I doubt that this statement can be backed up by data.

CD players in cars are missing the point. They are inconvenient, hence a thing of the past. But it's different within one's own four walls, so physical music keeps being a thing.

When looking at sales data of music, it's interesting that CD sales have been declining, but vinyl sales have kept growing year after year. When you combine the two formats in the USA, then the physical market seems to have hit its bottom around 2020 and been growing since. So much for the all-digital future, especially when you consider that young people are pretty much the biggest age group when it comes to physical purchases of music.

My takeaway from this, as is the same when it comes to physical video games, is that more and more people have realized that optical media are shit.

I could (probably) substantiate via research but really it is common sense.  Anyone who has kids can see how much the market has changed.  My kids, and their friends, are all digital.  Tablets, fornite, kindle, phones, steaming etc.  

If you want to think kids are walking around with physical media, lol.  

Physical is niche and will, at best, stay niche.  I'll be shocked if the ps6 even has a optical drive.  

Edit

I'm old enough to remember people being skeptical and anti internet....  things change drastically over time.  

No, you could not substantiate it, so it's okay if you don't bother in the first place. As for your kids and their friends, you should know that the plural of anecdote is not data.

Dude, you can think physical is a thing with kids, no skin off my back.  It is a silly stance to take and lacks forward thinking.  

Edit

By kids I mean 8 to 15 years old.  And I'm old enough to remember when people laughed at streaming replacing cable.  And cell phones replacing landlines.  

Source

According to Billboard, Taylor Swift attained an astronomical 575,000 vinyl sales in the first week of the release of her album “Midnights”, easily breaking the former weekly record of 187,000 held by Harry Styles with his album “Harry's House.” This indicates that vinyl is not dying out, on the contrary, it is becoming more popular than ever as it attracts a younger audience.

Taylor Swift, huh? The goddess who owns the first generation of people who grew up with smart devices.

Want to compare that to digital?  I'm guessing not.  Lol.  Swift has sold 137,000,000 digital albums.  Congrats on almost a million physical sales?

I am not afraid of a comparison to digital at all. Remember, you are arguing for an all-digital future, not that digital is bigger than physical.

Since you changed the topic from music to movies/TV shows, I guess you concede that you lost the point about music by now?

Not even a little bit.  I did a quick google search and Swift has sold 137,000,000 digital albums.  Sorry, selling 500k records is a drop in the bucket.  

And yeah, I don't see physical being available in 2040+.  I just don't.  

I'll add Spotify has 615,000,000 million active users... so no, selling a few hundred record isn't impressive.  Most people don't buy music, they stream.  

Neither of us can predict the future, so time will tell. I stand by my position, physical (especially in videogames) will eventually die. Will there be a lag period? Of course. Hell some people have landlines.. there are always people who are behind on the future.  But the future is coming, it always does.

Fact is that physical music sales in the USA are increasing again after they hit rock bottom, so in other words, the current trend is contradicting the conclusion of an eventual all-digital future. Taylor Swift was brought up to disprove your point about the supposed natural cycle where young people who are allegedly all-digital will replace preceding generations.

You are betting against Taylor Swift. You are brave.