A friend of mine who now lives in a different part of the country claims to have gone fully digital.
He's burned all his CDs to his computer, he watches TV/Films either recorded on a hard drive recorder or streamed from his phone, he hasn't read a book in a couple of years but he just uses the Internet rather than buy newspapers or magazines. All videogames are downloaded.
Its something I've considered in the past - I did have a cull of my CDs a while back but certain discs I couldn't bring myself to get rid of - and I still enjoy buying and listening to music on CD. I've read books on my phone (don't have an e-reader) and like having an electric book to hand on bus journeys, etc - but still prefer paper books at home. Don't play video games much any more and those I do play are usually on my phone (so that's one area I can imagine going fully digital... until the next Mario game comes out, that is) And TV boxsets, well they're usually cheaper on second hand DVD than digital after a few months so I can't see myself ditching DVDs any time soon.
Nnnooo ... I think digital stuff is great. But there are reasons to continue going old school for some things. I love my Kindle, but recently I bought a nonfiction book that is very interesting but that BEGS for skimming. So I'm going to check the hardbound version out from the library and read it, then highlight relevant passages in my Kindle. Plus, I like the warm cozy feeling books give a room.
I still put stuff on CD from time to time. I still want to be able to rewatch certain movies from time to time. And so on ...
One argument for NOT going completely digital: in a house with a lot of streaming devices, bandwidth can be a problem. Almost all digital content requires streaming. Even if you have a good connection, it can be challenging to have all desired devices going at once and still get good signal.
I will never give up actual books made out of paper. My mother won a Kindle at her work's Christmas party and she gave it to me, since she still hasn't figured out how to use a VCR, but I hate the thing. It's sitting on a shelf in my room covered in dust already. She's already said she doesn't mind if I just decide to sell it, but I've just been too lazy to put an ad on Craigslist.
Anybody want to buy a paper white Kindle that's only been used for like 1 hour total?
No. I still have real books in my bookcase and I still read real newspaper, sometimes from internet, but that don't happen often.
But yes one thing I have get rid of. All my cd's I got middle of 90's, I just don't listen to them anymore, they was old and I can
listen to those same songs/artist from Spotify or youtube if I like to some day. But I could not go fully to digital, not yet at least.
I wouldn't go fully digital, I love books, dvd's and cd cover booklets too much for that.
That said, I am extremely happy to have Netflix, WiMP (music streaming service) and kindle on my ipad.
I use my kindle mostly when I can't sleep and don't want to wake up my boyfriend by turning on the light.
And when there is a problem with the internet connection, I have around 350 movies + tv-shows on dvd and blu ray, so I can keep myself entertained
Except for books, I would. I rarely play music from cd's and even less frequently buy them. Just recently I subscribed to an online movie/sports service, so not much need for dvd/bd's either.
Just realized how lazy I have become, there was a time when I actually had majority of music on vinyl records. Now putting a cd to the player seems like too much effort.
I don't think I could ever go fully digital. Call me materialistic but I love being surrounded by my books, CDs, DVDs and video games. I can't imagine replacing all of that with various little black boxes of digital information.
Some things obviously have to be downloaded to be able to keep them (Kindle books by SK, I'm looking at you) but you can't beat flicking through the pages of a new book.
Could you/Would you go fully digital?
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