Circuit City Phases Out VHS

Rashan writes: "Video Business Online is reporting that Circuit City is becoming the first of the mass merchants to state its intent to discontinue sales of the aging video format."

Comments

Ahhhh

[Pyrosz]

But I can still buy Beta, right?

Keep in mind

[joeflies]

that this article is about phasing out pre-recorded VHS tapes. It doesn't say that it will phase out VCRs.

Forcing the market change

[M_Talon]

This is just the next step in the evolution of the format. Now that it's gained customer acceptance, the stores can get rid of the inferior technology (VHS) and concentrate their business. It happened with audio cassettes (vinyl was killed), and it happened with CDs (bye bye cassettes).

As far as being a premature move, everyone that I talk to nowadays either has a DVD player or plans on getting one within the year. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for the stores to push those last few stragglers to DVD by eliminating the VHS market for new releases.

Besides, wouldn't you rather have more room on the shelves for the latest anime imports? ;)

Re:Forcing the market change

[radish]

It happened with audio cassettes (vinyl was killed)

Really? That's strange. I could have sworn that last time I was in the Virgin Megastore in central London they dedicated at least 10% of their total floorspace (including CD/DVD/games etc) to vinyl. I must have been imagining it.

Note to the unwise - vinyl sales are on the up, they have been for 5 years. At least 50% of the major single releases each week are available on vinyl. 100% of dance oriented ones are. The vast majority of dance music (the biggest selling sector in europe) is ONLY available on vinyl.

And turntables regularly out-do guitars in the annual christmas gift surveys :-)

Re:Forcing the market change

[IxnayOnTheIxnay]

Note to the unwise - vinyl sales are on the up, they have been for 5 years. At least 50% of the major single releases each week are available on vinyl. 100% of dance oriented ones are. The vast majority of dance music (the biggest selling sector in europe) is ONLY available on vinyl.

"Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue... AAY!"

And turntables regularly out-do guitars in the annual christmas gift surveys

I don't care, I'm still going to replace my record collection with my own guitar playing.

Re:Forcing the market change

[Ralph Wiggam]

Yes, dance music and vinyl are always entwined because of how dance music is DJed. Yes, dance music is much more popular in Europe than here in the states. Yes, vinyl sales are up over the last 5 years.

Now the bad part:
Vinyl sales are down 90% from 1989 and probably much more from 1979, but I can't find good numbers pre-1989.

If you were to walk in to any major chain store in the US and ask where they kept the LPs, they would look at you like you were from another planet.

-B

Re:Forcing the market change

[foobar104]

This is interesting. There's a new type of Ludditism. Instead of rejecting technology prima facie, you're rejecting technologies based on what you call "copyright gestapo restrictions."

For a contrary opinion to that popularly expressed by Slashdotters, head over to the avsforum.com HDTV recorders posting board. There you'll find lots of people enthusiastically supporting copy protection methods like JVC's D-Theater format. Why? Because they know that without those sorts of protections-- or restrictions, if you prefer-- the studios will never release their movies in 1080i format on any medium. A movie recorded in high-bit-rate 1080i is very close, when viewed on consumer gear with a slightly forgiving eye, to an HD master. Studios simply won't release near-master-quality tapes or discs unless they're confident that those movies won't be copied like crazy.

I like owning and watching high-quality movies; that's why I've invested in a high-definition TV, a DVD player, and a collection of DVDs. I'm not interested in making copies of my movies, so the fact that I'm (a) not allowed to, and (b) prevented from doing so doesn't bother me in the least.

So I vocally support copy protection-- or restriction, or prevention, or whatever you want to call it. Without it, I won't be able to watch movies in high definition, and that'd be disappointing. Every time somebody pirates a video, CD, or DVD, they make it ever so slightly less likely that I'll be able to get the kind of entertainment I want in the future.

That's odd...

[SuperguyA1]

Given the circuit city in my neighborhood the article could read. 'Neighborhood phases out circuit city'.

Re:I would think that this is about time

[slaker]

Try WantedList for NetFlix-like porno-rental of over 10,000 titles.

I'm not affliated in any way, other than as a happy customer.

But they don't want *recording*...

[fmaxwell]

Anyway, since VHS is still the primary *recording* medium of the consumer, I wonder if they'll continue to sell VCRs?

This is an example of how "electronics super stores" are bad for the consumer. Circuit City wants to make money selling not only electronics, but also pre-recorded entertainment. They don't want you to be able to record a pay-per-view showing of a movie because that could cost them a sale. The sooner they can convince you to scrap your VCR and, if you don't have one, buy a DVD player (from them), the happier they will be.

That's why it was better when "record stores" sold recordings and "stereo stores" sold audio and video equipment. And this is why it was better for Sony to make consumer electronics and Columbia pictures to make films. The conflict of interest is now such that Sony would happily kill off the CD and replace it with a copy-protected equivalent -- much as they are doing to push DVD as a replacement for VHS. They want VCRs to go away so that they can sell you not only the player, but also the movie when you switch to DVD.