Originally released on October 18 on Substack.

Well, this was supposed to be a short, well-planned out episode of the Emerald City Video podcast… but I guess that you all know us better than we do. We went longer than expected.

This week/month we start a new series of newsy discussions on the state of physical media. This is the Emerald City Video Podcast after all, we started this whole thing based off of working at video rental stores obsessed with movies that we could hold in our hands.

The past month has had it’s ups and downs when it comes to movies in a tangible form - Netflix ditched its DVD rental site but at the same time we’ve seen the largest number of discs be made ever. It’s an odd time for the Luddite movie appreciator.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/2023-set-to-break-the-record-for-most-dvd-releases-ever-but-theres-a-catch

According to the report, the total number of titles released in 2023 is on pace to be over 28,000 -- that's more than 5,000 more than last year...which is the current record-holder for the most titles ever released on disc. The number of titles has been creeping upwards since 2016, with  the pandemic marking a big increase. Looking at a chart included in the story, it appears the high water mark for official releases was 2006, just prior to the release of the Blu-ray format. The numbers crept downward after that, before suddenly getting markedly higher beginning in 2021. 

Well, I won’t tease too much of the episode here, other than to say physical is here to stay.

The links we mention in the show are below. I do apologize for not really reading that one oped well enough to see what they were going for. You’ll understand what I’m talking about when we get to it.

We’re now uploading every episode of ECV on YouTube with video - whether you like looking at our ugly mugs or not.

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Netflix to open its own physical stores and restaurants

https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/netflix-ending-dvds-warning-film-1234831403/

https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/netflix-permanent-store-restaurant-launch-2025-1235756145/

Collectors say "there is an absolute need for physical media" as Best Buy halts in-store sales

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/collectors-say-there-is-an-absolute-need-for-physical-media-as-best-buy-halts-in-store-sales/

Walmart discontinuing physical games 

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/walmart-discontinuing-physical-games-media-xbox-2024/

Walmart is reportedly going to stop carrying physical games for select platforms next year. Over the last decade or so, we have seen a major rise in digital content. 

Physical media and censorship - oped

https://www.michigansthumb.com/opinion/article/internet-unforeseen-medium-orwell-bradbury-s-18414808.php

Physical books and media are something protected not only by law but also by history. Government seizures of physical property, especially books, are forever associated with regimes like Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, to the point where any attempt by the government or other powerful group to take them would immediately be met with hostility, even if one political party or another didn't agree with what it had to say.

On the internet, however, if someone wants to edit a Wikipedia article or change someone's name in the credits of a movie (like they did with Elliot Page's name on Netflix in the credits of "Inception") they don't have to take anything. They just have to quietly alter it and nobody will be able to do a thing about it. It won't be seen as totalitarian or taking away people's freedoms or rewriting history.

The Digital-Only Era Is Here, and I’m Ready For It

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-digital-only-era-is-here-and-im-ready-for-it

But rather than lament its passing, it helped clarify my priorities. Which games do I want to own? And which games do I only want to own physically? This kind of thinking makes the games I do go out and purchase physical editions of that much more special, and my collection of physical media isn’t just “stuff I like” but “stuff I love.”

Pete Davidson Is Hoping to Make Money by Collecting Thousands of Sealed VHS Tapes: ‘It’s My GameStop'

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/alex-ocho/pete-davidson-money-vhs-tapes

20 secs into video - TLDR got really high, realized that they might become profitable.