Digital vs physical media which do you prefer?

[Ryujin]

I prefer physical media but, as we all know, storage methods become out moded and vanish. Offline digital storage may eventually become a necessity because of that so my DVD/BluRay collection will eventually need to be ripped, if i want to continue to enjoy it.

I store music offline, too. It's relatively easy to do with music. You're right about games and movies, though. That stuff pretty much lives on cloud services without an option to download.

If you think that your offline music is safe, you might want to consult with all of the people who had rare tracks overwritten by Apple. I have friends who lost rare digital tracks when iTunes decided, in its infinite digital wisdom, to swap them out for the standard broadcast versions of the same songs, a few years back. This was done without warning and once gone, the originals were irretrievable.

 

[Ryujin]

A mix. I read most digitally but get physical copies of ones I refer most like core books and a few adventures. I really like boxed sets that are worth it. Twilight 2000 and 5e come to mind.

Physical game media is really the way to go. It still chaps my butt to this day that Wizards' claim that 4e online resources would be available to purchasers 'forever' only lasted until the next version was released. I was one of the suckers that bought into that.

 

[ichabod]

I put "a mix" but it's more like conflicted desires. I prefer digital media for several reasons (environmental, space, ease of use, ...). But I consistently find that digital media providers are total sleezoids, so I go back to physical media because I don't want to deal with them.

 

[Blue]

I do not prefer physical or digital. I prefer both.

Seriously, they serve different needs for me. Things like Pelgrane Press' Bits & Mortar plan where you buy the physical and get the PDF are exactly what I want.

As a side note, "digital" is a lousy description because it's too broad. I absolutely don't want something I need to go to their app to use. That doesn't serve my purpose in the least. And I've been burned when places decided to no longer support what I want (I'm looking at you, 4e Subscription). So DnDBeyond and the like is not what I want nor mean with digital.

So I want physical and PDF, not either/or, and do not want app-based as not filling my needs.

 

[dragoner]

Physical. Though pdf's are good for searching, or a preview, I prefer to have a physical copy for playing the game.

 

[trappedslider]

As a side note, "digital" is a lousy description because it's too broad. I absolutely don't want something I need to go to their app to use. That doesn't serve my purpose in the least. And I've been burned when places decided to no longer support what I want (I'm looking at you, 4e Subscription). So DnDBeyond and the like is not what I want nor mean with digital.

So I want physical and PDF, not either/or, and do not want app-based as not filling my needs.

I didn't feel like listing all the different versions of digital media (Epub,PDF, and on and on and on) so i figured digital works as an umbrella since it's really all bytes of data.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I put "a mix" but it's more like conflicted desires. I prefer digital media for several reasons (environmental, space, ease of use, ...). But I consistently find that digital media providers are total sleezoids, so I go back to physical media because I don't want to deal with them.

My opinion on this aligns point for point with this post. I have a lot of digital media stored offline, but the things I care about the most I always try to acquire physically, and I have very little faith in digital providers not to screw me over at any opportunity.

 

[aco175]

I seem to use digital a lot for planning and making adventures, but when it comes to playing I only use physical. I'll print off parts of the modules I will be using and just have the physical sheets when we sit down.

 

[Muad'dib Pendragon]

In most cases both, especially if page count, art/presentation and physical quality are high. Love the physical/pdf combo if/when available. PhysicL to read, pdf to search.

 

[Blue]

I didn't feel like listing all the different versions of digital media (Epub,PDF, and on and on and on) so i figured digital works as an umbrella since it's really all bytes of data.

"Bytes of data" is like grouping a book and a tattoo because they both are written with ink. We're explicitly talking about how the form of the media impacts which we want, two very different forms with different functionality are different even if both are electronic.

Really, PDF and a book in the same layout are closer in some ways than a PDF and DnDBeyond.

And I agree, listing Epub & PDF and every format would be just as silly as listing hardcover, digest, softcover for the books, since those books all have the same functionality. But having them broken up by functionality like "portable document" vs. "app" could be useful.