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The death of the anime collector.


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shamisen the great



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 658
Location: Oregon, USA
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:25 am Reply with quote
The recent ANNcast talked about how people who collect physical media such as DVD's or Bluray are a "dying breed." With the increasing availability and ease of digital distribution of anime do you worry that physical media might become rarer, if not outright disappear. While I think there will always be people who collect, I do worry that it could become harder to do so. As someone who has always been a collector, I prefer being able to have a physical object like a book or DVD to information on my hard drive. Please note that this is not intended as a debate about fansubs.
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Sanosuke_Inara



Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Posts: 1662
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:45 am Reply with quote
I'm probably quite a bit younger than most people around these parts, and I've actually just begun collecting earlier this year. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, seeing as actually owning something as opposed to watching it over the internet(legally or otherwise) just never really appealed to me.

Apparently, I'm one of the few people who are just getting into collecting, since others are now getting out of it. Though the number of collectors may very well be on the fall, I don't think they'll ever die out. I mean, I don't ever plan on stopping now that I've started, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.
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Errinundra
Moderator


Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6523
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:16 am Reply with quote
Well, I'm one of the older posters here (52) and I would much prefer to download my anime. I happily paid $2 per episode of Eve No Jikan but that was a one-off option.

It now seems that on-line providers of content and software want customers to pay a subscription fee, rather than fee per product or service. Shame about that.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8459
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:25 am Reply with quote
I just turned 27, and have a sizable DVD collection and can't imagine any other way to really collect anime. I hardly think of people without physical media as anime fans, because if they like it so much, they should have it in some physical form. I'm always about the actual media. Wasting money on things like figures and such escapes my interest most of the time. Why buy figures when I could be buying the actual anime I like?

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. I like having those boxsets in my hands, the smell of the new ones, the library of titles in my room, a cornucopia of animated awesomeness. Downloading, streaming, that's just to warm up the engine. The DVDs are the drive.
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Sakura-Alchemist



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 489
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:47 am Reply with quote
I'm on the younger side and I HATE digital downloads :S it seems like a rip off to me. I refuse to buy digital downloads or subscription to sites like crunchy roll. (unlike my brother, who has a sub on crunchy roll that he lets me mooch off of. I was fine with SD though since it was free. But hey if he lets me use his account why not? :S) And I felt kind of burned when i lost all my music when my computer was infected with a virus and i didn't have my library backed up :S it was then i felt like i had wasted so much money on itunes, since then i started replacing the music with actually CDs.

And You know how people who refuse to buy dvd say "why pay for it when i can get it free on line". I feel that sentiment should apply even greater to digital downloads. :S Since it's really is basically the same thing as fansubs, unlike DVDs where you get a physical product for you money.

It's pretty much that i've been buying anime DVD since the 5th grade so I'm stuck in my ways and don't want to change. And that if I'm going to spend money, i want a physical product that i can feel, touch, just pop in the DVD player. Also Perhaps since my computer can't handle 720p+, and barely hands 480 all that well that i also have that against digital.

yep, that's just how i feel. :S I'm probably thinking like an old dinosaur. But I'm just really frustrated with the trend to go t words digital. I want Physical product, artbox, and quality. And I'm will to pay for it.
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RHachicho



Joined: 07 Oct 2009
Posts: 897
Location: Essex, UK
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:49 am Reply with quote
I do not believe that physical media will ever die out in it's entirety. There is something about owning the DVD's that is very satisfying. A DVD collection isn't just the media recorded on it it's a statement about you're tastes and a decoration in the room to a certain extent. People like to own things in a manner that they can see and touch. I am one such person and I can say 100% that digital ownership would never give me the same satisfaction as seeing my collection all neatly arranged on a shelf Smile

I know I know that makes me a bit of a geek but hey that's who I am. Anime hyper

On the other hand I definatley CAN see physical media becoming alot rarer. Some people just want to contribute to the industry and don't care about DVD ownership these people will use digital media. Not only that but it will probably get some money out of some people who where 100% fansub if it's economical at all. So I can definately see digital ownership and sales becoming a big part of the Industry. But the death of solid media? That's a long way off if it's ever gonna happen.
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Darth Joker



Joined: 10 May 2010
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 4:50 am Reply with quote
I could see it being a case that, within a few short years, physical media will not be available for the more obscure animes out there.

However, the most heavily hyped and popular animes still tend to sell well on physical media, and probably turn a nice tidy profit for the anime industry.

As such, I don't see physical media dying out completely for a very long time.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15457
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:30 am Reply with quote
I don't quite understand why the colector is a dieing breed, well I am what almost 20 and I really only just started colecting it last year and I want to continue, I mean I quite enjoy haveing my physical collection. I hear maybe people say that it is expensive, it would probably get cheeper if people bought it instead of just digital downloads, personally I refuse to actualy to any downloading of episodes. Though as it is even though I haven't spent as much as I should think I am doing my share.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:06 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Maybe I'm old-fashioned. I like having those boxsets in my hands, the smell of the new ones, the library of titles in my room, a cornucopia of animated awesomeness.

These sentiments are most probably echoed by many.
Unfortunately, nearly every collector of physical media will have to accept the unavailability of the titles that fall out of print or fail to be licensed in their language. In effect, most collections will always be incomplete in the eyes of their owners.

If and when the latest optical format ousts DVDs as the primary medium of choice within the anime industries, it is quite probable that numerous titles shan't be re-released through the more modern disc type, and shall thereby be confined to used auctions. Such a phenomenon might add to the frustration of current and future collectors.
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:38 am Reply with quote
It doesn't really matter to me whether I have it physically or not because the actual content is the same either way.

Manga, on the other hand, is a totally different experience when you have it in your own two hands, so I primarily focus on collecting that rather than Anime.

I also don't like how the medium is constantly changing. I have a mix of VHS, DVDs, and Blu Ray discs for Anime, but the manga I've had for ten years goes perfectly well with the manga I've bought a few hours ago.
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EireformContinent



Joined: 30 May 2009
Posts: 977
Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land)
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:39 am Reply with quote
I like to have my stuff stored physically, but I see disadvantages of DVDs and any other carriers of films and music that make them more prone to "extinction". The form of movie's carriers changes very quickly, nearly everyone had been using different versions of them and we are used to changes in that matter.
The effect (movie on PC/TV screen) is always the same, no matter how we get it. ATM there's no difference in quality (at least for common user) between DVD and virtual copy. IMHO in a short time digital distribution will maybe not kill, but reduce them to niche like LP-records.

The manga will stay longer, because people are more used to reading paper instead of screen. Digital readers are still too expansive to use it every day (and the cheaper ones suck). Also there's a matter of price- digital copies of movies are cheaper, but here the prizes of legal ebooks are still nearly equal to regular ones.
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Soundmonkey44



Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 1243
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:06 am Reply with quote
I don't think DVD is going anywhere soon, we have had music downloads for years & we still have CD's the entertainment industry is now like the gaming industry it would seem, just as you can buy some games on diffrent systems or in diffrent ways, so too can you movies, TV shows, anime, etc.

I prefere DVDs & Blu-Ray over Downloads becauase like others I prefere to have a physical copy of the stuff I own. Paying for data just doesn't sit right with me.

Same goes for books, don't see those KINDLES ever replacing the real thing, Paper rocks! (but then again I am somewhat of a bibliophile.)

but yea it seems from now on how one buy there entertainment will be a prefered prefernece thing.


Last edited by Soundmonkey44 on Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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gundam83



Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 93
Location: Caribbean
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:06 am Reply with quote
[quote="RHachicho"]I do not believe that physical media will ever die out in it's entirety. There is something about owning the DVD's that is very satisfying. A DVD collection isn't just the media recorded on it it's a statement about you're tastes and a decoration in the room to a certain extent. People like to own things in a manner that they can see and touch. I am one such person and I can say 100% that digital ownership would never give me the same satisfaction as seeing my collection all neatly arranged on a shelf Smile

I know I know that makes me a bit of a geek but hey that's who I am. Anime hyper

I agree. I'm trying to get internet so I can watch anime online but if I see an anime that I really enjoy watching then I'm gonna get it on dvd. I think most anime fans are like that.
The anime collector will never die!
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Sanosuke_Inara



Joined: 23 Nov 2009
Posts: 1662
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:21 am Reply with quote
gundam83 wrote:
I'm trying to get internet so I can watch anime online but if I see an anime that I really enjoy watching then I'm gonna get it on dvd. I think most anime fans are like that.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. Sad
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23761
PostPosted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 11:10 am Reply with quote
The whole physical media question is especially pertinent to me considering I spent a large chunk of my evening yesterday, re-arranging things so that I can house my anime collection without stacking things on top of each other (also cleared some shelf space for my manga).

If space was not a consideration, I would be more than happy to go on being a physical collector. Sadly, I don't live in a warehouse. Not that that will stop me from buying physical items, but yeah, as I look around my cramped place I can see the benefit of having all the same content neatly stored in virtual storage somewhere...
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