For Sale: DVDs?

Do you buy DVDs of non-kids' movies? Most kids like to watch the same movies over and over again, so we do own copies of Nemo et al. But grown-up movies? I just don't see it. Even if you absolutely adored a movie, maybe even enough to want to watch it again, do you need to own it? If so, how often do you watch the DVDs you own? I know people who buy practically every good movie they see—often before they even see it, just instead of renting it!—and I don't get it. Even classics, like "The Godfather"—do you watch it enough to justify the purchase?

I mentioned this to Andy, who immediately tripped me up by saying, "Well, couldn't the same be said of books? You buy books before you read them and then read them only once—maybe twice at the outside. How is this different?" I sputtered, "Books are different! Books are—books!" I pointed out that I like to lend out favorite books, and he reminded me that people might like to lend out favorite DVDs too. The only argument I made that held any water was that it sometimes takes me a long time to read a book, and it would have been due back at the library in the meantime.

Comments

[James]

I think Andy pretty much nailed it. But there is an argument from the other side as well.

I like to listen to CDs, too. Listening to a song once is not always good enough.

Likewise, we have movies we love so much we watch them over and over again. We have Christmas DVDs we put on while we're wrapping gifts. I have DVDs that remind me of absent friends, and I sometimes watch them to cheer myself up.

And, I just plain love Rear Window and Vertigo. And I watch those once a year or so.

Sometimes I just like watching one scene from a movie I like.

But as I get older I notice that there are fewer and fewer movies I feel it's worth owning. I have sold off many DVDs because of this. But I do like the convenience of popping in The Seven Samurai whenever I like, or The Magnificent Seven.

[lynn]

Karen,

I own many grown-up DVDs. I do watch them more than once. I sometimes just like to go watch a favorite part - it can really lift my spirits! I've already watched the new Sense & Sensibility twice and am sure to watch it many more times. :)

[Karen]

I've blogged about this before, but I still insist on owning actual CDs to downloading my music digitally. The reason there is that I LOVE liner notes. I read every word and look at every photo. I want to know who's playing what instrument on what track, who wrote the lyrics, who gets thanked, etc. So that's a different case for me -- you actually get something more with a CD than with a digital download.

[Wendy]

There are a lot of movies I've watched many times -- I've got a lot of Fred & Ginger, for example. And Tom Jones, with Albert Finney. And Persuasion, with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. I've definitely watched them enough times to make their purchase a sound investment. I also often watch certain familiar movies when I'm ironing -- that way it doesn't matter if I'm staring at a placket during some bit of the flick (and sometimes I rent a really fluffy movie for the same purpose and reason.)

[B.O.B.(bob)]

I do buy movies occasionally (usually used). The only dvds I've bought new are TV shows and things like the Lord of the Rings movies that came with ridiculous amounts of extras (which I watched all of). I will generally buy a movie if I think I'll watch it more than once. Since rental costs ~$4 and a used dvd is generally less than $8 I break even as long as I watch it twice. I don't do NetFlix since I rent maybe 5-10 movies a year. I often do pull out something and rewatch multiple time (I've worn out the tape on some old VHS; Spinal Tap, My Favorite Year).

The book thing is a personal thing. I can't imagine not saving books (7+ stuffed cases right now) and it pains me to clear out stuff that I admit I'll never reread, but my mom who is just as voracious reader as me gets rid of every book as soon as she's done with it.

[steve]

I own a smattering of DVDs. Primarily movies that I do watch repeatedly and now know almost verbatim. (!)

I own hundreds and hundreds of books. I have books that I received when I was a kid. I have favorites from high school. I even have a couple of college text books (which I use for reference).

I buy books that I remember reading but don't yet own just so I can own them.

I hoard books. I pile books. I stack books. I rarely like to loan books out.

I just seem to feel better when I have books around. I have a hard time letting them go.

[amy]

"Grown-up" DVDs we own: Ever After, Enchanted, Sliding Doors (yes, there's a chick flick theme here--and I can't only blame my 17-year old daughter), Love Actually, Terms of Endearment (i love to watch this when I need to sob out loud), all the Monty Pythons (also have a 15 and 13 year old boys, and MP appeals to all), almost every season of The Simpsons (see above), Four Weddings and a Funeral, Juno, While You Were Sleeping, Shakespeare in Love, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World (the original), all the Star Wars movies in their special edition formats, same for Lord of the Rings, and Young Frankenstein.

I'd rather watch (most) of the above than anything on TV nowadays, and I like to watch something when I'm folding laundry, which seems to be rather endless.

[Elena]

My 16-year-old daughter has gotten it into her head that everyone owns way more DVDs than we do, so I have been buying one here and there. Juno was the most recent addition, and Enchanted before that. Our whole family loves The Devil Wears Prada and has watched it multiple times. Since I'm about to become a high school history teacher, I'll probably be adding to my library of DVDs for that reason too.

I still can't let go of most of my kids' old videos and DVDs from when they were little. They still take up most of our family room shelves, even though no one has looked at them in years!

[Tonya]

It's funny — I have no desire to own many DVDs at all because I'm not one to re-watch movies. (Star Wars, LOR, and ET are about it, as well as all of Nate's ol' Teenage Ninja Turtle movies). I feel 100% differently about books. Books continue to live on bookshelves and are part of the "decor". I guess I can't explain the difference because I rarely re-read a book, but I love having them, although I'm out of bookshelf space and now my Kindle rules. Music is a totally different animal altogether because I listen to my CDs over and over and over again, although we are going more digital and buying fewer CDs these days.

[Rob O.]

We got into that rut of buying lots of movies that we really liked but we never seemed to go back and watch them again very often. Finally, we came to our sense and stopped buying movies and we simply rent most of them instead.

Many of my friends insist upon ripping every DVD they rent to add to their collections. I just don't know when they ever have time to re-watch all those movies.

By the way, I still purchase CDs and rip them rather than downloading music but that's more of a quality & control issue. When you pay to download music, you're really only leasing it...