‘If you can’t hold it, you don’t own it’: why media fans want to escape algorithms with CDs, DVDs and vinyl

For some, it is the security of knowing they have a physical copy of their favourite films and music, free from algorithms, interruptions and the vagaries of streaming. For others, it is the sound of needle on vinyl, the click of a cassette player and the ability to interact with a physical format.

We asked people if they were moving back to CDs, DVDs, vinyl and older formats to escape algorithmically curated content. Here are some of their responses.

‘I missed the physical connection with music’

Ash, 52, a university lecturer from Cornwall, says he initially embraced streaming but has since tempered that enthusiasm.

“Algorithms make great suggestions, but it feels like you catch a lot of small fish (OK, bands),” he says. “Reading music magazines and artist recommendations and discovering new music for yourself requires more work and effort … it feels like catching the bigger fish.”

Recently, he has returned to buying and listening to physical media. He says he has amassed more than 5,000 records and CDs from 1990 to 2009.

“Technology and streaming felt liberating for a person who has a deep and wide music collection and a bad back. I stopped buying and streamed,” he says, but adds: “I spent more time making playlists than listening to music; I lost the ability to listen to a whole album and missed the physical connection with music.

“I listen to records as an activity, but listen through tech more passively. It’s more like wallpaper than a work of art.”

‘We scour flea markets and secondhand shops for shows and movies’

CJ, 55, a compliance manager from Atlanta, says she decided to return to physical media when shows she liked began disappearing from streaming services.

“HBO removed about 200 episodes of Sesame Street in 2022, so we realised any media we wanted to continue to watch or listen to could be gone, and we’d have no way to get it back,” she says. “As the saying goes, if you can’t hold it, you don’t own it, and we firmly agree with this.

“There are so many shows that aren’t on streaming platforms that we want to rewatch. We scour flea markets and secondhand shops for shows and movies that are hard to find. We have also continued to buy CDs.

“When access to media is so easy to cut off, it makes sense to return to owning what you can, so no one can take it away from you.”

‘I wanted to support musicians’

Spotify quickly “bored” Ruth, 67, a retired professor from Michigan, but there were other reasons behind her move to CDs and DVDs.

“Most of all, I wanted to own my music and support the musicians, so I own 5,300 CDs; they have their own walk-in closet,” she says. “Owning my own books, music, and photos (no iCloud) has always seemed normal to me, and, increasingly, prudent.

She adds: “No algorithm is as creative as a well-stocked human brain alive to its actual surroundings.”

Ruth also rents physical film titles by mail from a store in Seattle. “We retired to a rural area with internet unreliable for streaming that wouldn’t sustain a movie without interruptions and buffering. We can stream music from the internet, although even then the connection will conk out every once in a while.”

This summer, Antonio, 40, began buying secondhand CDs from a charity shop in an attempt to get off music subscription services.

“I have a ritual now,” says the software engineer, who lives in Reading. “Twice a month I buy between one and 10 CDs – depending on what is available.

“I decided I didn’t want to rely on a subscription any more and have to deal with price rises, and now I don’t have to share my data – both personal information such as my name, bank account details, location, and my listening history – with a company.

“Nowadays we hand over so much of our data (intentionally or unintentionally) to big corporations that, if I can reduce it in any way, I’m more than happy to do so.”

‘Sometimes I’m ‘out of the loop’, but I prefer it’

Quinn, 26, began collecting cassette tapes last year and “quickly fell in love with it”.

He works nights and weekends, leaving him little time to go to concerts. “Buying tapes from bands gave me a way to engage with and support them, despite not being able to see their shows,” says Quinn, who works in food delivery and lives in Washington.

“I really appreciate the format’s restrictions. There’s the routine of interacting with the tape and equipment to play it, the quirks that come with analogue tech and, of course, being able to share music with people by handing them a tape rather than a Spotify link.

“My switch has definitely come with the desire to choose what I’m engaging with. Rather than having content presented to me, I’m seeking it out for myself, or finding it through friends, and that’s a huge part of being low-tech. Sometimes I’m ‘out of the loop’, but I prefer it.”

‘I love the slowness of the setup to see the films’

Tim’s young and adult children all enjoy watching films on older formats.

“In Sweden many people have a summer house,” says the 61-year-old academic, who lives in Stockholm. “Ours, on the mainland, a 45-minute drive from Stockholm, located in the southern end of the Swedish archipelago, contains a video projector from around 2010, a DVD player, and the collection of DVDs watched by my big kids when they were small.

“The biggest luxury for my small kids is when the cables are rigged, the choice of DVD made, and they sit through five minutes of ‘coming soon on Disney’ before we press play on Shrek or whatever the film is.”

Tim says the “aged DVDs” often need a clean, as sticky fingers over the years have left their mark.

“I love this middle stage between the digital and the analogue, and the slowness of the setup to see the films. Next step is to open the trunk containing my (younger) partner’s childhood VHS collection. We’ll see where that goes.”

‘I feel less controlled’

Sophie, 32, a librarian from Los Angeles, does stream music, but “mostly listens to CDS”. She also often watches DVDs from her own collection or checks them out from the library.

She is “not a fan” of algorithms, something that informed her move to CDs and DVDs. “I enjoy watching DVDs and listening to CDs because nobody sees what I’m doing and they’re not analysing it. It feels less overwhelming to browse physical versions. I also feel less controlled.”