plug in this flash drive anywhere and that's it. I don't have to be dependent on the internet or any company that overcharges for all its products and services.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by Cranston37

Oh I totally get that, which is why he probably bought the LP and CD hard copies in the first place, and good on him for that.

It's just *for me personally* when you then take those hard copies and digitize them, then it all becomes six of one, half dozen of the other. The value of owning decreases signifigently. Whether the album you're listening to digitally is one you previously bought or just subscribed to, it's probably the same file being played on the same device and through the same service...

The majority of my music collection is on vinyl. So, I am taking a superior version and digitizing it.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by John Klein

Scratched disks don't always kill the disk and Blu-Rays are not easy to scratch by accident. Damaged cases don't really effect the disk and disk rot isn't a common issue.

As someone pointed out, no form of media is 100% safe but at least with physical media you don't have to worry about how well your internet is working.

With digital downloads, you don't need Internet to play them.

So tired of people thinking downloads and streaming are somehow the same thing.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

With digital downloads, you don't need Internet to play them.

So tired of people thinking downloads and streaming are somehow the same thing.

To be fair you need internet to activate the downloads on the machine. You just don't need internet after that. And by internet I mean specific server connections the companies could shut down at any time, but hey now, we're getting all tin foil and black hats right? *looks at Xbox downloadable content forever removed* Oh...

[knight17]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

With digital downloads, you don't need Internet to play them.

So tired of people thinking downloads and streaming are somehow the same thing.

You are right if the downloads are independent of the service but they are not. In other words, the service will need to authenticate from time to time and for ex:- If you are using flixster as the service, the download can only be played through this app and so on.

So they do know the difference but as far as legitimate sources go, activation seems to always be a bit of a pain. I remember my PS4 asking to connect to the internet every time I try to play a Blu-ray despite the fact that it has already been activated to do so. I don't use it for playing movies but I guess you can see what I am trying to state.

[Cranston37]

I have absolutely no problem with people not liking digital media for a variety of legitimate reasons, and at the end of the day it's to each his own on this topic anyway, but I've never understood the "I don't want to be dependent on having an internet connection" argument.

To me that's like saying you buy bottled water to take baths with because you don't want to be dependent on your home's running water. Internet has become as ubiquitous a utility as electricity and water. The only time I've ever lost internet has been when the power's gone out, in which case I wouldn't have been able to watch or listen to anything anyway.

I know full well I've just thrown a gernade so I'm running for cover

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by knight17

You are right if the downloads are independent of the service but they are not. In other words, the service will need to authenticate from time to time and for ex:- If you are using flixster as the service, the download can only be played through this app and so on.

So they do know the difference but as far as legitimate sources go, activation seems to always be a bit of a pain. I remember my PS4 asking to connect to the internet every time I try to play a Blu-ray despite the fact that it has already been activated to do so. I don't use it for playing movies but I guess you can see what I am trying to state.

The only surefire way for downloads is what I have been doing, which is ripping the raw .mt2s file from the BD onto an external hard drive. There are some drawbacks though. You lose subtitles so that means no foreign films unless the subs are burned-in. Then I can't rip seamless branched titles because instead of a single file the film is spread across about 20-40 files. Still, I am still able to back up about 70% of my collection this way.

[ThatOneGuy]

Originally Posted by Cranston37

I have absolutely no problem with people not liking digital media for a variety of legitimate reasons, and at the end of the day it's to each his own on this topic anyway, but I've never understood the "I don't want to be dependent on having an internet connection" argument.

To me that's like saying you buy bottled water to take baths with because you don't want to be dependent on your home's running water. Internet has become as ubiquitous a utility as electricity and water. The only time I've ever lost internet has been when the power's gone out, in which case I wouldn't have been able to watch or listen to anything anyway.

I know full well I've just thrown a gernade so I'm running for cover

Because the Internet is another layer of something that can go wrong. Physical media is reliant on power and equipment, digital is reliant on power, equip, and Internet connection (you need to a constant connecting for streaming). The more things something requires, the more chance of it failing on you and the Internet isn't reliable at all because that also requires quite a of things to been useable as well. Digital is just good for portable entertainment to me, I download a few things and I can watch it where ever I want, provided my phone doesn't die.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by John Klein

Because the Internet is another layer of something that can go wrong. Physical media is reliant on power and equipment, digital is reliant on power, equip, and Internet connection (you need to a constant connecting for streaming). The more things something requires, the more chance of it failing on you and the Internet isn't reliable at all because that also requires quite a of things to been useable as well. Digital is just good for portable entertainment to me, I download a few things and I can watch it where ever I want, provided my phone doesn't die.

That is true. Something else to mention is that an external hard drive or optical hard drive are more reliable than an internet router. I can't tell you how many times I have had to reset mine over the years.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by Cranston37

To me that's like saying you buy bottled water to take baths with because you don't want to be dependent on your home's running water. Internet has become as ubiquitous a utility as electricity and water. The only time I've ever lost internet has been when the power's gone out, in which case I wouldn't have been able to watch or listen to anything anyway.

Horrible comparison. Buying anything digital that can't be used completely independent of any Internet involvement is flat out not safe. If you don't care about permanent ownership and whether the content that you bought might disappear down the line and if you only want to buy it for the short term, then it's all good.

And it's not the lack of Internet itself or Internet of a specific speed that is the problem, although that too is a problem for folks living in isolate areas. It is more the possibility that the service that is required to authenticate your digital content will be available down the line. I mentioned this in another thread, but many digital games that could be bought for the Xbox 360 and PS3 aren't available anymore. You can't even re-download them if you purchased them before. That is a more relevant comparison than water.

And by the way, I actually do always have several bottles of water stored for various emergency cases.

[dig311dug]

Andy Visits Guillermo Del Toro's Bleak House - CONAN on TBS - YouTube

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

Horrible comparison. Buying anything digital that can't be used completely independent of any Internet involvement is flat out not safe. If you don't care about permanent ownership and whether the content that you bought might disappear down the line and if you only want to buy it for the short term, then it's all good.

And it's not the lack of Internet itself or Internet of a specific speed that is the problem, although that too is a problem for folks living in isolate areas. It is more the possibility that the service that is required to authenticate your digital content will be available down the line. I mentioned this in another thread, but many digital games that could be bought for the Xbox 360 and PS3 aren't available anymore. You can't even re-download them if you purchased them before. That is a more relevant comparison than water.

Considering the amount of disc rot reports out there, especially on things from 2009 or earlier, I no longer really trust blu-rays to last any longer than digital.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Originally Posted by PCFan

Some people want to own their music rather than pay a monthly fee to listen to music.

and it wouldn't help if they own stuff that isn't available on a music service.

[mredman]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Considering the amount of disc rot reports out there, especially on things from 2009 or earlier, I no longer really trust blu-rays to last any longer than digital.

Disc rot? Are you kidding have been buying discs since 1999 and have only had 1 movie gone bad. REST have all been fine so far. So you really are SERIOUSLY exaggerating here big time. Digital is like "smoke" Blu-Ray is not.

[FruityOatyBar]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Considering the amount of disc rot reports out there, especially on things from 2009 or earlier, I no longer really trust blu-rays to last any longer than digital.

I was watching my day 1 purchased Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5 Blu-ray the other day and noticed a glitch and some snow in the image on one episode that wasn't there before. I'm assuming this is disc rot and the set was released November 19, 2013, not even three years ago.

Now this isn't the norm, but it goes to show that Blu-ray doesn't have an infinite shelf life.

[mredman]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

I've been buying DVDs and BDs since my 2000 tax return and have had literally one single disc succumb to rot, a disc inside ER: The Complete Sixth Season. That's a pretty good failure rate when you consider I currently own a couple thousands discs and previously owned even more DVDs.

The same here. This disc rot thing is ridiculous. Yeah it can happen. But so can a fire or something that can happen way more often is harddrive failure or a site closing down with all your movies on because they have become unpopular because another service has become the more go to site.

[mredman]

Originally Posted by FruityOatyBar

I was watching my day 1 purchased Star Trek: The Next Generation, season 5 Blu-ray the other day and noticed a glitch and some snow in the image on one episode that wasn't there before. I'm assuming this is disc rot and the set was released November 19, 2013, not even three years ago.

Now this isn't the norm, but it goes to show that Blu-ray doesn't have an infinite shelf life.

NO. That is not disc Rot at all. That is likely your player failing. Disc Rot is discs not even playable anymore. And that has ONLY happened to 1 DVD (superman 2) it never happened for a Blu-Ray for me as of yet. And i own about 1600 Blu's

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Considering the amount of disc rot reports out there, especially on things from 2009 or earlier, I no longer really trust blu-rays to last any longer than digital.

I used to own over 2000 DVDs and currently have over 1600 Blu-rays and I've never encountered this "disc rot".

[mredman]

Originally Posted by jetthead

I used to own over 2000 DVDs and currently have over 1600 Blu-rays and I've never encountered this "disc rot".

Same here. That poster is seriously exaggerating. Its more likely to win in the lottery than having disc rot

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by mredman

Disc rot? Are you kidding have been buying discs since 1999 and have only had 1 movie gone bad. REST have all been fine so far. So you really are SERIOUSLY exaggerating here big time. Digital is like "smoke" Blu-Ray is not.

A physical disc is no more safe than a digital download. Not to mention, it's easier and faster to make a backup of a download.

There have been numerous cases of disc rot and bronzing - Lionsgate titles, Criterion titles, etc. I've never lost a download, though, but had to replace quite a few discs.