With the coming of the 21st century streaming music and shows digitally has created a previously unseen type of connection that can be created through digital media. While it may be nostalgic, physical copies today are few and far between offering a limited view of music. Alternatively streaming from any one of the mainstream popular services such as Spotify or Soundcloud gives listeners endless genres, artists, and time periods to listen to. The ability to stream music and share your appreciation for a specific type of music allows it to more easily be shared creating a sense of community through the people who have similar tastes in music. I believe while too much technology is bad for your health, the introduction of digital music has created connections and friendships through a shared appreciation of music that otherwise would be almost impossible with physical music.

In my experience I have found that quality goes over convenience in most scenarios, this is one of them. Physical copies rarely have advertisements, have no buffers, and can be consumed without the Internet. With streaming you have to have an account sacrificing your private information, you have to pay monthly to use the service and you even sometimes have to deal with advertisements that seem to come up at the worst times. On the other hand, if you use physical media you buy it, you have a player and you can just use it, no advertisements, no monthly premiums and no buffers. When you hear physical media you may think of the fragile beta tapes or VHS tapes, but this is such a narrow point of view. With the addition of the DVD and CD, you can listen and watch something that will not go bad after one winter and can even be played on your computer. All computers have a media player and this is usually automatically opened and has no built in restrictions meaning you can share the screen with your friends over a communication platform and watch a movie with your friends (can’t do that on Disney Plus). I will admit that physical media is hard to come by these days and streaming is much more convenient but physical media is making a comeback, CD’s and Vinyl have become music lovers’ collectibles and will keep one satisfied with one time payment quality music.