GypsyHeartgirl said:
I'm happy to have a VHS copy! DVD players aren't all that much now, but the thought of having to replace my entire movie collection is overwhelming. That's what they want you do though, just like in the late 80's when everything switched from beta to vhs and from vinyl to CD. I honestly believe the industry does this every few years so we will have to rebuy everything and stimulate their economy. I remember back in the late 70's when I had an 8 track in my car, and you couldn't find 8 tracks anymore. Finally they even quit selling the blank ones. They wanted you to switch to cassettes. Back in the days when CD's were taking over, the industry would claim everyone preferred them, but when I went to record stores looking for RECORDS the workers would tell me that the fans were still demanding vinyl like crazy and it was the record companies that were slowly phasing them out, so I think my theory is correct. It gets to the point where they put less and less titles on that format, and you are eventually forced to switch over. I hope that doesn't happen with VHS but I bet it will.
But the Boston show is great, on VHS or DVD.
My view is very different than yours Gypsy, yet I am just a few years shy of your age. To prove this, I still have a functional 8-track *recorder* hooked up to my stereo system - and I have several blank 8-track tapes!
I was more than happy to get CD's over vinyl. When I was a teen collecting music in the 70's and 80's, I often wanted to hear only select songs on an album. Additionally, I may have wanted to repeat one song over and over or I wanted to change the order of songs on an album. While there were claims that certain turntables could attempt to do this type of programming, I never owned one and never heard anything good about those players. Vinyl wears down rather quickly (unless you have an outstanding turntable - something I have now, but not when I was younger) and I just couldn't program the songs like I wanted. Then, along came CD and I was thrilled. It featured everything I always wanted on vinyl, yet the CD was smaller, the sound was clearer and it didn't wear down.
The same holds true for DVD's. I've had VHS tapes that have broken or have become warped after just a few plays. Often the quality will degrade after a few years. Due to space limitations on VHS, there are a limited number of extras (if any) and I can't easily jump to a favorite scene in a movie. With a DVD, I get loads of extras - always great to see with my favorite movies. The sound and picture are so much better and the ease of jumping to favorite scenes is incredible. Just like with CD's, I find DVD's very worthwhile.
HOWEVER, I did not replace my entire album or VHS collection with CD's or DVD's, respectively. There were a few token albums or VHS tapes I replaced with a DVD - usually because the original album or tape needed to be replaced or because I loved that particular album or movie so much, I wanted the benefits of the higher quality sound and/or picture. But if I were to replace every single VHS tape or album I own, I'd be in even more debt than I am now.
The comparison of replacing VHS with DVD to replacing Beta with VHS fails because the Beta and VHS formats were released very close to each other. Most people argue that Beta was a better format, yet for some reason VHS caught on. I'm not sure why. But I don't think this was an attempt by the industry to get everyone to buy VHS after buying Beta. Rather, I saw it as two very different formats competing simultaneously, with VHS winning.
I admit, sometimes it does seem like the industry comes out with new formats to stimulate their own economies. However, the difference between album and CD as well as VHS and DVD are dramatic. I've heard rumors that something slightly better than a DVD will soon come out. This new format is supposed to have even better digital sound, picture, more disk room, etc. To me, this format, if these rumors are true, will fail - much like the laser disc did. Having something *slightly* better will not win over the consumers. VHS to DVD is dramatically better. VHS to cumbersome laser discs was not. Analogously, DVD to a slightly better DVD is also not a tremendous improvement. Still, I'm sure the industry will try to launch this item in order to further stimulate their own pocketbooks.
In any event, get yourself that DVD player. They are as cheap as $59! And don't worry about replacing your VHS collection. Just buy new movies on DVD. Trust me - after you start watching DVD's you'll understand.