I might be asking a rhetorical question here but I was curious as to the overall consensus on physical media. Do support it because, unlike streaming, media can’t take away what you’ve payed for? or are you against because it’s a waste of money when you can “acquire” it through “alternative means?” I’m also thinking about getting a 4K Blu Ray player for when my wife and I get a new place; preferably one that can also play self hosted media. What do you guys think?

  • Deckweiss@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Keep in mind that the average longevity of laser disks is 10-20 years. After that the data gets corrupted and will become unreadable at some point.

    Thats why I don’t use cd/dvd/bluray.

    Books on the other hand, I love as a physical media.

    • Willem@kutsuya.dev
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      9 months ago

      My mind directly went to Laserdisc before I realized you were talking about the generic category 😅.

      cd/dvd/blueray doesn’t become bad that fast, properly stored they can easely live to 50+ years (except the writeable variant). they are physically etched which helps with longevity.

      VHS or other types of magnetic storage is more of a chore, they often don’t survive the passing of time.

    • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 months ago

      I read it’s more like 20-200 years. But there are differences. Recorded CD-Rs are worst. Burn DVDs if you can. And bought (pressed(?)) disks perform considerably better. But don’t expose them to UV light or scratch them too much.

      With books it depends on how people store these. They can mold. But if you take care to store them right… I mean there are books that are hundreds of years old. I think books are usually lost to things like a fire, flooding, or people deliberately getting rid of them. Otherwise, printed information will survive for quite some time. And I too think it’s the better collectible. And they are fun to use. I like them better than reading on a screen.

    • Skelectus@suppo.fi
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      9 months ago

      Got plenty of CDs older than that, and they’re fine. Might happen some day, but in my experience it isn’t that bad.

    • space@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      If you store them properly and create fresh backups on new discs every couple of years, they can last a long time.