Why you should reject digital and start collecting physical media, again.

In the age of increasingly predatory subscriptions, intrusive ads, persistent nickel-and-diming, it feels like ownership is being ripped away from consumers piece by piece. Licences and reoccurring payments seem all too common nowadays, everything is monetised. Every form of entertainment turned into money machines for corporations to bleed you dry. New games? Filled with microtransactions, what-should-be base content locked behind paywalls of "DLC" and loot boxes blatantly indoctrinating kids into gambling.

It never used to be like this. Your media came complete, companies worked hard to put the best of the best in your home via a complete, whole product. Games, isolated from the internet in a pure, finished condition. You were free to enjoy it for as long as you want with entire ownership of your content, free to sell it onwards, free to share with friends, talk about it and all enjoy it together.

My PC is my primary method of media and entertainment. Games, movies, music, all of it on my computer. Disc drives don't typically come with computers any more, and I removed mine many moons ago from my ship of Theseus PC. So it's safe to say everything on there is entirely digital. My games, all licensed through steam. My movies? Netflix. Videos? YouTube. Music? Spotify.

I truly own nothing on there.

But something changed in me last year, I began to reminisce on collections I had as a kid. Long since traded off to pawn shops for pennies, to get a newer game at a steep, unfair trade, of which I knew no better at the time. Money was hard to come by as a child, so deeds had to be done, like most of us I suspect.

Anyway, this lead me to look into getting a Nintendo DSI XL. I loved playing Dragon Quest XI on it and had an itch to begin playing it again. Now, I could go the easy route and just get an R4 card, download the ROMs and off to the races I go. But, something in me missed and wanted that feeling of physicality and the nostalgia of popping in a cartridge. Owning it. So I picked up a DSI XL, Official Charger and a copy of Dragon Quest XI (CIB) for about £100 on eBay. All of it was in decent condition and I happily put a good 50 hours into this game. Still yet to complete it; There's not nearly as much time in the day as there was as a child! Responsibilities...

Later on, I picked up some more games too as I was enjoying the experience so much and wanted to build out a little collection.

Little did I know, this small trip of nostalgia turned into a mindset shift for me, reintroducing me to the joys of physical media. These games, the DS, it was mine. I owned it and no company could suddenly revoke, update or change my device and games. They were perfectly preserved the way they were originally intended to be played as, for the rest of time.

A few months later, I got a PS4, mostly for the fact that I wanted to play Bloodborne. (Still a damn exclusive to that machine, as of writing this) Another console, another machine that I owned and the content for it too. One cold, December morning, I decided on heading into CEX, a used electronics store local to the UK. I thought, instead of mindlessly being fed a film to watch by software algorithms (I'm a developer, I love the technicality behind them, but they remove intentionality), I wanted to pick a film on a shelf and take it home, watch it in full quality, with bonus content and more. Blu-rays are dirt cheap these days, and I was reminded of the fact that the PS4 would have a Blu-ray player built in! So I picked some films up and took them home, enjoying their quality.

I wanted to further increase my collection and curate a library of awesome games that I want to play, get excited about and own, trade, pass down to my children. So, I bought the next step up from a DSI... A *New 3DS LL from Japan. For about £200 including £50 international delivery and import tax, I was the proud owner of a pristine white 3DS. Jailbreaking it was fairly straightforward, albeit a little difficult due to everything being in Japanese. But, a few hours later I had it completely region free. Ready to play a small army of games PAL region games I prepared for it.

The 3DS is backwards compatible with original DS games, but the resolution does become blurry, stretched or introduce large black borders. Which reaffirmed me that the original way to play games as they are intended really does make the experience so much better. Since something's being backwards compatible doesn't always mean that it's a good way to experience it.

Next on the hit list was a PS2, which I just picked up a week ago. I decided to buy the PS2, original controller and memory card separately to find the best conditions I could. Which they were, everything was PRISTINE, and the best part? It only cost me about £65 all in for everything, including an HDMI adapter, as I don't own a CRT. I wanted to pick up a classic franchise that I adored as a kid, Ratchet and Clank. So naturally I picked up 1, 2, 3 and Gladiator. Although 1 didn't end up working (Thanks CEX). So I returned it and picked up a much better conditioned one on eBay for a few extra pounds. (Still being delivered as of writing, though!)

By this point, I am starting to grow a decent library of media. I want to start owning more Blu-rays, as the quality is really so much better than streamed media. No buffering either, which is a massive positive. Now, if I want it digitally, because I own all this media, I can legally back it up as long as I own the original media. Allowing me to watch it whenever I want through the use of a VPN to my HTPC. Making it just as convenient as something like Netflix.

Now, let me just say, I don't think you should go out there and hoard everything you see. You should be intentional in the purchases you make and curate a personal library that shows who you are, what you like and your personality. Unless you really like to, it's not great to just consume and collect everything you can with the sake of just filling your shelves. If you take the time to find and research media that interests you, you'll come to love what you own, allowing you to pick something out that you know you'll enjoy! You'll own it, and you'll know that it will sit there, unchanged, waiting for your next revisit.

Digital media has its place, it's convenient for sure. But, nothing beats owning something in your hands. Migrating away from digital spaces does wonders for mental health, and I highly recommend finding analogue vices to their digital counterparts.

Over this next year, I want to try and work towards owning more movies and series, as well as dip my toes into owning some music. Which I can rip and serve in a self-hosted cloud for myself to enjoy wherever I am in the world.

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