The Planned Obsolescence of Media

Media and electronic devices have a planned obsolescence. Now by media, I am excluding, in this instance, print books; I am specifically referring to when media is accessed through electronic devices, and physical audio-visual materials.

It used to be, one could go in the store, and find a physical item one was looking for. Anymore, if one does venture into the store, one is hard pressed to find a copy of what one is looking for. Instead, the retailer will tell you to order it online. Now, I came into the store to the find the item. I did not come into the store to be told to order it online. If I had, I would have done that first.

Anymore, however, the absence of items/copies of what one is looking for is pushing people to order online even if they don't want to. Sometimes, I'll ask the kind retailer (if that is his business) to order it for me directly and I'll pick it up at the store. I would rather him or her do it than me order it online, on principle's sake. I would save money if I ordered on Amazon. But I refuse to support giant techopolies whose vested commercial interest is in selling my data—and me—to outside vendors, and who are achieving world domination at a greater rate every day, digitally if not in the future physically.

To give a silly example, I went into the hardware store to find some batteries for a stopwatch that stopped working. The sales rep knew exactly what batteries they were by name/model #, however, when we got to the aisle, they were nowhere to be seen. Not only were they out of stock, but apparently, there was no place for them either. I had him order a set for me, which turned out to be around $8. However, I later looked on Amazon and I could have got them for $4.

For an old person to make such claims is a rant. For me, a young, tech-capable man who knows all about computers, programming languages, is just ludicrous. Or so they say.

I have the right to live in a world where I can find something at the store. I'm not upset that I have to order it through the store. In fact, I want to support the store, and I'd rather order through them. I am more upset by the fact that using the store is almost become the alternative option, the weird option, the backwards option.

Physical Media

It is getting hard to find physical media—CDs, DVDs, VHS, Blu-ray, Cassette tapes, LPs, LaserDiscs, and whatever other format imaginable. There was so much joy for me in finding these physical items, holding an album in my hand, poring over the liner notes. Digital doesn't cut it.

Let's say you want to watch a movie, maybe an older one. You have several options: (1) see if your local library carries it. They may or may not, but are often glad to order it for you. (2) Go to a store. The likelihood of you finding it at any store is pretty minimal. Walmart, Target etc. only have the latest releases. There are no video stores any more, so good luck with that. A pawn shop or thrift store is hit and miss. (3) Go online. Here you can try to find it on Craigslist, or maybe Amazon if you choose. Amazon will most likely have a copy listed. You can also pay Google or YouTube or Apple to stream it/rent it. I refuse to pay any money for a streamed copy of a movie that is going to buffer over my slow internet on a tiny screen. Others certainly disagree. It may be likened to attending a movie; however, a theatre is a completely different experience, namely, the anticipation of driving there, waiting in line, buying a ticket, ordering popcorn, and sitting in a darkened room with many other enjoying the same spectacle. The process of sitting at a screen may be similar, but I have not yet been willing to pay for a rented-streamed movie, whereas I'll gladly pay $12+ for a movie theatre.

The Hunt

I've been on a strange hunt. I've been searching for a MacBook (I love Macs—don't shoot me) computer with a DVD drive. Apple last made those in 2012. So I am effectively looking for a 9+ year old computer, which sounds very illogical. However, not is there not anything wrong with such computers, but they work just fine, can run the latest Mac OS, or if one wants Windows 10 or a 64-bit/32-bit Linux distro.

Apple has forced me to make it harder to watch DVDs. I am not going to stop watching DVDs any time soon, nor ripping my CD collection. So take that Apple. Yes, I can get an external drive. But I want an internal drive. So I will continue to search for my golden, DVD MacBook until the cows come home or Jesus returns. Whichever is first.

So all y'all can take the latest spotify, streaming, pay-all-your-money to Netflix and Hulu and every other company and service out there, while I'll be quietly enjoying my DVDs and records and LaserDiscs and whatever other physical media I can find. My paradise.