…Please visit www.youjustlostyourmoviemusicorgame.internet for more information.”

This is the nightmare scenario for anyone who purchases movies, music, books, or games (I’ll use the term “media” for this article as a catch-all). You purchase a movie digitally from your favorite online movie retailer. You watch and enjoy, knowing it will be part of your digital movie collection forever. It’s so convenient! This is way better than the days of specialized organizational furniture with the sole purpose of displaying your sweet DVD collection. But then, you go to watch that same movie and you get the message above. 

“How can they do that?! I paid for it! I OWN it!”

I’m sorry to break it to you, friend, but no, you don’t own it. Reading the fine print reveals a terrifying reality check. Companies can remove content for a surprising number of reasons. They may lose the license, lose ownership of the content, alter their terms and conditions, or change providers or servers. When that happens, you lose your content and there isn’t anything you can do about it.

I don’t want to make it sound like your entire digital library is in imminent danger or deletion, but it has happened (Sony Erases Digital Library). The truth is, no matter how much you pay for a digital copy of media, you do not own it and you do not get to determine what is done with it. 

“That’s fine, I’ll just use streaming services.”

When it comes to shows and movies, streaming is appealing. I’m not super likely to watch Andor Season 2 multiple times, so streaming works great. But what about my music? Surely Apple Music would never get rid of music that I’m paying for? Music and Apple are synonymous. Well, music is media and as we discussed, you don’t own it. Apple is subject to the same licensing and contracts as movie studios. Apple even has a helpful page with explanations for what might be happening to your favorite missing music.

“I think it’s an interesting thought experiment, how many of the things we physically have aren’t going to need to be there in the future.” – Mark Zuckerberg

In a June 2025 appearance on Theo Von’s podcast (transcript), Zuck was discussing device screens and how we interact with them. He was making the self-interested point that in the near future we won’t even need the devices we rely on today. Now, what the Facebook creator was really talking about was advertising as he went on to talk about public tvs and billboards. He envisions a world where those things are personalized for you. Imagine, you’re at the doctor’s office and instead of seeing commercials tailored to the channel’s audience, you could see ads tailored to you, curated by the algorithms to manipulate encourage you to buy stuff you definitely need and that will definitely make you happy. 

The point is clear. Convenience has a cost. 

It’s great to have my entire music library at my fingertips when I’m in the car, on a run, or out in the world living my life. But it has a cost. I pay a monthly subscription fee to Apple Music. I pay a yearly fee for iTunes Match to ensure my purchased content syncs with my Apple Music library. Yeah, for real. I have to pay for that. Even then, my purchased content and my rented content is all at risk for removal. The truly scary thing is that I may never even know. 

I remember lugging a briefcase full of NES games to my friend’s house, just to discover he had most of the same games. I remember driving around with a CD wallet so crammed with discs that you could barely close it. I’m not sure those days are coming back and it’s probably for the best. Taking your collection of vinyl on-the-go is difficult at best. The stupid potholes always make my records skip and scratch and I’ve gone through four copies of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. In all seriousness, there’s really only one way to ensure the media you purchase is yours to keep and do with as you please: owning physical media. 

The way we purchase and consume media has changed. Video game publishers love digital because you only have the option of buying new. It’s a selling point to have your entire Switch collection stored on the system, available for on-the-go gaming. But you can also still purchase a brand new record player. The current generation of game consoles still plays Blu Ray movies. Record stores and used video game stores are still prevalent and relatively easy to find. Plus, there is the added benefit of supporting a local business with an owner who is passionate about what they do. You can shop, find great deals, expand your collection, and hang out with like-minded people. Can it be hard on the wallet? For sure. Is it worth it? You betcha.

Share the love. 

One of the greatest gifts music, books, and games can provide is a shared connection with others. Sharing music you’ve discovered with someone you care about is an incredible feeling. Sharing CDs and swapping video games is something I distinctly remember and miss. So much of the music I still listen to today was recommended by someone else. Many of the games that are in my top ten were suggestions from a friend. 

I know streaming isn’t going away. It can’t. It’s too easy and too engrained in our lives. It’s great to fire up my Playstation 5 and play any game without leaving the couch (that sounds less good when I type it…). I’m never going to be upset that I have all of my Green Day albums on a device in my pocket. But I also want to know that at the end of the day, I’ll own that music. I’ll want to know that I can sell it if I no longer want it. I want to know I can give it to my kids if they want it. I want to know my collection is my collection and not part of an algorithm at the end of some equation that I’ll never understand. 

Buy physical when you can. Data shows physical media is coming back in a big way and I’m excited about that. I know it’s also getting more challenging to find good physical media and new releases. But if we can keep physical media alive and resist the digital takeover, we’ll have our collections to share and enjoy forever.