Physical media used to be everywhere. DVD collections, CDs, and records could be found in stores, on shelves, on walls, and in a family member’s collection. But, due to the widespread adoption of digital media, physical media has been slowly fading away. I believe that even as society shifts away from physical media, its preservation is crucial as a way to maintain cultural value and significance.
Physical media should be preserved for many reasons, such as its permanence, quality, accessibility, and to keep for future generations. With digital media, you don’t truly own what you’ve paid for — it’s owned by the service you’ve bought it through — which can be shut down or moved to another platform later.
Lois Phillipson, a 10th grader at Franklin, collects primarily CDs and vinyl and claims that “you get a higher quality of music [with CDs and vinyl] than with digital music.” Vinyl can offer higher quality because it is produced from the master copy, creating a near-perfect replica of the original recording. While CDs have a much higher bitrate (1,411) than digital streaming (320), vinyl captures more of the original sound due to its analog format. Bitrate refers to the amount of audio data processed per second, with higher bit rates generally providing better sound quality. Phillipson also says that engaging in “physical media like collecting CDs and Vinyls [is] a really interactive thing, it can create community, and it overall can make you feel connected to music.”
Collecting physical media can help “support smaller businesses that are trying to sell records and CDs because often, [because often] those kinds of stores are not really commercialized,” Phillipson adds. Buying CDs and vinyl also helps “artists get more proceeds and it can promote full album listening which is pretty important,” Phillipson claims. There are many local record stores to support in Portland, such as Music Millennium and Old Town Music. The experts who work in these stores know a lot about music, which can “foster a sense of community because you can collect [music] and talk to other people who also collect it. I bond with a lot of people over selecting CDs and vinyl which is great,” Phillipson says.
CDs and vinyls are not the only form of physical media fading away. Film is another prominent example of an artistic industry that was largely digitized. Gregory Hamilton, a 53-year-old who specializes in collecting film, primarily 16mm film, finds pride in showing his collection at theaters and local events. He’s been collecting film for the past 30 years, and showing them for around 20 years in the Portland area. One of his interests in physical media is its permanence, saying that “nothing lasts forever, but with physical media, you have a copy … you can play it whenever you want and you don’t have to worry about it going away or being taken off the internet.” One of the reasons Hamilton collects primarily 16mm film is because “you can’t find it anywhere else … [and often when searching for it] you don’t know what it is. It can be a dud, it can be boring, or it can be really amazing.”
While digital can be easy and accessible, it isn’t free. Services often require payment to watch or listen to its media, and even then there’s a high possibility that the streaming site will have ads, which can ruin the experience. Movies from bigger streaming applications like “Amazon Prime Video” and “Apple TV” can be purchased, but it’s never truly owned by anyone as the application that owns it. There’s also the chance of a movie or show being on a streaming app, but the next day it’s been removed and moved to a different service, which in turn makes you have to pay for another service to watch that movie or show. This can happen to music too, with contracts ending and songs or artists being moved to a different application. Music-wise, it’s no better. There are often ads in music applications and removal requires payment through a “premium” plan. Spotify locks features such better sound quality and custom song choice behind a paywall.
“There’s a lot of unknown physical media that the public [doesn’t] know about [and] there’s a lot of material out there from different time periods that’s really cool. So the value I see in physical media is not only owning your own copies but also being able to indulge in variety,” Hamilton says. Another experience he touches on is the importance of seeing film physically in a theater. “You can replicate the theater experience at home easily, but one thing you can’t replicate is being in a room full of people,” he describes. He believes this experience is vital to give viewers a sense of community. “When I’m doing my shows, I hear people react, I hear them talk amongst themselves, I hear them laugh, it’s one of those things that’s hard to replicate at home. There’s something special about that,” Hamilton says.
Despite all of the advantages of physical media, society still seems to gravitate towards digital. “Digital media is much more accessible in my day to day life,” Oliver Fix, a 10th grader at Franklin claims. Fix prefers digital media over physical media for one reason — digital media’s accessibility. Digital media use in day-to-day life is crucial for modern-day society, whether it’s listening to music, watching a movie, or simply calling a friend. “You can’t bring physical media anywhere unless you have some kind of player or DVD player, which is something a lot of people don’t have. With digital media, you can bring it anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are,” Fix explains.
Phillipson admits that digital media “is also way cheaper.” When she is not at home, she uses digital media more than physical media. In addition, because using Bluetooth for music has been popularized and is considered the better option instead of wired items, newer technologies that utilize Bluetooth can be preferable. However, when Phillipson is at home she uses CDs and vinyls to listen to her music. Hamilton explains that, “Collecting physical media can take up a lot of storage and finding it and setting it up can take a second whereas digital media is incredibly portable and you can access it incredibly fast. It also doesn’t really take up a ton of storage like physical media.”
Physical media, once in a dead zone, is making a resurgence. It offers true ownership without subscription fees, supports local music shops, and preserves history for future generations. While DVDs and Blu-rays fade, CDs and vinyl provide better quality, unique artwork, and exclusive extras. In the end, consider this: for the next school year, phones will be banned at Franklin and may be locked in Yondr pouches all day, so if you want to listen to music, try physical media!