Don’t get rid of DVDs and CDs

Wax cylinders here.

(and a wind-up gramophone in case of a power-cut.)

😉

This is the bigger issue for me. So much stuff being edited for "sensitivity". I like having the physical media that noone can fiddle with or take away.

Wouldn’t want that anyway.

I ripped all my CDs onto a hard drive. Not bothered about DVDs as I very rarely want to watch something twice. I'm never getting rid of my vinyl though.

I just listen to the radio or nothing at all.

I haven’t had cds for absolutely years and will never go back to them! Spotify lets you download playlists and I’m happy with that when I need to be offline on my phone.

Many people won't see that as a bad thing. Why pay to fill your house with dusty clutter?

Plus it gives you infinite variety for less than the cost of a CD or DVD a month.

And if the internet fails at whatever level, most people will be able to find loads of other things to do other than watching videos so would rather not keep a pile of DVDs, CDs and something to play them on that they may never use.

I don't think I've ever watched 'the extras' on a DVD.

Still very much into CD's & DVD's, still buying them new.
Don't stream music and only use the likes of iPlayer for catching up on something I may have missed, otherwise I just stick in a disc and enjoy.😁
As a PP said, with a DVD you get all the extras.

Still no problem buying new devices, we bought a new sound system recently which has an integral CD.

Upset our new Moho does not have a CD slot on the dash but the TV plays DVD's so it is not all bad.
We were away earlier this week and after a daytime of walking with Ddogs it was great to chill out in the evening with an Agatha Raisin DVD and no need for WiFi.

Couldn't tell you the last time i watched a film or a box set. I have more than enough to keep me occupied. If i need a radio i have a wind up one.

YANBU. CDs and DVDs are safe from going bust. Remember Blockbuster? Also, CDs and DVDs can't be edited, censored or slapped with stupid trigger warnings like streams are.

CD's are a waste of time.

I believe in owning my own music. So it is best to rip the CD to an mp3 (or better) file before chucking them out.

DVDs look awful on modern high def (4K) large format screens. Unless it is stuff like The simpsons or south park. I will only buy Blu ray at the absolute minimum now (this is relatively future proof) but prefer 4K for things I am going to want to rewatch. 4K stuff can be pretty expensive though, but my guess is it will be future proofed for the next 20 years. I don't see 8K as making a big impact on the marketplace. 4K is enough. But it is nice to make sure it has a decent audio standard, especially if you are thinking of upgrading to a home cinema system in the future.

We still have VHS tapes and DVDs (and CDs) the only issue is some of them are becoming degraded. They don't last forever.

I haven’t got rid of any of mine. I’ve still got a CD and DVD player.🙂

A lot of the films and TV shows we like aren't reliably available on any streaming platforms so we have kept loads of DVDs. Also with a lot of BFI type films it's worth getting the Blu-Ray. If you remove the plastic box and just keep them in a wallet it takes up way less space.

Yes, we've used charity shops like an old school video shop - buy a couple of DVDs. watch them and then donate them back! They cost £1 each where we are, so still not very much.

It's actually way better for the environment to watch the DVDs/listen to a CD than stream from a streaming site! I definitely wish I'd kept hold of some of mine.

One of our cars has a CD player so that's a good reason to keep CDs. We have tapes too but I don't think we've got anything to play them on anymore. I did have an old Walkman kicking around somewhere but think it broke.

Streaming is perfect consumerism. You’re paying for something you never own.

also - you can’t always get the same version of a song on these services, the one you had on your favourite CD.

We are all being played …

There's plenty of stuff that's still not available to stream or download (or even pirate). I did a degree a couple of years ago, and took an external Blu-ray/DVD/CD drive with me because my laptop has no optical drive. I lent that thing out to so many people who realised (last minute, with a looming essay deadline) that they needed to watch something from the library that was on physical disc and not available on any of the university's online services, but didn't have any way to play it.

Surely if, for whatever reason, you weren't able to watch TV for a while, you'd just do something else instead? Talk, read, go out, exercise, paint, play piano, do craft, play with the dog, do some gardening, play a board game etc. In our house we go weeks, if not months without watching any TV. It really wouldn't be a big deal for us, and I certainly don't want to clutter the house up with loads of DVDs we'd never watch!

If you need space and have storage somewhere in a far corner of your place for the CDs/DVDs to keep, another alternative is to make your own files of your own music and films.

There are music programs from which you can make mp3s, and recording programs (or anything that can record your screen).

This is legal as you have already paid for the items and as long as you don't distribute it outside of your household. The oldschool example would be making mixtapes from the radio, which were legal as long as they were for personal and non-commercial use.

For example with Audacity you can make mp3s. They are yours and without any copyright block compared to streamed or downloaded files. Store them with backup, and they are always handy and mobile. There are many programs that are free as long as you only want the basic version.

They then can be played with a lot of players, like VLC player (both mp3s and mp4s, for example), which is free at least in the basic version, too.

I purposefully bought a DVD player just as we went into lockdown as assumed that with everyone at home, there might be some streaming problems. It cost about £30 quid and has come in very useful at times, especially when moving house and having to wait for the WiFi to be connected.
Charity shop DVDs are about 50p each, too!

You can buy USB DVD/CD players to plug into your laptop, for not a huge amount of money............. My laptop doesn't have an inbuilt CD slot either, but I bought a USB portable one