Have you gone digital?

[Wendy Summers]

More and more I'm looking at the clutter in my life and I'm thinking I want it physically gone. I'm a large consumer of media: comics, DVDs, books -- it all takes up tons of space. Lately when I've bought videos I've made sure they include digital copies; most of the comics I buy include downloads; my most recent book purchases were digital.

I think I'm just about over all the physical stuff.

Has anyone else started feeling this way? Has anyone else gone entirely digital? What have you found to be the downsides? How do you store your files? Do you maintain backups? etc?

[GroobySteven]

1. Dumped all my CD's into digital format - threw away the cases and kept the originals in folders.
2. Done the same with DVD's.
This alone claimed back lots of room!

3. Threw out every book that I didn't plan to re-read in the next 2 yrs bar a few. I can get them all cheaply online if I want to re-read.
4. Sold all my comic books and graphic novels on ebay.

Like is better with less clutter.

[Wendy Summers]

1. Dumped all my CD's into digital format - threw away the cases and kept the originals in folders.
2. Done the same with DVD's.
This alone claimed back lots of room!

3. Threw out every book that I didn't plan to re-read in the next 2 yrs bar a few. I can get them all cheaply online if I want to re-read.
4. Sold all my comic books and graphic novels on ebay.

Like is better with less clutter.

I had already done that with CDs... except I sold my originals to a used shop then except for things I had an emotional attachment to. Never considered doing it with DVDs - that's a good idea.

[bluesoul]

my entire film library is digital. so is my television/cable. i only have a blu-ray player and digital projector and only buy records on vinyl or mp3 (vinyl always comes with an mp3 copy too). i never EVER bought cds

books are the only thing i still keep in physical format but i donated a lot to last christmas.

[jennylicious]

I'm pretty sure my radio still has valves...

[Willie Escalade]

Pretty much every magazine I read is now done on my iPad...except for those not in digital format of course. Same goes for the newspaper. I primarily buy my movies and music via iTunes, but once in awhile I'll buy the physical copy of an album or movie (Mary J. Blige or another favorite artist; Django Unchained).

The books I tend to buy aren't usually available in digital format (car books from Motorbooks, specific sports books) but I'm sure the publishers are working on that.

I still have all of my CDs though; some are ultra-rare and are out of print.

[Dino Velvet]

I'm a big Horror and Metal fan. Have tons of DVDs and CDs all still in cases. I'm a real pack-rat that can't separate myself from them. Lucky I never got into memorabilia. I look for DVD/VHS player boxes and keep my stuff in there stacked from floor to ceiling. I have a system and know where everything is.

[Gillian]

Just last year I gifted by entire CD (1,000+) collection to the local hospice charity shop. Never that attached to the covers and sleeve notes so just gave the lot away.

Slightly, but only slightly, ashamed to say I've illegally downloaded some of my music collection but I justify it on the basis that nearly 50% of my CD collection had been previously owned on either vinyl or cassette. I had Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' on all three formats and I don't recall any of the record companies refunding me the duplicated profits or royalties. I reckon they fleeced us during all the format changes so I don't feel too guilty if I snatch the odd track or two nowadays ... ;)

[robertlouis]

Recently bought a kindle fire and am still experimenting it. It doesn't smell like a book, however.....

I am in the process of uploading all the CD's to a Brennan box and will then put them into storage. If they're by friends - which happens a lot when you're in the music biz - I'll keep them for sentimental reasons. Same with my ludicrously large collection of vinyl albums. So many of them are tied to a specific incident or person that I can't bear to part with them.

[Dino Velvet]

Recently bought a kindle fire and am still experimenting it. It doesn't smell like a book, however.....

I am in the process of uploading all the CD's to a Brennan box and will then put them into storage. If they're by friends - which happens a lot when you're in the music biz - I'll keep them for sentimental reasons. Same with my ludicrously large collection of vinyl albums. So many of them are tied to a specific incident or person that I can't bear to part with them.

Can't get rid of the vinyl.

[fivekatz]

Everything but books. I still prefer a book to a Kindle or iPad delivery of the content. But I have no use for paper periodicals anymore.

All my music and video is now off of plastic and loaded on to servers with back-up. I don't miss VHS or even DVDs but at moments I get a bit misty eyed about my old LP albums with the great jackets.

[Rusty Eldora]

It has been 18 months since I renewed any magazines. It is down to a trickle now. Stopped the newspapers 3 and 5 years ago. Still like books but really slowed down buying there.

I have a huge porn collection: I think I have 12 years straight of Mayfair, Model Directory, and Just Girls. All British so always needed to buy on ebay. Also a big Score collection among a bunch of other mags. Haven't bought a porn mag in over 4 years now. Maybe its my 25" very high def monitor.

[Willie Escalade]

Exactly. I used to buy tons of porn mags...until I got the Internet.

Quagmire discovers internet porn - YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nrFIgFNB4)

[Gillian]

I love that clip!!

Have you been lifting weights?

:lol:

[Wendy Summers]

I love that clip!!

Have you been lifting weights?

:lol:

It was the subtlety of the reveal when he points to the mailbox that did me in. :)

[martin48]

Can't get rid of the vinyl.


Quite - here's engineering Garrard 401 turntable + SME arm. There's an angel

[TempestTS]

I was going to go all digital - couldnt find a scanner big enough for my whole body...

[Stavros]

I have no sentimental attachment to vinyl and junked it all some years ago when moving -takes up too much space, is too heavy and most is available on cd -I think it makes you ask the hard questions about what you really want to keep when it comes to replacing vinyl. These days I don't buy any magazines, I buy a newspaper once a week, on a Saturday, so get all my news online.

I have an iPad but have not invested in any films or music yet, mainly because Apple doesn't cater for people with my tastes. It doesn't store the music I want, or if it does I already have it on cd or on my iPod and loaded it from a cd as it is not available in the apple store. Its film collection is mainstream and uninterested in innovation and rarities; just take Ingmar Bergman, with only five films available mostly from the early period, and, apart from Sawdust and Tinsel, no classics. I wanted to download some ballet but it doesn't exist in the Apple store; again, consider something as basic as Swan Lake -you can buy one or two extracts (from different sources) but not the whole ballet, I think its because the whole Apple format is based on pop songs and can't deal with anything that lasts longer than 3 minutes. For this reason going digital may work for popular entertainment but for the films and music that one returns to again and again, it is limited at best, at worst completely useless.

I like books, the feel and the smell of them; I know I have too many, but did manage to sell 250 to a dealer some years ago which created a lot of space. I have access to two copyright libraries so I ought to get rid of most of my books, but some particular editions are the ones I am used to, and American books don't often find their way into the UK library network, and some have sentimental value and for that reason cannot be replaced. But I must admit it is amazing how much is on the web.

There are also things like paintings, photographs and sculpture that cannot be reproduced digitally and which enhance the quality of my private space.

Verdict: yes, its a good idea, but right now, limited in function and appeal.

[Dino Velvet]

I was going to go all digital - couldnt find a scanner big enough for my whole body...

My farts aren't as warm and smelly when they're in digital format either.http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/customprofilepics/profilepic3632_1.gif

[Bopper007]

My farts aren't as warm and smelly when they're in digital format either.http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/customprofilepics/profilepic3632_1.gif


So you are staying anal-log? :)

[Dino Velvet]

So you are staying anal-log? :)

Excellent play on words. Much respect.:Bowdown:

I'd rather have my farts downloaded the old-fashioned way.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma0421oGoE1r57ucl.gif

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m92v8kOGrn1qb9fuc.gif

[maxpower]

I flushed an anal log down my toilet a few minutes ago.

[f-finger]

After reading news and newspapers online since, i dunno, 1998 or so I actually went back to a subscription of a printed newspaper on paper. I have the impression I am better informed about world affairs, politics, economics and cultural events than before, simply because the editors do a good job in seperating the newsworthy from the trash. And on the net u get drawn in gazillion of links, reading comments etc that u forget quickly about the main aspects of subjects.

[Bopper007]

[QUOTE=Dino Velvet;1309477]Excellent play on words. Much respect.:Bowdown:

Coming from the Master, I am very honored.

Thank You

[hippifried]

Oh no! I think my pixilated ass just got bitmapped...

[Prospero]

Digital is an add on not a substitute. I have several thousand old vinyl albums, more thousands of CDs and have digitised all the latter but will not rid myself of them. I had a drive with lots of music stored on it die recently - so thank god the hard copies still exist. Same with digital images. You have to back them up a few times. Onto DVD or CD as well as external drives.

Plus I still love the feel of real books. And the look.
Recently i got a book of the photography of Sebastiao Salgado - seem my posts elsewhere - and the great physicality of the object and the quality of the reproductions is wonderful. A Kindle version would never do it justice. Another recent new acquisition is "The Book Of Scarcely Imagined Beings' a series of science essays (the title is inspired by Borges) is another glorious physical object with lovely artists engravings. A digital version just would not be the same.

Kindles etc are, however, great for portablity and taking a lot of reading matter on a long trip.

But again have you ever taken a plane ride in pre-digital days and been told to "turn your book off."

[Prospero]

Just read Seanchai's post... yes I did that with my CDs and DVDs... now the folders take up a lot of space. But books. Noe... in the words of a novel by Anthony Powell "Books Do Furnish A Room."

[f-finger]

Books have quite some durability.

I have some doubts, that a Kindle I buy today will still be working in 2035.

[Prospero]

Books have quite some durability.

I have some doubts, that a Kindle I buy today will still be working in 2035.

I agree.... I got some floppy disks from a few years back and they are totally unreadable and a whole set of CD-Roms that I paid a lot of money for that can't be ready by contemporary computers.

[bubbski]

The other half of going digital is ridding yourself of paper you keep for notes and reference. With the advent of the iPhone and iPad, I am really trying to get away from scraps of paper and the such. My 10 year old printer gave up the ghost, and I was tired of paying out the ass for ink cartridges anyway.

Solution: Penultimate and Good Reader apps. Penultimate is for hand writing out your notes, and since it now is part of Evernote it syncs automatically, so you can refer to your notes everywhere. If I have notes that I want to keep at a meeting, I just take them in Penultimate with a stylus. If people in the meeting need notes (and are willing to put up with my handwriting) they can have them immediately after they are taken. And automatically backed up to the cloud...better than a lost notebook.

The Goodreader part of it features an ability to fill in PDFs with typed info, as well as handwritten, save them and email them without ever having to print anything out. No longer do I have to print something out, just to sign it and return. Now THAT"S digital.

If I absolutely need to print something out, I just mail it to my Local Office Depot, and pick it up on the way to the Post Office.

Oh, and one more thing, for quick scanning with the iPhone, try TinyScan or TinyScanPro...scans, straightens and converts documents right into PDFs from your device. The pro version has been free lately.

Enjoy the digital life.

[jennylicious]

While most of my life is non digital. My sex life is entirely digital these days. It seems pretty sad, but at least I'm using all 10 digits.

[Corran]

I agree digital is good for most things. Except my comic books. There's something so awesome about that new comic smell and being able to see the colors leap off the page..

[SurfSandSun]

The only catch to going digital is that digital media can still always be deleted, either by accident or through a crashed computer or whatever device..
BluRay discs are great though, and it is always cool to have a decent viewable collection of something - esp as it hangs around your living space both as decor and positive feng shui :)