I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
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Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#2I find it interesting that the author never even mentions people that torrent movies.
He complains that Netflix and Hulu don't have such a large collection as some video stores, especially rare movies. But I have never not been able to find a very rare movie via a torrent.
And it is rather unusual that this large contributing factor to the downfall of his industry is never mentioned.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#3Interesting read. Reminds me of another article I read here about a store closing down whose link I can't find.
I dislike that my children will never experience the video store like I.
Streaming just isn't there. The quality isn't good enough and the cost is, in my opinion, too high.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#4I find it interesting that the author never even mentions people that torrent movies. He complains that Netflix and Hulu don't have such a large collection as some video stores, especially rare movies. But I have never not been able to find a very rare movie via a torrent. And it is rather unusual that this large contributing factor to the downfall of his industry is never mentioned.
Funny you and I had the opposite thoughts about torrents. My thought was, "Ya know, the really good indie movie rental places are special; they have films I can't even find [seeded] between TehConnection and Karagarga". Maybe I should look at other trackers...
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#5I would pay someone like this for a quick chat on a Friday evening to help me choose a movie.
I'm old enough to remember going in to a video store and having a chat about what I should watch next.
The engaged staff quite often would send me on my way looking forward to watching the movie, and I wouldn't stop watching half way through either, I'd commit to it because it was a real recommendation by someone I talked to.
The part in the article where it was said we don't pick something to watch, we settle for something on the streaming services hits close to home for me.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#6I find it interesting that the author never even mentions people that torrent movies. He complains that Netflix and Hulu don't have such a large collection as some video stores, especially rare movies. But I have never not been able to find a very rare movie via a torrent. And it is rather unusual that this large contributing factor to the downfall of his industry is never mentioned.
Funny you and I had the opposite thoughts about torrents. My thought was, "Ya know, the really good indie movie rental places are special; they have films I can't even find [seeded] between TehConnection and Karagarga". Maybe I should look at other trackers...
The pay per view rental model like iTunes often has a lot of harder to find movies.
A few times for me it's the last port of call when I can't find a title anywhere digitally, at at least then you're getting the best quality sound and picture!
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#7I would pay someone like this for a quick chat on a Friday evening to help me choose a movie. I'm old enough to remember going in to a video store and having a chat about what I should watch next. The engaged staff quite often would send me on my way looking forward to watching the movie, and I wouldn't stop watching half way through either, I'd commit to it because it was a real recommendation by someone I talked to…
Movie Recommendation as a Service (MRaas)? Or curation - if it isn't out there yet it will come.
Something with humans, since it would be easy to imagine algorithms getting stuck in a very narrow genre (like when you give a Pandora channel too many songs and it ends up with the same 20 tracks or covers thereof). Plus giving you that commitment to see the movie through.
Or just head to reddit[1] or equivalent communities.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#8Where I live the video rental places gouged their customers with late fees. A minute after 48 hours you were stiffed with another 48 hours. I and my wife are very busy. Most of our subscription went on late fees. Just for that greed I'm not sorry they closed.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#9While vinyl records have made a resurgence from near extinction. It's unlikely the same will happen for the video stores as music seems more timeless and collectible than movies.
Re: I worked in a video store for 25 yrs – what I learned as the industry died
#10Initially video stores have cut into the profits of movie theaters. However, it is interesting that currently theaters (while still struggling quite a bit) seem to be coping better than the video stores.