I have bid fond farewell to (audio and video) cassettes, records, CDs, etc. Just threw out the last few of my actual spinning rust hard drives, too. I love it.
The forgotten pleasures of analog media
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#12This is an interesting read and I find the author's observations rather relatable. Some of my friends really, really prefer streaming and that's great! But it never quite agreed with me for some of the reasons I think are given here. I often find that there's a tendency to endlessly navigate a streaming service just to find something to watch. Maybe it's an overabundance of choice or maybe its just that algorithms an…
"I often find that there's a tendency to endlessly navigate a streaming service just to find something to watch."
I miss in person product discovery and wayfinding mechanisms, even if I know they themselves are (were?) curated (toy stores, record stores, book stores). I have diligently tried to adapt well to digital discovery, but it hasn't been the same for me. Part of it is haptic, but another part is that digital seems overwhelming. I also get discouraged when I know exactly what I want to find digitally and I'm given myriad other options except the one I want. I look forward to constant evolution in the space and I actually think that AR/VR scenarios can help there.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#13Another thing not mentioned is the fun in finding media itself.
I went out with a girl I met at a record store once, and I’ve met several musicians when I’m out buying music.
When you can get everything beamed directly to your house, you miss out on so many adventures. I imagine many marriages originated from chance encounters at Blockbuster.
Instead of some cool college student suggesting an old 80’s film, Netflix tells you to watch it’s new 50 million dollar movie. While I love the internet , the world feels less fun now. So many multi billion dollar companies nudging me in this direction or that direction…
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#14Going on a tangent, one advantage of the analog TV was that often one could watch a channel even in the presence of interference or a weak signal, whereas with the digital this is no longer possible.
There are codecs which support this. I don't know if it's used anywhere because it certainly only makes sense for terrestrial broadcasting.
Yet, AM/FM radio is much better on remote, isolated places than DAB.
I woudn't trust DAB on a emergency.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#15This is an interesting read and I find the author's observations rather relatable. Some of my friends really, really prefer streaming and that's great! But it never quite agreed with me for some of the reasons I think are given here. I often find that there's a tendency to endlessly navigate a streaming service just to find something to watch. Maybe it's an overabundance of choice or maybe its just that algorithms an…
"I often find that there's a tendency to endlessly navigate a streaming service just to find something to watch." I miss in person product discovery and wayfinding mechanisms, even if I know they themselves are (were?) curated (toy stores, record stores, book stores). I have diligently tried to adapt well to digital discovery, but it hasn't been the same for me. Part of it is haptic, but another part is that digital…
Yeah. I'm not sure it was a "good" use of time (whatever that means) but I do miss browsing book stores and record stores--especially used ones. I still do it from time to time but, to be honest, it's mostly a "for old time's sake" sort of thing. The music is almost certainly available streaming and there's an almost infinite number of books available for purchase/download (with reviews) online as well.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#16Another thing not mentioned is the fun in finding media itself. I went out with a girl I met at a record store once, and I’ve met several musicians when I’m out buying music. When you can get everything beamed directly to your house, you miss out on so many adventures. I imagine many marriages originated from chance encounters at Blockbuster. Instead of some cool college student suggesting an old 80’s film, Netflix t…
>Instead of some cool college student suggesting an old 80’s film, Netflix tells you to watch it’s new 50 million dollar movie. While I love the internet , the world feels less fun now. So many multi billion dollar companies nudging me in this direction or that direction…
This is exactly what I haven't been able to put into words without sounding and feeling like a giant hipster douche. It's not about finding smaller, unknown songs/bands/films. It's about the experience of sharing.
I know that the guy at the record store has nothing invested in suggesting this weird little indie band to me outside of being a fan and wanting to spread the word. Whereas I know that Netflix is going to suggest to me what will keep me hooked and what they need to see a return on their investment.
The internet has 100% made the world less fun. More accessible, sure, but way less fun now that it's mostly corporate (or at least seems that way).
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#17It doesn't even need to be physical media. I switched from buying CDs and ripping them to MP3, to just buying MP3, once I realised that the bit that I value most is simply having a finite music collection that I know well. I take my music collection with me by running a Plex server on a Raspberry Pi at home - some of it isn't available on streaming services. (A couple of albums aren't even available to buy any more, in any format.) I wouldn't say I know every single album in it like the back of my hand - but I'm at least familiar with them all, and that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I do still use streaming services occasionally when I want something my library doesn't cover - say I'm really in the mood to explore UK grime music one day, or 90s dubstep the next. But I find it a very different experience to listening to old familiar songs.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#18It's gotten to the point where I always feel like I'm "behind" on good movies or TV because it's become so accessible and everyone around me seems to have managed to watch it all. I can't stand it though and often find myself repeating shows out of convenience and comfort.
When I do find new shows I like, they end up feeling more special as well.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#19There's also something to be said for physically coming across old analog media and being reminded of its existence, sparked to revisit the memories kept in old home recordings or ancient photographs; I don't think there's any equivalent for digital data stored on some social media site. Digital data is perfect for our throwaway consumerist culture and I lament that this also applies to memories of our own lives.
Re: The forgotten pleasures of analog media
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are codecs which support this. I don't know if it's used anywhere because it certainly only makes sense for terrestrial broadcasting.
Yet, AM/FM radio is much better on remote, isolated places than DAB. I woudn't trust DAB on a emergency.
At the cost of a much higher bandwidth. I don't disagree, just wan't to clarify it's not a issue of digital encoding.