QOTW: Do you still buy physical media?

[adidan]

Games - when I can. I think all my PS4 games are physical copies. PC games mainly Steam unless it's something I particularly want to own.

Films/series - If I want to rewatch and own i'll by the blurays. Things like BSG and the Marvel movies I bought. Other films/series that i'll not want to rewatch i'll just stream.

Books - buy. Never download them, I just don't enjoy them as much and I like time to actively not be looking at a screen of any sort whatsoever.

Music - a mixture

Software - online but then I usually use free versions of software such as libre office and so on

[Gentle Viking]

Of course. i wouldn't have it any other way.
So not on disk, me not buying it.

[Quartz]

I have a modest library of DVDs, BDs, and CDs. I have a not-so-modest library of books.

[pastymuncher]

All the time as I prefer to own the things I buy rather than pay for the right to listen/watch/read them. I buy Blu-rays, CD's, Vinyl and books although in the case of books it is mainly reference books as most of my story books are on Kindle these days. I can pick up CD's for as little as 50p and most of the time they are as new. Similar with books although most have been around 99p. Games are mostly on Steam and I can't remember when I purchased my last physical game, probably at least 10 years ago.

[jimbouk]

CDs - cases in the loft, disc in a soft case. Still buy some, got a couple of old ones used recently so cheap as chips. Really enjoy putting on an album now and again.
Vinyl - got/aquired. Tend to be what we get if it's something new just for added fun.
DVDs / blueray - buy and have sold. Anything we want to keep (Studio Ghibli for example) we hang onto. Cleared out a load we had kicking around and try not to buy anything we won't hand onto. Except boxed sets we couldn't watch online - bought and sold back to CEX when didn't have to do postage (Shield, Endevour)
Games - Half and half PS4, pick up cheap digital games in the sale but tend to go physical as it's nice to be able to share with friends (when you can see them! One still has half a dozen games we lent before the first lockdown ) PC is all digital. I do have a DVD drive in the computer now - mostly because the old case had a drop down flap and wanted to put one behind it so spent a fiver on one from eBay!

[Iota]

Games - Not for at least 15 years.
Books - Always, I despise reading books on a screen and losing the tactile feel of turning a page or placing a bookmark when pausing.
CDs - Very occasionally, mostly stream now.
Vinyl - Never.
DVDs or Blu-ray - Only when impatient to watch something on a streaming service, I avoid the cinema and dislike renting. So occasionally, I still have my old VHS player and cassettes.

[Norkay]

I've actually kept the receipt for the last music CD I've bought in 2005. Since FLAC and other lossless formats are present, I don't see much sense in getting more plastic.
I only weep for things like hilarious Taika Waititi's commentary to Thor Ragnarok (otherwise an okay film), which is impossible to get anywhere but on physical media (and forsaken iTunes).

[alpha channel]

Music - Physical media is preferable (then ripped), though there has been times when I only care for certain tracks on an album (and it costs less than the album) that a digital purchase is made.
Films/TV - Physical, like others have said, prefer to own and streaming is unreliable when it comes to access (Killjoys on Amazon Prime being a major annoyance, just about to watch the last series, poof! cough up please).
Games - Digital, these days even if you cough up for a physical copy it invariably leads to a download anyway.
Software - Digital, mainly down to the fact most of them don't offer a physical copy anyway, I avoid subscription based affairs when possible as well.
Books - Always, always physical, there's just something superior about print... more tangible, the feel of wood pulp and the smell (occasionally, more so the ones that I've inherited)... plus I've a few signed/sketched art books that you simply can't get digitally (pride of place are the two signed Chris Foss books with one off illustrations on the inside covers by the artist himself). Novels? There's an increasing collection that predate the digital era by quite a margin and again, like adidan, I prefer to get away from a screen of any sort.

[darcotech]

I mostly went digital/stream for all.
But I do buy my favorite movies/music on discs just to be on the safe side. Also, quality of the media is better than on stream. My trick is to go and buy second hand. They are so cheap these days (as everyone is getting rid of them).

[TonyBee]

Yes for music on CD and decent 4k movies. Most of my new music purchases have been directly from the artists at their live shows (remember those?).
Although I do put them onto my portable music player I still like to have the physical media which I do try and get signed too :-)

[jnutt]

Really only Vinyl maybe the very occasional CD. All games are software downloads.

[Core2Extreme]

Yup. Most recently, bought a DVD and a Blu-Ray player a couple weeks before Christmas.

Yes - books.
I find it easier to focus with dead tree versions. I spend enough time online that if I want to read a whole book, why not do it offline? Exception: For technical books it is nice to have the digital version, for search reasons.

Yes - magazines.
Similar to books. Yeah, I browse Hexus online, but it's great having a paper copy of Wired that I can read over lunch.

Often - Movies and TV shows.
I don't watch a ton, so it often works out to be cheaper to buy than always having a streaming subscription. And it's great to always have the whole series of Parks and Rec and The Office available to watch after work. I will occasionally do a digital rental of a film I haven't seen, or have a streaming subscription for a month to sample a new series, however.

Sometimes - Music.
I'm not a huge music person either, but it really comes down to do I like the album enough to buy it, or do I just want a few tracks? I buy an album every year or two, as well as a dozen to two dozen mp3s. Again, I don't listen to music enough to feel like a streaming service is generally worth it.

No - newspapers.
I used to, for reasons similar to magazines, but live in an apartment and the delivery reliability here sucks. Magazines use the post and are thus much more reliably delivered.

No - software.
I'm pretty much exclusively PC, and the digital options are really good on PC, without any of the physical format tradeoffs of magazines/books, and the sales are good enough that buying physical doesn't save money (even when it is an option). The only software I've bought online in recent years are older games I wanted to play again which weren't available on GOG or Steam.

[dylanlaw79]

Yes, I still buy Blu Rays and CD based media. Don't like ot put all my trust in digital platforms

[Saracen999]

Music? Both. For personal reasons I do use streaming, but I also have most of what I like on CD, and a fair bit of it on vinyl, as well.

Films/TV? Again, large collection on disc.

Books? Well, I have a pretty big physical library. There's something about books. Some of mine are even quite valuable. But recently, I actually read far more on Kindle. And if you had my vision issues, so would you.

Games? All on disc. I'm not using streaming services, period. Never will. That said, I don't do much gaming these days anyway .... largely because .... Steam, etc.

[Spud1]

Absolutely - it's impossible to get a high quality UHD movie on any streaming service - and the difference between a good UHD blu ray and even the best stream is absolutely huge.

That is unlikely to change for many years - and until it does...I will keep buying movies on physical media

[thewelshbrummie]

As I now live in the US, I planned ahead and switched to digital purchases for games when I got an Xbox One S. Moving a 2.5" HDD is far easier than the disc horde I could have acquired. My One X in the US certainly appreciates that.

I still occasionally buy PC games physically, especially as they're regularly cheaper than buying the same game directly on Steam despite the boxed copy pretty much being the Steam redemption code and discs to jumpstart the installation (which came in useful on the 8 MBPs fibre Internet connection I left behind). Moving the 500 DVDs will be a challenge though going forward.

That said, I got a Switch 2 weeks back and so far all purchases have been physical - the cartridges are small and will travel pretty well, plus physical copies are cheaper and sales on the Nintendo store seem to be rare to never vs regular big and long sales on the Xbox.

I don't by many books but those I do get are physical.

Music has been download only or Spotify for a decade +