From Vinyl to Video games

The smell of vinyl permeates the room as soon as you walk in. The walls are lined with everything from records to tapes. It’s impossible not to instantly appreciate the physicality of the place: Discology in Reno, Nevada is one of many stores in the city that preserves physical media.

In the digital age it is often hard to picture how we ever lived without everything at our fingertips: music, movies, games, books are all predominantly online. While market research from Nielsen shows an increase in vinyl sales it only makes up 6 percent of physical album sales. Most physical sales come from chain stores rather than independent retailers. And physical sales are still significantly less than digital sales.

Now, there is a decline in the number of stores that specialize in physical media. A once thriving and prominent avenue for distributing media is going extinct. The city of Reno, Nevada is down to 2 comic book stores, 4 record shops and 2 locally owned video game retailers. Options are dwindling for obtaining media and if places like these aren’t preserved there will only be one way for all media to be sold and distributed. The ease that digital media has provided us can’t beat the way a record feels in your hands and the sound quality it provides, how it feels to hold a comic book, or the elation of cracking open a new video game case — the way it smells.

“Music has always been … an experience,” David Calkins remarked. The owner of Discology in has been in the business of physical media for coming up on a decade. Inspired by his best friend Mike, Calkins opened the store on November 21, 2006 at the same time that shops such as Soundwave and Tower Records were closing. But that didn’t deter him, his longstanding passion for records has fueled his venture even during the hardest times, “I could sell 100 Britney Spears albums a day [if] it allows the opportunity to sell the stuff I want to.” Now the store has become a staple of the community and with the renewed interest in vinyl he’ll be around for years to come.

More industries are now going down the same path as the music industry. Comic books used to be a place for writers and artists to take risks that couldn’t be done in another medium while still being successful. Once a successful comic book would sell a million copies, now success is selling a few thousand and being adapted to screen. Forcing the industry to explore cheaper ways to stay afloat. Working and publishing digitally has become the standard. Making places like Comic Kingdom the last refuges of getting a physical comic. Megan and Colin Laux like to think of their little shop as much more than just a comic book vendor. Megan describes it as a place for the community to gather. They offer board game nights and work hard to maintain an interest in the industry as well as cultivating new audience members.

The video game industry as well is currently undergoing a crisis in this area. Used games are a market that have had large and important role in the development of the games industry. Now they are dwindling as game companies like Sony and Microsoft are championing the digital age. Cap’n Games in Sparks, Nevada has proudly served in the used games market for five years. The manager, Matt Keller, is passionate about preserving the experience of gaming and passing it on, “There’s a whole generation that’s going to find love in the classic stuff,” Keller said. The store deals with collectors as well as kid who just want to play games. They want to be able to nurture interests in gaming and if someone comes in looking for something retro they’ll have it. And they get as much inventory as they can. Even if it is near impossible to sell out the door, “I don’t have anyone coming in asking for Tiger Game com games. But I have Tiger game com games.” Keller remarked. The trouble with preserving games especially is that since the industry adopted compact discs as a format games have become increasingly fragile. They can easily be scratched or broken and “They’re designed to deteriorate,” after a while they just deteriorate. But stuff like cartridges for the NES and Atari consoles will still work today — given the proper care. Keller also made the point that having a disc or cartridge is real ownership, “There’s nothing stopping Microsoft from pulling the license,” to a digitally bought game. Or if their online service is down the games aren’t playable because whatever account owns the game is offline.

The debate between physical and digital media may never finish. And even if digital wins out respect should be paid to the past. Being able to look back at what started it all is important in everything. Humanity likes to preserve the past and media shouldn’t be any different.