Regrets about switching to all digital/almost all digital?

[Key-Glyph]

Donate your CDs to your local public libraries! Those things still circulate. A lot.

Really interesting discussion up in here. I have a weird situation with digital-only media that I want to see if anyone else experiences. I've found that if I have something only digitally, I literally forget I have it. It just disappears from my mental landscape. I need to manifest it into something physical for it to stick in my mind. Then, on the occasions I've re-realized I had something in an ethereal format that I'd forgotten about, the feeling was really disturbing. I need to know everything I own.

Is it that no one else feels this way, or is it that most people aren't unsettled by it?

I suspect that I need to engage more senses to really cement a memory -- or maybe I need things anchored in unique or specific spatial/chronological contexts in ways that physical objects are more likely to achieve. You do have to be more deliberate with physical things, which can make the moments of their use more... well, memorable.

The one notable exception I can think of is my MP3 player, which is loaded exclusively with classic video game music. Somehow that device doesn't give me the uncomfortable unmoored feeling I described above. Maybe this is because it is a nice little theoretical container? It is "every OST for X systems," and that makes it feel organized and solid inside my head. A category of "stuff I've downloaded" with no other restrictions on it is just too nebulous.

I should also note that the device is only a music player. It's an outdated, tiny little thing. It's not used for multiple media formats (no pictures, movies, books, etc.), which I think contributes to my categorical comfort level.

This is a weird post.

[mas]

I have starting go digital. When I had the physical copies of games or disc it was just getting out of hand. The only stuff I have for cd base stuff is my dreamcast and Saturn games in a cd folder and it's not even a lot. The other stuff like my handheld stuff is now in a baseball card holder bin.
I don't own a lot of DVDs or music CDs but I listen thru Pandora or I have Netflix.
All my other gaming is thru everdrives in which I love to death.

[yaktaur]

I moved from the US to the UK which was a really great way to prioritize what I wanted to continue to own (and leave in my grandma's garage! )

At the time streaming wasn't a thing so I brought over a fair amount of DVDs (in binders), no books, no music (except digitally on MP3, of course). Which has kept me streamlined as digital has become more easy to get legitimately.

I haven't really gotten rid of anything since then, but I hardly ever buy DVDs now, if I do it is something I want to rewatch a lot, and I haven't bought a CD in ten years so that hasn't changed! The one thing that I find hard to switch to is games and books (the latter of which I have bought a crap ton since getting here). I'll buy digitally for PC games but for console I love having the physical copy and as I'm more of a handheld gamer they don't take up that much space for me to worry about. As far as retro games, I have a Genesis, SNES, PS2, N64, and a Wii but all the disc games I keep in binders, and the cart games I don't really collect in bulk just games I want to play so again they don't take that much room. I keep my too large 3DS/DS games in a multi-case.

Long post nobody will probably care to read but I felt like typing it!

[Erik_Twice]

If you want something, you can always add it, but the more files you put into a folder, the less meaningful each file seems to become. Especially when you add a bunch of cheap/free stuff in there and then you have to shovel through all the shovelware to find your good games.

This is a big one for me.

Right now, I've decided that if I can't justify the hassle and price of a physical copy of something, chances are I don't really want it.

[TSTR]

Music - Digital. Convenience is too powerful here. I do keep like a stack of 50 CDs that really matter to me, and I will buy a physical copy of things I know I will love. However, the disc just gets ripped and then sits in a cabinet.

Movies - Physical. Quality and bonus features take it here.

Books - Physical. I gotta have the paper in my hand.

Games - GIVE THEM ALL TO ME IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE

[ElkinFencer10]

Books - Physical. I gotta have the paper in my hand

I was like that until I got my Kindle, and I still prefer a physical book, but they do such a good job of making it not feel like you're reading from a screen that I REALLY love it.

[Tanooki]

Same here Elkin. I was like screw that until I got what they call now the Kindle Keyboard (formerly Kindle 3) in my hands like 5 years ago. That e-ink screen either that style or under the paperwhite I have now is gorgeous and I feel like there's really no difference over a nice clean non-aged paperback book. The only thing I loathe is it's not easy to go back to a page fast unless you know the page number as paper thumbing is always faster.

Not totally over that edge though, refuse to do manga in that style, too hard to read the smaller print text and details as it was never designed for it. I have converted copies of my 3" thick complete BONE book on there in PDF along with the recently reissued old Nintendo Power conversion of the Zelda Link to the Past manga I bought in the early 90s (kept it all these years.) Thankfully uses a more basic style and uniform print too so it's legible entirely.

[ElkinFencer10]

I mainly use my Kindle for fanfiction.

[marurun]

Not totally over that edge though, refuse to do manga in that style, too hard to read the smaller print text and details as it was never designed for it. I have converted copies of my 3" thick complete BONE book on there in PDF along with the recently reissued old Nintendo Power conversion of the Zelda Link to the Past manga I bought in the early 90s (kept it all these years.) Thankfully uses a more basic style and uniform print too so it's legible entirely.

The newer Kindles and other readers have much higher pixel density, and thus are pretty good for manga.

[Tanooki]

I currently have a paperwhite. Dumb lucked into one last year with a half price books sale where they put one out on 50% off day and in a red leather magnetic smart case for $35. I've put quite a lot of hours on it. The old one went back into the box as a back up. Undoubtedly the best $35 I've spent in I'm not sure how long in value. I probably should in the next few days or even tomorrow fire it up and look at those Zelda and Bone PDFs I did as I know I'll see a difference. My digging at it is the typically small print manga tend to use for lettering in various places if not throughout, plus the detailing to the drawing as well as it gets lost.