" ... so soon as it steps forth as a commodity, it is changed into something transcendent ..."
A serious question and certainly something to think about. We are still purchasing DVDs because we don't yet have the streaming use to warrant a rental-type arrangement, which is essentially what the subscription/licensing has become. And another aspect is the added value that many of the DVDs have with extra features, data, still images, etc. I wonder if a DVD on demand (um, on request) model would work? You could go completely to streamed content but still make the DVDs available to those who need to continue using them. Or make good web sites that provide the ancillary material. I will say that spending $350 for a DVD that might have a very short shelf life would be the same as spending that $350 for a 3-yr. streaming license. If it's not played at all after three years what's the difference? With a PDA or EBA model you might be able to have added availability and viewing during that period, so turnover would be something that might be an advantage of "all streaming, all the time." Faculty are now preferring streamed content, but we still make choices to get DVDs based on their cost over time. (oops, the DVD cost not the faculty cost!) I guess another matter is the have and have not issue with $$$ resources as well. For some it's a matter of affordability. Yet don't forget one thing: the precious aura of a held object. We NEED our Nosferatu s!!! But, of course, you don't have to take my word for it -- http://web.stanford.edu/~davies/Symbsys100-Spring0708/Marx-Commodity-Fetishism.pdf Continually changing the forms of materials furnished by Nature, I remain ... ============== Randal Baier Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 (734) 487-2520 rba...@emich.edu tweets @rbaier – skypes @ randalbaier “... do not all strange sounds thrill us as human till we have learned to refer them to their proper source?” -Thoreau, mss., Journal 9: 1854-1855 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Miller" <jmil...@icarusfilms.com> To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Sent: Tuesday, November 3, 2015 10:19:08 AM Subject: [Videolib] No more DVDs? Dear Videolib friends As many of you know Icarus Films has been helping to build, and currently has over 300 titles on, Docuseek2, to provide colleges and universities streaming access to our collection over the internet. Yes, we continue to invest in producing and releasing DVDs of the same titles. And, as streaming usage increases, selling fewer and fewer of them. It is making me wonder if we should stop selling DVDs altogether, not producing them at all for new films, and not ordering any more once we sell the last one of an older one. What do you think would happen if we did that? How many of you would definitely NOT buy or use a film that a professor or collection development librarian wanted to have, if it was ONLY available via streaming? I’m serious in asking this question, I think it may be time to take a (perhaps) drastic step, and not another small incremental one. What do you think? Thanks! Curiously yours, Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller President Icarus Films 32 Court Street, 21 st Floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 www.IcarusFilms.com http://HomeVideo.IcarusFilms.com Tel 1.718.488.8900 Fax 1.718.488.8642 jmil...@icarusfilms.com VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
