Back in 1995, I almost bought a laserdisc player. I was at Best Buy and I knew about the current technology which made watching movies in one’s home a more memorable experience. Since 1990, Siskel and Ebert had been telling me every week about how they were expanding their laserdisc collection. They told me about the miracle of letterboxing, which was and continues to be a most welcome process. “Why would I not want to watch the letterboxed version,” I have, in the past asked the DVD menu. Yes, give me the letterboxed version.
I did not purchase a laserdisc player in 1995 or in any other year. For some reason, I had it in my brain that the laserdisc player is not where technology will end. I had the money to buy a player and even a movie or two, but I was persuaded by my mind not to do so. It is fun to watch old episodes of “Siskel and Ebert” on which they extol the greatness of the laserdisc, which, back then, was something which deserved their extolments. As it turns out, I wish I would have allowed myself to be enraptured by and purchase a laserdisc player, as I do enjoy collecting old video equipment, equipment which can still be used, but only in a nostalgic, "look I have and is still working" way. I have a working betamax player and an RCA videodisc player (different from a laserdisc) which worked for a while but no longer functions, as will, at some point, be said about all of us. I did, in the mid-90's, have vhs copies made for me of the laserdisc versions of "The Abyss" and "Pulp Fiction," the latter from a Japanese disc which was available for rent at Blockbuster. The clarity was impressive compared to the image on the best of vhs tapes.
Alas, I decided to eschew the purchase of a laserdisc player in favor of waiting for what I hoped at the time would be better in a matter of a few years. In a few years, the dvd player emerged. My first dvd player was in an IBM computer I bought in 1998. I do not intend to infer that I am one who can see into the future of technology, however, I am partly glad and partly disappointed that the sultry silver-encased piece of video technology did not entrance me. I remember thinking that video media would likely continue to get smaller as you could, instead of watching a movie on a bulky tape, watch it on a thin disc, the size of a record. Now, with digital downloads, a movie can be on no media at all. It's just sent from one big computer thingy to your tv, blu-ray player, or computer. How newfangled is that? Anyway, I sometimes wish I had given in to my desire for a laserdisc player, but my regret is not of a serious nature. It is exciting to think about and will be exciting to see what video and audio technology has for us in the future, or is digital downloading the perfect way, for those without my need for nostalgia, to consume movies and music? It is a question. Is it?
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