Source – The company plans to phase out sales of DVD and Blu-ray discs both in stores and online in early 2024, according to an industry source familiar with the company’s plans. One source said Best Buy first made the decision to end DVD sales nine months ago.
Best Buy announced Friday that it would no longer sell the DVD. “Of course, the way we watch movies and TV shows is vastly different today than it was decades ago,” a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “By making this change, we will have more space and opportunity to offer new and innovative technologies for our customers to explore, discover and enjoy.”
This article is from a few months ago, but the tweets are from this weekend. Best Buy is currently discontinuing all physical media movies. I’m quite upset by this news. I used to like buying movies from Best Buy. They often had good sales and if you go back a few years, they also had great collections.
I love owning Blu-Ray and physical media. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with when I was born. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, there was nothing like going to the store and buying a new record, tape, CD, or new movie. They even had a store in the mall called Suncoast Motion Picture Company and all they did was sell movies. It was an absolutely wonderful place. Buying a new movie still felt good. I love the idea of having it forever (or until the technology becomes obsolete). But honestly, I’m old enough now that I’m committed to owning it on Blu-ray for the rest of my life. My family can do that. When I die, throw this shit away. )
Jiffy image.
Source – Given that the characters on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are intentionally some of the most problematic characters on television, some of their satirical and horrifying acts may be too much for Hulu to keep the service on. As a result, five missed episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia have been removed.
- Season 4, Episode 3, “America’s Next Top Paddy’s Signature Model Contest”
- Season 6, Episode 9, “Dee Reynolds: The Shaping of America’s Youth”
- Season 8, Episode 2, “The Gang Recycles Trash”
- Season 9, Episode 9, “Gangster Makes Weapon 6”
- Season 14, Episode 3, “Dee Day”
This is why physical media is so important. We can’t let giant media companies decide years later what is and isn’t acceptable. One of his first sets I bought was The Complete Sopranos. This is my favorite show of all time, but I can’t say for sure that some of these episodes won’t be deleted or edited in his 20 years. I hope the series turns out the way the creator intended. I think editing or deleting episodes of a show or movie is like painting clothes on a historical Da Vinci or Monet. Engaging with art is a form of censorship.
For the past few months, I’ve been buying a new Criterion Collection every week. What Criterion does is take classic films from all eras and remaster them with all sorts of special features. It’s like attending a great film class every week. We also want those movies to be available whenever we want to watch them. Having them on my movie shelf (I like to call it my movie library, don’t kid me) makes me so happy.
I have to admit that I’m somewhat of a hypocrite about all of this. I got rid of all my CDs a few years ago. I still buy records, but now I stream music exclusively for the sake of space and ease of use. But who’s to say these awful media companies won’t censor music? If you had told me a few years ago that Hulu would be releasing an episode of It’s Always Sunny, I wouldn’t have believed it.
No matter what we do, we are at the mercy of these giant corporations. We are also at the mercy of an increasingly sensitive audience. There will probably be a big change in the next few years, and people will rebel against the softer and softer content. I hope so, but I really don’t know. The only thing we can really control is how we consume this media. With stores like Best Buy not selling physical media, these media companies continue to tighten their grip on our balls.
