1) Ownership - yours to own forever with no fear of disappearing licenses or that your favorite movie or TV show will be removed from your streaming provider's lineup or shifted to another platform/ network.
2) Bonus Material/ Extras - director's cut/ special/ deluxe/ criterion/ anniversary/ collector's editions are loaded with extras besides the actual film/ album e.g. commentaries, behind the scene footages, additional tracks, cut scenes and even (gasp) alternate endings.
3) Old & Rare Films, TV Shows & Records - it is widely known that many old and rare movies, TV series and music are only found on physical media. Sometimes, these forgotten films and music are even given a new lease of life when they are remastered and re-released on physical media.
4) Packaging - many limited editions or steelbooks comes with impressive artwork and sleeves which are not only beautiful to look at but highly collectible. Some are even tailor made for display on your shelves with busts, figurines etc.
5) Potential to be Collectibles - old and rare first editions, limited editions with serial numbers and even old Disney VHS tapes (or so I heard) are very much sought after by collectors who sometimes pay top dollar for them. Just a little tidbit, Disney has a habit of censoring some scenes from their animated feature films which they may deem to be unsuitable or sensitive for modern day audiences but these old tapes usually contain the uncensored versions (when first released).
6) Better Picture & Sound Quality - since I'm not much of a techie myself, I can't really vouch for this but those in the know swear that physical media preserves the original or intended quality of picture and sound due to their local and huge data storage capacity while streaming or digital downloads are often compressed versions with inferior video and audio quality.
7) No WIFI/ Internet Required - I think this is self explanatory 😊.
1) Storage - as I mentioned earlier, the main reason why I no longer buy physical media is the ever growing problem of where to store them but if you have the space then by all means go for it.
2) Not Sustainable/ Environmentally Friendly - production of discs (which are basically made of plastic) and packaging (sometimes consisting of plastic casings or cardboard) can be a resource intensive process not to mention the further impact on the environment caused by the distribution and transportation of them. However, if recycled material can be introduced in the production process then I think that would be good for the industry.
3) Expensive - there are individuals/ parties that after comparing the cost of streaming to buying physical media are adamant that streaming is actually not the cheaper option because of certain underlying factors. Well, as someone who has lived through the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, I can safely say buying physical media is not cheap but it was the only option back then. Building a Blu-Ray or DVD library is actually very expensive since you have to take into account the production, packaging and transportation costs hence a lot of people were renting instead of buying them back in the day. Anyone remember renting VHS tapes? Another thing, you had to invest in a standalone player e.g. a DVD, Blu-Ray or Hi-Fi player. Now, for a relatively low monthly subscription, you have access to a whole library of movies, TV shows and music. For the younger ones who might not know, Netflix (the current streaming giant) started out delivering DVDs in mailers to subscribers who were renting them before evolving to what it is today - the biggest streaming network with its own original content.
4) Redundant Players - most physical media require you to purchase a standalone player e.g. a Blu-Ray player, DVD player or game console which is not only an additional cost but over time and with the advancement of technology might be rendered redundant or obsolete in the future.
5) Durability - contrary to common belief, commercially produced Blu-Rays, DVDs and CDs do not last a lifetime. Life expectancy of most discs are around 20-30 years if they are handled and stored properly. They may last longer but that very much depends also on the manufacturing quality of the discs, the quality of materials used and how the discs were encoded or imprinted. There might even be some deterioration in video or sound quality on certain discs over long periods of time.
6) Incompatibility - I have lost count of the many times that I bought a DVD or Blu-Ray but was disappointed that my player was unable to play them (or skipped) due to the disc being region locked, in a different format or just defective. With streaming, there should be no such issue unless your WIFI/ Internet is down or intermittent.
For those who are interested to read more about this topic, I have provided links to some insightful articles below. Lastly, if anyone would like to add to my above list of pros and cons for physical media or let me know how they feel about physical media, streaming and digital downloads, feel free to leave a comment for me on this post.
Why I Still Buy Physical Media (CNN Underscored) By Henry T Casey
8 Reasons We Actually Sort of Miss Our Movies on Physical Media (Collider) By Jeremy Urquhart
6 Reasons Physical Media Beats Streaming (PCMag) By Mike Williams
Why Streaming Movies Is More Expensive Than Buying Blu-Ray or DVD (SlashFilm) By Valerie Ettenhofer
Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs & Blu-Rays (A Report by the Canadian Conservation Institute-CCI)
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