A very important issue, particularly around Christmastime

I know the U.S. economy is in the dumpster.

I know Nelson Mandela just died.

I know people are suffering in the Philippines.

But here's a real issue that needs attention, particularly at this time of year:

WHY THE FUCK DOES AMAZON SHIP DVDs and BLURAYs IN ENVELOPES INSTEAD OF BOXES?

I just received a bunch of TV boxsets that were crushed because the cheap bastards at Amazon used an envelope instead of a box. This appears to be a growing trend among online retailers that must stop. They cheap out on the packaging for DVDs and Blu-Rays simply because they happen to fit in an envelope.

The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!

Were they in the padded/bubble wrap kind? I've received a few of those and the contents were in good shape.

This is why I cancelled Netflix mail delivery. Yah, no, don't bother making me wait for the replacement; you're fired. Download only from here.

Yeah, it was a bubblewrap envelope. But they're not good for cardboard sleeve boxsets.

I got some records from Amazon, and the edges were crushed in the cheap ass folder thing they sent them in.

Weird. Whenever I order from Amazon my Cds,DVDs and Blu-rays come in a box. I'd send them back and demand replacements.

I've never had poor packaging from something I bought from Amazon, but I've had a few CDs I ordered from other sellers there arrive with cracked cases.

DVDPlanet started mailing them in vacuum-sealed plastic envelopes that have adhesive inner surfaces. If the disk box is in a cardboard sleeve, you pretty much can't help but damage it when you "unpeel" the mailer. I'm guessing it's a backdoor no-returns policy.

What's a DVD?

Why don't you know?

Well I don't have a DVD player, guess I should remind people before Xmas....

I think they're those black plastic disks that old people use to play music.

So that's what a laserdisc is. Where do you get them, are there stores, with racks of them on display?

My understanding is that there once were. Now, collectors of defunct physical media can sometimes acquire such things at places called "used record stores.". Does that term mean anything to you?

Google's, "used record stores"...

Yeah, fuck DVDPlanet and DeepDiscount. I ordered from them once and got the Blu-Ray in that shitty vacuum-sealed envelope. The cardboard sleeve was bashed up beyond all hope.

I actually like to own my movies. The cost of a Blu-Ray is less than taking my family to the movie theatre, and if we really like the film we can watch as many times as we want without paying extra. Also, we can lend movies to friends.

Streaming movies only gives all the power and control to The Man.

Fuck Big Brother! Fight the Power!

I think back on people I used to know that kept hundreds of VHS tapes in their living room. What did they do when DVDs came out, restock and resupply? I'll bet the MAN appreciated that. Do your family a favor and declutter your life.

WAB will someday be found dead, walled in by stacks of DVDs and other physical media. I bet he'll have dozens of cats by then, too.

One good EMP and you people will be staring at the cat hoping it does something entertaining.

Obviously early "rock" music. Maybe the Rolling Stones?

I've heard old people say that so many times, yet it never happens.

I would like to point out that DVDs are worthless.

You are buying a piece of metal and a license, the latter of which lives in a mysterious alternate plane of legalese. You might be able to use the two to watch something if you're lucky, but the products themselves are entirely disposal, only the magic license may have the value of making you immune from prosecution for owning media.

I've explicitly told everyone I know 'no software or media on DVD this christmas'

So if the license for a DVD somehow expires, I can . . . continue watching it.

This is worse than having something in the cloud, on someone else's property, in that . . . ?

Says the guy who owns a laserdisc player.

And 150 laserdiscs!
Still pissed my Betamax died. Had some cool stuff recorded off TV.

You can download music from the Cloud to your hard drive.

There's even an option to download your music while you wait for a hard copy of the CD to come in the mail.

Only when it rains

In a post apocalyptic nightmare world I doubt you'll be wasting gasoline on a generator just to watch old episodes of Home Improvement.