Tech Talk: The Death of Physical Media?

August 01, 2011|By Dave Roberts | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — Music and data had a circular and shiny home since 1982. It was called the compact disc. It was a beautiful device. This 4.7 inch disc single handly forced vinyl to collector status, and paved the way for a data and music revolution.

The record industry saw a boom of music sales as people re-bought copies of their favorite music on CD. Computer software could become more complicated and the files of these programs could be larger because the CD could hold more information than a floppy disc.

Then at the dawn of the 21st Century, something amazing happened. People stopped buying CDs. They were downloading MP3s. Record stores across the country and the world started closing. The music industry completely panicked!

In recent days, attention turned to downloads. Sales of MP3 players are through the roof and are the new standard for listening to music.

I would like to say that I do miss wasting hours in record stores, exploring music that I've never heard or seen before. Studying the cover art, flipping through the liner notes. Placing the needle on the groove. Hearing that hiss before the music kicks in. Those moments are purely magical and hold a very special place in my heart.

Even though I love MP3s, and having my entire record collection in an external hard drive that's smaller than my wallet, I do mourn the loss of the record store.

It doesn't just stop there. Movies are going digital too. Services like Netflix, Amazon Plus, and Hulu allows movies to be streamed over the internet. While sales of Blu-Ray discs continue to be strong, there are signs that physical media, of all kinds, are going to go the way of vinyl.

Movie studios are now sending theaters hard drives with their movies on them. Netflix has twenty million subscribers, and even though many of its customers

are mad about the recent price hike for physical discs, the movie rental company is investing a lot in its streaming service. Apple just finished work on a giant data center designed specifically for its digital content.

So what will we do with all those CDs and DVDs we bought once we're completely in the cloud? I don't know.

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