Filed under: CD/DVD
yesterday we did a ‘deep dive’ and contrasted the small, independently-owned four star video store on potrero hill with the corporately-driven blockbuster, ross, and radio shack stores in the local strip mall. here are some of our findings concerning music and movie cds and dvds, from clerks to customers.
10. vinyl junkies prefer the aesthetic of the lp over the cd and tend to take better care of them: ‘I would rather look at a stack of records than a stack of crappy cds’-four star video clerk
9. compact disc booklets destroy cds with their staples
8. most people do not know how to handle the cd/dvd-they toss it around, leave it face down, return them with jolly ranchers stuck to their surface (this happens primarily with the return of kid’s movies, hence the candies)
7. dvds are a good preservation medium for older movies-color/picture quality is much higher, and most titles are now two-sided: full screen and widescreen
6. clerk at four star video: as a music fanatic, he will spend months, sometimes years finding rare albums on cd, which his friends will burn-thinking he is a limitless library of music
5. blockbuster customer: likes full screen, only buys dvds-does not rent: ‘I am stuck in the past’. goes to blockbuster out of convenience, not choice: ‘I would go to Amoeba if I had the time’.
4. blockbuster clerk: doesn’t throw away cds/dvds. sends old ones ‘back to the factory’…’I can’t tell you anything more-it’s all handled by corporate’.
3. radio shack: contrast between vhs and dvd: still some vhs tapes, but on the bottom shelf ghetto…a couple of cheap-looking cd players, outshined by slick new ipod-accessories.
2. disney releases its movies for stores to buy in a short window: creating demand and putting the stores in a bind if they don’t buy at least 20-30 movies at a time (four star will have fewer copies of a certain title, but a better, quirkier selection than blockbuster)
1. as consumers rush to buy the latest digital gear, there are still a few people who speak fondly of older media, in terms of character and aesthetic. the vinyl junkie clerk at four star video takes better care of his lps than his cds, would rather dj with vinyl (‘it’s easier’) and takes the time to find older/rarer titles (in movies and music), yet acknowledges the benefits of dvd technology.
brief findings from a longer interview with an IT man from spirit rock, a zen meditation center in marin.
*technology and spirituality are linked: the former being the clearest manifestation of the latter, showing how we are all interconnected environmentally and socially
*dvd as a burning medium provides more complexity than he needs when sharing data with friends and family. he will make a test copy when burning a cd, but primarily uses a one-time burnable cd for sharing media.
*the generic blank cd/dvd is not meant to last more than a couple of years
subscribes to the longnow foundation philosophy: keep storage of data in a simple, easy-to-access ‘open source’ archive, rather than any kind of proprietary software/technology, as the tech landscape is changing so rapidly and companies come and go.
