R.I.P. VHS...?
An interesting discussion took place the other day and seems to be the buzz of the moment, is the VHS tape dead, for real? Is it going to go the way of the 8-track and the doh-doh bird? A few weeks ago some of the Pure staff went to Digital Life where Tivo was having a promotion where you could turn in a VHS tape and get a free Tivo. I’ve heard other ads such as this on the radio and now it looks like we might be yet another step closer. According to cNet.com VHS rentals are only 31.5% of Blockbuster rentals this year and that is continually declining over the course of the year. Tivo’s most recent marketing campaign is “The Death of the VCR” and they are doing everything they can to push the VCR off the shelves to make more room for their recorders. However, it is also possible that VHS could become the new retro. I don’t know how many people thought records were completely dead (many of today’s youth has never even listened to a record) but the record has lived on – due to DJ’s using them to spin and simply because people like the feel and sound a record produces. Also, there is a bit of an underground market when it comes to VHS and VCRs. While many classics are being converted to DVD format, some of the original files are yet to be converted – and that may never happen. Plus, the cost of VHS tape’s is still quite a significant bit cheaper than DVDs, so the likelihood is, until the DVD price comes down to a comparable level with VHS and if all VHS tapes were converted to DVD then we might see the death of VHS. Until then, sales might slow down, but I highly doubt they will come to a stand still.
Comments
It's hard to imagine VHS becoming retro because the tapes are so fragile. Vinyl is quite durable, as long as you don't store it in the sun or play it too often. People with vinyl collections that date back fifty years are still quite happy. But people with huge collections of VHS tapes dating back to the 1980s are in a state of panic because their tapes are flaking apart and the quality is declining. They're flocking to digitize all of their tapes and burn the resulting files to DVD before it's too late.
Within a decade or two VHS will be where 8-track is now, because every tape sold before the DVD era began will have deteriorated. The time to collect old videotapes and convert them is now, right now.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 7, 2005 08:07 PM