Original vs Digital

Khalddrogo

Khalddrogo

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I've always been the type of person that prefers a physical copy of stuff. Such as a video game, or a book; Sure you can download the game on your Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, or PC. But to me there's a great feeling of having the disc, and if you damage, destory, lose, or switch any of those systems, you usually lose the game if you downloaded it digitally. Also music is one of those things where more and more people are buying their music on iTunes, Amazon MP3, free (illegal), and etc. My friend likes reading mangas and comics online. But I prefer owning them, because I can take it places (I do have an iPod touch, but to me it's not the same) and if I don't have Wi-Fi I won't have an issue.
When you buy something yourself and you can actually hold it in your hand, you take much better care of it than if you downloaded it digitally. I could read my sonic comics online for free, or I can spend 3 dollars for each issue. But I'm also trying to collect them; that's another reason for a physical copy.
Our culture is changing, but I hope they still release actual copies of books,games, and albums. I could be right, or I could just be a strange person. It's fine either way. :p
Please post your thoughts as well.
Do you think we are moving in the right direction with this switch from physical copy to a digital copy?
Do you agree with me?
 
I don't buy music, so I can't comment on that. As far as video games go, there is a method to selling them in physical and digital copies. For example, the Xbox Arcade has special releases that don't warrant a physical copy of the game to be produced, so they're downloadable. Blockbuster releases will most likely always have physical copies, just because of bonuses like swag.
 
Gale said:
I don't buy music, so I can't comment on that. As far as video games go, there is a method to selling them in physical and digital copies. For example, the Xbox Arcade has special releases that don't warrant a physical copy of the game to be produced, so they're downloadable. Blockbuster releases will most likely always have physical copies, just because of bonuses like swag.
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I've noticed that. Isn't Mega Man X download only?
My question is; Does it save the developers to release the game digitally instead of physically? If so, that makes sense why they do it digitally and not physically.
 
yup, Megaman X is download only.

Above everything else, I think game developers care about the gamer more than money. Peter Molyneux has commented on this before and has said he wants the player to feel a reason to buy a game other than just for buying the game. Like I said, swag is a big deal. Collectors editions of games don't usually come with only ingame items, and the swag is the only reason people buy the collectors editions. Does it save them money to release a game digitally instead of physically? I honestly don't know. There has never been a blockbuster, full game that has been released online only. Most games that are released digitally are 5-6 hour games that make sense for their 10-20 dollar price tag. Also, a lot of times, if you download a huge game online, it'll eat up your harddrive space pretty fast.
 
For music, I like having a CD, but I am more of an instant gratification kind of guy. If I want some music, I can get it with a click of a button from iTunes. Besides, most music I would want CDs of wouldnt be sold at Target or Borders and I would have to order it from their myspace. All of that takes too long when I can just download the CD at home.

For books, I like owning them. I would rather buy from a book store then rent from a library because I like owning the book. Kepping it and rereading if I want.
 
I prefer physical copies for 1 reason: sell back. With digital copies, you can rarely sell them once you are done with them. If I suddently decide that I despise my copy of Megaman 9 and want it out of my life, I cannot sell it to somebody who wants to buy it. I can only delete it off my hard drive, or sell my hard drive straight up. Now say I want... my old copy of Dr. Mario for NES out of my life. I can sell that one. I could probably make a bit of money off of it too.

Digital copies also open the door for theft. Being somewhat of a developer myself, I realize that piracy is going to someday kill the video game developers unless something is done. It is SOOOOOOOO easy to go torrent games. An average person can do this. Digital copies make torrenters skip the step of actually taking the disk and reading all of the data onto the computer. An example of this is I have seen VERY FEW working GC emulators. I've seen many stolen torrents of digital copies of games, however.
 
Physical copies all the way. I have a good record shop close to me so I can usually find CDs I want unless it's something more obscure when I have to buy it online.
 
Gale said:
I don't buy music, so I can't comment on that. As far as video games go, there is a method to selling them in physical and digital copies. For example, the Xbox Arcade has special releases that don't warrant a physical copy of the game to be produced, so they're downloadable. Blockbuster releases will most likely always have physical copies, just because of bonuses like swag.
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Yeah but lets not forget Blockbuster is being crushed by companies like Netflix, and even they are leaning towards downloadable movies.

Arceus.

I, too, prefer physical copies of books, movies, and music over digital. However, most of my music is digital and on iTunes :3
 
buying physical copies of music is only a viable option if you're into very mainstream artists that typical stores will carry.. even at more varied stores like fry's electronics and amoeba records which have a MUCH larger selection than most places, i can't find the majority of the music i listen to. at this point, i don't own any physical music aside from a couple albums that i like from more popular bands (muse, etc.). everything else i own is online... and i can't say i paid for much of any of it lol.
 
Even with Piracy and Torrents and such, artists are still making more money in the digital age than in physical formats. Why?

A: A lot of the time, people only want a few songs from the album, so instead of not buying anything at all, they can just buy what they need.
B: Convenience: Who would rather go to the store and pay tax on their music, when they can download it right to their device instantly?
C: Size: CDs take up more room than one MP3 player, and you'd be lugging around thousands of CDs to equal the music capacity a MP3 player can hold

hehe CDs are nice for ripping music off of. I usually get a bunch of CDs from the library and put them on my itunes.
 
Juliacoolo said:
Even with Piracy and Torrents and such, artists are still making more money in the digital age than in physical formats. Why?

A: A lot of the time, people only want a few songs from the album, so instead of not buying anything at all, they can just buy what they need.
B: Convenience: Who would rather go to the store and pay tax on their music, when they can download it right to their device instantly?
C: Size: CDs take up more room than one MP3 player, and you'd be lugging around thousands of CDs to equal the music capacity a MP3 player can hold

hehe CDs are nice for ripping music off of. I usually get a bunch of CDs from the library and put them on my itunes.
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Lol I read the last paragraph and thought "that's illegal" then realized I'm downloading torrents right now soooo...

I always like to have a solid copy of the original, like a CD or something, if I value it, but digital copies are good too.
 
SinnohTrainer17 said:
Yeah but lets not forget Blockbuster is being crushed by companies like Netflix, and even they are leaning towards downloadable movies.

Arceus.

I, too, prefer physical copies of books, movies, and music over digital. However, most of my music is digital and on iTunes :3
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Actually the thing that has kept Blockbuster going is their netflix like program. Me and my dad used it like 3-4 year ago because we had a free trial if I remember correctly. Hollywood Video which is another popular rental store is now completely out of business. Why? It's because netflix, redbox, on-demand, and all these cheap one day, or all you want a month programs are what's hot and it's just so much easier than renting a dvd for 4-8 bucks for a day or so and then returning it back to the store. I really prefer netflix, I get 3 dvds a month, I can exchange them through the mail anytime I want and i get lots of anime and tv shows and movies instantly on my computer or xbox 360. If you spend around 1-2 hours rating every movie you've seen or ones you would like and rating them accordingly you can get personalized requests.

There are somethings in this culture that are changing that I live, and some I hate. Hopefully used bookstores and big chains like barnes & noble will stay in business. But everything going digital and stores closing does have a negative effect on the economy. Just think how many people lost jobs because of Hollywood Video going out of business.

Zero said:
I prefer physical copies for 1 reason: sell back.
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I didn't even think about that! That's 100% true. Sometimes you can get good deals for trading/selling video games or books. Some used book stores even let you take in your books and trade them in for theirs. With physical copies you can lend to friends/family as well. Which they might even want to buy their own copy after trying yours, which is great way to get the products name out there.
 
Video Games I prefer an actual copy of the game. No need to make my laptop slower by filling it up with games. Music I download through iTunes. I then make a CD of a playlist to listen to when I'm driving. I don't disperse it to others.
 
I use itunes, simply because it is portable with an ipod, and you don't get the clutter that comes with CD's. I feel that Digital is a way to go, but original is just as good. With Digital, you can store everything in one place, and you have more room for stuff. But, as mentioned, you can't take it out and sell it. The only problem I have with Original is the clutter. Having everything in front of you is hard, if you like to pack rat.
 
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