Mediaboss Marketing

Over the last few years Ive transitioned from owning a boatload of CDs, DVDs and other media to owning almost none at all, keeping only digital copies of everything. Heres what Ive learned over the last few years about where digital still falls short.

Generally speaking, Im all about going all-digital with my media. Its easier to use, quicker to load, doesnt require driving to a brick-and-mortar store, doesnt need shelf space, and doesnt require a truck to deliver it from one place to another. But digital media has some growing pains, and until we fix some issues, Im going to miss physical media a little. Its not about the smell of paper or the thrill of looking through the liner notes on a new LP. Its about the fact that nobody wants to let me control my digital goods in any way.

I might be in the minority on this one, but one of my biggest problems with the bulk of digital media is that I cant organise most of it. I have to search through downloads, deal with an apps singular organisation method, or cross my fingers that Ill be able to find something after I download it.

For me, the worst offender is streaming video. My Netflix and Amazon Prime queues are a mess and its impossible to actually use it to find a movie to watch. Similar, minor annoyances exist across media. With Steam, once you download a game its in your library forever and you cant really get rid of it. The Xbox 360 hides games beneath three layers of menus. The Kindle keeps nonfiction and fiction on the same shelf. The only way to save an album on Spotify is to star it or create a playlist, neither of which work particularly well. Having digital stores automatically organise things alphabetically is nice, but I miss the ability to manually sort my shelves exactly as I wish the way I can with physical media.

Aimless browsing isnt really possible in online stores. Even with Amazons advanced algorithms telling you what other products you might be interested in, theres no analogue for walking into a book store on a Sunday afternoon with a gift card and a couple of hours to waste.

Its sometimes claimed that the traditional bookstore ruins discovery, but thats only partially true. Id argue its more about the thrill of discovery. Thats a slightly different thing.

Discovering something previously unknown to you in a store was as simple as walking into a store, looking for something with a cool cover, and then trying that thing out. That might be listening to an album, flipping through a book, or renting some weird old VHS tape at the local video store. Those discoveries felt like your own because they werent just about the media they were about the story that led to the discovery. Telling your friend about how youd found an album buried in the bargain bin, or a book hidden on the back corner shelf, has bigger impact then saying that some stranger recommended it on Twitter.

Thats not to say theres anything wrong with the new modes of discovery there isnt. In fact, theyre a lot better and smarter. Im consistently impressed with what Netflix recommends, what Spotify wants me to listen to next, and what books Amazon thinks Ill enjoy. But none of those things add value to products. If Amazon recommends a book I end up liking, I just continue along with my day. If I find a book completely on my own, hidden in the depths of a store, I feel like that book is mine and mine alone. I found one of my favourite books of all time > misfiled on a shelf at the bookstore, and have since then never seen it anywhere else. Thats just not a story we get with an ebook.

Im not the type to buy into conspiracy theories about media companies trying to take away ownership of everything, but its clear that they control how and when we get access to media. Usually, thats fine, but every once in a while it really seems to screw with you.

For example, when The Hobbit was originally released, it was easy to rent it from any digital store. You could grab it on your PS3, from Amazon, iTunes, or wherever else. But the other day I decided to watch it again before the new movie came out, only to find that the rental version had been pulled from all digital stores. If I wanted to watch it again, I had to buy it, and I have absolutely no interest in spending that amount of money on that movie.

The rest is here:
Where Digital Fails: The Pitfalls Of Ditching Your Physical Media