Target to drop all physical media from stores by 2025

[CyberCubed]

First Best Buy, and now Target. I don't feel so good physical media bros:

https://twitter.com/PhysicalMedia_/s...88163243164136

And with Toys R US gone and Gamestop on life support, pretty much only Walmart will be left for physical media and they may follow this as well.

Physical media bros, we're losing the war. It's almost over. By 2030 owning movies/TV shows and games physically will be a high-end collectors thing.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

First Best Buy, and now Target. I don't feel so good physical media bros:

https://twitter.com/PhysicalMedia_/s...88163243164136

And with Toys R US gone and Gamestop on life support, pretty much only Walmart will be left for physical media and they may follow this as well.

Physical media bros, we're losing the war. It's almost over. By 2030 owning movies/TV shows and games physically will be a high-end collectors thing.

you are not a Physical Media Bro, Mr I pirate everything from Illegal websites

I buy online anyway so as long as Amazon and Ebay are around I can get my stuff there

[MikeandRaph87]

It has shrunk to just one aisle and a stands of new released and that is it at my local Target. I don't understand the phase out of physical media. How else can I own a movie I enjoy after it's theatrical run? Having a digital copy is not a real copy and streaming services can add and pull without notice and having to keep up with a film switching services especially to ine a person does not have? I thought the streaming bubble was getting closer to bursting. Perhaps this puts a pin in my theory and hope.

The consumer resisted the phase out of DVDs, hopefully the consumer will be able to give the industry the message that digital is not a long-term good idea. It's like how the self-service lines went from one to taking over now it's being rethought industry-wide. We'll, like what was said there is always Ebay and Amazon, it's just not the same.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Having a digital copy is not a real copy and streaming services can add and pull without notice

Exactly, I prefer having a hard copy of my faves, since streaming can just make them vanish forever at will. If we have to get them through Amazon or whatever... fine. I mean, Target's section is small anyhow and doesn't offer much, but it better not signal the eventual death of the companies that make physical copies, too. At the very least, keep giving distribution rights to those like the one that finally released the 2003 set.

[neatoman]

Yeah, it's kinda lame to have it be all streaming and "digital copies". I mean, screw that, physical releases and the used market is just about the only legal way movies can be preserved for casual use once the distributor decides they are no longer profitable.

And what is the maximum amount of streaming services the average person is willing to pay for? Wouldn't subscribing to Netflix, Paramount+, Max, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu and Peacock all at once set you back like 550 dollars or something every month? Who in their right mind would do that?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by sdp

but physical media bros, I saw a bunch of videos on youtube the last month about how physical media was making a comeback.

What videos?

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by sdp

but physical media bros, I saw a bunch of videos on youtube the last month about how physical media was making a comeback.

Sure... the vinyl records. lol

[CyberCubed]

You'll still be able to guy discs on amazon or whatever, but the less retail presence for physical media means a lot of the big companies will be less likely to produce discs in the future as well. I'm sure the biggest movies will always get blu-ray releases, but I think we're looking to the end of regular TV shows coming out on DVD/blu-ray.

If Best Buy and Target have dropped physical media, Walmart probably isn't that far behind and they were the 3 biggest stores. For videogames, once Gamestop goes bankrupt finally that'll be another huge blow. The Playstation 6 may not even have a disc drive.

[ResidentEvil7]

I'm a Best Buy shopper and I was disappointed that the disc version of the 4K movies I want are no longer being sold. I may have to go to eBay, but that's going to be a minor issue, because sellers tend to remove the digital code and sell the disc, where as I want both.

The only movies I want on physical media are in 4K; my DVDs and regular Blu-Rays I ripped and put the MP4 files on a 2TB flash drive and put the disc copies in the basement so I can make room in the man cave for my whole collection.

There are a lot of movies I want in 4K, but a handful I really want while they can still be on physical media some day, such as: Ninja Turtles 1 - 3 from the 90s; Big Trouble In Little China; Ninja Scroll; The NeverEnding Story; and Twister.

[Mad Dog McMutt]

I don't give a crap about picture quality so I am a dvd collector. Luckily dvds are pretty cheap these days. Especially used ones from ebay. You can find almost any used dvd disc for about 2 bucks at the moment. I just use some dvd binders to store them in and collect away. Now I own hundreds of movies. I am already prepared for this new age of physical media no longer being sold at major retail outlets. Bring it on.

[Roseangelo]

I have about 200 laserdiscs available for sale if anyone really wants to enhance their entertainment center.

[KROW]

Ah, laserdisc. The pizza oven of physical media.

[Zulithe]

The death spiral continues...

Soon they will be specialty items, which also mean they will have specialty prices. Don't expect to be able to load up on $10 4K discs during sales for much longer, new releases anyway.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Exactly, I prefer having a hard copy of my faves, since streaming can just make them vanish forever at will. If we have to get them through Amazon or whatever... fine. I mean, Target's section is small anyhow and doesn't offer much, but it better not signal the eventual death of the companies that make physical copies, too. At the very least, keep giving distribution rights to those like the one that finally released the 2003 set.

Honestly everyone did this to themselves.

[FlawedCoil82]

It is very frustrating! But one of the biggest, undeniable flaws in the human design is their absolute inability to understand and appreciate what they have until it is gone completely. People endlessly cry about how they ”miss the good times” yet they themselves all gleefully jump into the latest trends that the rest of the mindless consuming masses declare is “the next new thing” that directly beats to death the former way of doing things (aka; the illusion of “convenience” by allowing multi-billion dollar studios and streaming platforms to have total control over every last bit of the entertainment that they consume or carelessly letting physical stores die because they WORSHIP doing nothing). I despise the concept of paying physical money for a non-physical product. If I am not buying an item that I can hold in my hands, then I am simply paying yet another bill or tax just for the “privilege” to watch or listen to something that someone else owns and completely controls. I am not actually owning the movie or album myself unless I can hold the DVD/CD in my hands and have something to show for my investment in entertainment. No thanks!

I also strongly hate and blame digital pirates who believe that it is their God given right to consume whatever their precious entitled little hearts desire without any need to actually pay for it at all.

[CyberCubed]

I think it's mainly Gen Z kids born after the 2000's that's the main reason for this. Think about it, they were 10 years old in the year 2010 and teens by the mid-2010's and by then digital was already pretty mainstream. They grew up downloading stuff on their phones and computer.

It's the same reason digital games outsell physical games on consoles now too, which is why many believe the Playstation 6 won't have a disc drive and Microsoft is already going digital only. Nintendo will probably stick with physical games for the next few gens though.

[The Deadman]

Im gonna be the one that waits for an actual source on this, because there's no way Target Corp just tells a random dude on Twitter this.

[CyberCubed]

Remember how in 2023 we heard Best Buy was dropping all physical media in early 2024 and people didn't believe it? Well of course it was true. There's no reason why Target wouldn't do the same, physical disc's are just not selling in stores anymore.

[The Deadman]

Best Buy also condensed their movie sections over the years before they announced that too. Target never really had that big of a movie section.

[Cowabung-Gal]

Who even buys DVDs and Blu-rays from Target anyway? It’d be cheaper to buy them at Wal-Mart or even off Amazon.