Digital vs Physical Products

[deadpoolRKO]

How does everyone feel about Digital Merchandise vs Physical ?


For example , if i buy music I perfer to buy an artist physical CD , then put it on my computer but i also have the CD.

but on the flipside if I don't particularlly like an artist but i like one song , i love having the option to just buy that one song for $1 or so.


Another example si my step-dad has an Ipad , he buys all his comics on the Marvel / DC Apps and reads them on there.

He let me use it and read through a few issues of Batman , and I just didn't enjoy it as much as having the comic in my hand. The feeling of holding the comic and literally turning the pages is just more enjoyable to me.

I guess my point is I like having the digital option , i just hope we never get so advance that everything's digital

[Candy Kappa]

I am a huge fan of Steam, and it works nicely. Of course I need Internet to access my games to install them.

As for comic books, I prefer good old fashioned paper prints. But if I must I can read it on a screen, thought in a longer period it will strain my eyes.

[sdp]

Thats where things are going actually, I used to love physical media but I easily converted to digital because of convenience and companies screwing over their costumers with physical media.

I loved having music CDs but I quickly realized it was a hassle to switch discs and songs etc. Also for a while in the early 00's companies would give away DVDs that had the recording of the album/music videos/live performances and I loved it but they stopped doing that and so did my purchases of CDs, heck even the booklets with the CDs are awful no interesting booklets anymore which only helped me make my choice. I loved DVDs and my collection until fairly recently around 2008, I got burned by the fact that as a completist I wanted the best version and I constantly had to re-buy movies I already owned. I was about to switch to Blu-Ray and re-buy everything again basically when they started making those "eco" friendly cases which I hate and if the company is so "green" why don't they pass the savings of all the gas they save from their new eco cases? Anyways I realized I don't really care about extras on movies, I watch them once and never again, Deleted Scenes are the only things I really care about. And after buying movies shows digitally and how easy it is to use them I can't believe I didn't switch to digital only a long time ago and saved money. Watching DVDs now is painful, you have to wait for a ton of warnings about piracy and logos and commercials and un-skipable trailers.

I feel the same about videogames and its clear videogames will be mostly downladable in the near future. Only problem with games is its easy for stores to have sales on games but its not as common with the game companies digital stores, it doesn't matter as much with movies/music but when games cost $60 it does make a big difference. As far as comics I also believe digital is the way to go, the only thing wrong with it is they price digital comics the same as real comics, they need to be a lot cheaper like .99 cents I'd buy a ton of them at that price Its a hassle having real comics while you can read them perfectly fine on an ipad comixology is the best thing to happen to the comic industry this past decade lets hope comic companies actually use it or they'll continue to be a dying industry.

[Roseangelo]

I'm not against digital media, but at this point in time I feel it is still over-priced compared to the same content on physical media, be it CDs, DVDs, or books. I also don't like not having the option to buy/sell used digital media. So I buy the physical CDs and DVDs and rip them onto a hard drive while the physical discs get boxed away and put in storage. I have push button access to any movie, TV show, or CD I want to watch/listen to. It's awesome. I don't even own a stand alone DVD player anymore.

I haven't gone digital with books yet. I'm still waiting to see how the technology advances before trying something like a Kindle, and I'm totally open to storing my comic collection on an iPad at some point in the future. As much as I will always love reading a physical book, they take up so much space. So this one still needs some figuring out.

[Luzmagica]

I prefer physical products....
I actually buy original DVDs-movies/shows for storage I only download things that I cannot buy because those are not released here!...if they are released here then I buy the original!...
And about books! I can read at Digital medios, just I prefer /love a real book/comics/artbook in my hands!...

Just my preferences!

[Ninjinister]

For things I'm going to purchase for entertainment (games, books, music, etc.) - definitely physical all the way. I like to know that I've spent my money on something tangible, and not just data.

For things that I've got to be working with like photos - then it's digital or nothing. Anything that makes it easier to do my work/projects with.

[deadpoolRKO]

I'm not against digital media, but at this point in time I feel it is still over-priced compared to the same content on physical media, be it CDs, DVDs, or books.

I definantly agree there , why would the digital product which is basically just data , cost as much as to produce a disc/pages in a book , cover , all the ink and printing for covers or pages in the books , ect.

[BubblyShell22]

I prefer physically buying my CDs, DVDs, and books. I'm not against digital media by any means, and I feel that it's a good thing to have if you want it, but I prefer to buy things and collect them that way. Yeah, it takes up space, but I just don't have access to do these things digitally.

[sdp]

Most people already made their transition to digital in music, thats why CDs sales are worse than ever and digital sales the best they've ever been, convenience won. The same transition is happening with TV/Movies now, a bit slower since people do have some emotional attachment to DVDs for some reason but its inevitable. Blu-Ray did go as planned and even though it beat HD-DVD it is not winning the digital vs physical war. Netflix streaming is only helping cement this fact. I think its a safe bet that in ten years physical media will be a small niche like say buying Vinyl records is. Maybe not that small since theres still older generations that won't get it but they'll soon start dying off and those are the people that still have VHS players, heck that is why they still sold VHS tapes until the mid 00's but it doesn't mean the rest of the world won't move on

Now all we need is 3D printing technology to advance and get cheaper so we can start printing our own action figures. Stick it Playmates! Now we can print our very own niche character you never produced*!

*Granted you or someone who is a fan of said character is familiar with 3D CAD design
I feel it is still over-priced compared to the same content on physical media. I also don't like not having the option to buy/sell used digital media. I have push button access to any movie, TV show, or CD I want to watch/listen to. It's awesome.
I haven't gone digital with books yet. I'm still waiting to see how the technology advances before trying something like a Kindle, and I'm totally open to storing my comic collection on an iPad at some point in the future. As much as I will always love reading a physical book, they take up so much space. So this one still needs some figuring out.
Couldn't agree more on the above. Things are definitely overpriced for digital goods. The companies seem to want to make a point that its the content that costs money and its true, however they also save a ton of money in production and you can not resell what you bought, that should be taken into account into the price. I feel the prices currently are not sustainable and will lower the prices similar to the way apps in the appstore had to lower their prices just to compete. And yes its awesome to have everything at the push of a button.

As far as books, I've heard nothing but great things about e-ink, only problem is it takes time to switch between pages and no color but those will be eliminated. I'd love to get one but I can't when I already own an ipad and the kindle app is just as good as an actual kindle and the main selling point about e-ink is it doesn't strain your eyes but reading off a laptop or ipad does not strain my eyes so its really not a problem for me. I can see the appeal of turning a page while I read but the convenience of having every book I own with me far outweighs it.

I like to know that I've spent my money on something tangible, and not just data.
I definantly agree there , why would the digital product which is basically just data , cost as much as to produce a disc/pages in a book , cover , all the ink and printing for covers or pages in the books , ect.

Well you are essentially just buying "data" already just in physical form, a blank CD/DVD/Book are worthless, no one would pay money for them. It doesn't cost the company that makes them much they make the money from the "data" that is in them not the plastic/paper that it takes to make them.

[Ninjinister]

Well you are essentially just buying "data" already just in physical form, a blank CD/DVD/Book are worthless, no one would pay money for them. It doesn't cost the company that makes them much they make the money from the "data" that is in them not the plastic/paper that it takes to make them.

Tangibility matters to some of us. As does collectability. There is almost no collectability in downloaded data, unless they made it, y'know, "limited time offer" but then there's all sorts of issues that rise from that.

[Roseangelo]

Tangibility matters to some of us. As does collectability. There is almost no collectability in downloaded data, unless they made it, y'know, "limited time offer" but then there's all sorts of issues that rise from that.

His point was about the minimal manufacture cost of physical goods.

[愛]

I already have enough crap in my house, so I tend to go digital these days. I'm not as interested in looking at the case and manual as I used to.

[MrPliggins]

Since getting Netflix streaming, my interest in buying actual dvds/blurays has gone way down. I've realized I only watch them (on average) once after I buy them anyway, and Netflix is a good single-serving experience. I also don't have the "I bought this, so I need to watch it" dilemma.