I do not believe that physical media will ever die out. There will always be a need for it. Humans crave tangibility. The digitization of art and media has certainly made art easier to access, but physical books and film will always be necessary for archival purposes.
In the era of streaming services run by multi-billion dollar corporations, the unchangeability of physical media becomes a shield. Scenes from stream-exclusive media can be cut. Passages from e-books might be edited or removed. A streaming service might remove an entire stream-exclusive series or movie just to cut costs.
I was recently talking to a friend about the final season of Stranger Things (2016-2025) and how Netflix had removed and altered some of the scenes from season one in preparation for the finale. However, I have the season one DVD box set. As long as that exists, we will always be able to watch it in its original form.
Online-exclusive media can easily be altered to suit a platform owner’s personal or financial interests. Without being properly archived through unbiased, non-profit channels, these essentially become lost media. When we forget the tried-and-true methods of cataloguing media, we risk losing it forever.
