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I've been all digital for over a decade now. Although, I still maintain a substantial physical library (in totes). Digital media has numerous benefits over physical media: significantly greater variety of content, no durability concerns, and convenience across games, books, TV, music, and films. While physical collections have nostalgic appeal, digital formats provide superior advantages:

  • Durability and Security: No wear and tear from usage or the environment (dust, moisture), and your collection is safely stored across multiple devices and cloud storage. Lost or stolen accounts can often be recovered, unlike physical media - which is often gone forever; and it's usually not some burglar stealing it so much as friends of your kids - and you might not even notice until you're moving over a year later and realize some of your stuff is missing.
  • Management: Ties into the above, you know where all your stuff is at all times - but not with physical media, especially if you own hundreds or thousands of items. This especially comes in handy if you've moved as much as I have in my life (across continents and oceans in the past, made a small move, just a few kilometres this year, and that was rough enough).
  • Clutter-Free Living: A digital collection requires no storage space, making it perfect for people who move frequently or prefer minimalism. If you want to dedicate rooms to plants, art, or other luxury items - you have way more space to do so.
  • Convenience: Access your entire library on multiple devices like notebooks, phones, and consoles without carrying physical clutter. Moving your collection across platforms is seamless. Particularly on modern platforms. Access to my full library books, TV shows, films, music, and many games in my living room on my new 4K TV, or on my phone, in my pocket. And with the Switch and M1 MacBook Air, all of my Steam and console games from 2017 in a laptop bag.
  • Availability and Speed: Digital platforms make even rare or niche content easily accessible and downloadable, unlike physical items that may require long waits or go out of print. Indie creators have largely abandoned physical media (music, video, and gaming) - in the past, whole countries were excluded from not just indie games, but mainstream gaming companies. 
  • Environmental Benefits: If you're a Greenie, like myself, then this might be a concern to you. All digital contributes less to waste and pollution from manufacturing, shipping, and plastics helps minimize your carbon footprint. I understand many people don't care about the environment, and are actually purposely hostile toward it because of political affiliations - so this one isn't for everyone.

All in all, I don't miss having my data on a whole bunch of different pieces of plastic. I have found going full digital to be a significant improvement. And, in fact, the time I did have physical media is still a massive burden for me, because I still have a lot of that junk.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.