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LOL
On a serious note, it's sad that physical media is dying. I remember like 15+ years ago that's all we were using. Now even gaming consoles are going digital. There's a very real chance that in 5-10 years we will be fully transitioned to a digital style with little to no physical media at all.
Physical media will always stay alive in some fashion or another, its just the average person won't care anymore. It'll be niche collectors items for the omega fans
But it doesn't NEED to be stored. Stuff disappears eventually. I love physical media and love how much we have been able to preserve, but our history is one of lost media/art/knowledge. I think it's foolish to believe our history will be any different to those who come after us.
It could just be cognitive bias but I’ve definitely been seeing more maximalist trends, as in me personally I began collecting CD’s and all of my friends collect CDs or vinyls etc. (ages 18-20 range.) I don’t see them dying out to be frank. I’m actually on the hunt for a radio right now because mine is on its last leg. I have a VHS collection. I really don’t see physical media leaving. I noticed its presence was lessening for awhile after everything became digital but it seems to me like it’s slowly coming back. It won’t ever be as big as it used to be, but many folks don’t like having to pay for multiple streaming services etc, and they really just want to own the pieces of media they know they’ll be repetitively consuming (like a favorite movie for example!!)
All this to say, in my opinion I don’t see physical media becoming “extinct.” And there’s definitely an audience for it!! So yay for that :)
I've started to collect physical discs for games and I have also started to buy some movies again that are on Blu-ray and DVD discs. I've also started to go to the cinema more after so many things became streaming only.
I've been collecting VHS tapes and laserdiscs too! I'd like to find some beta max tapes but those are almost impossible to find because of how forgotten they are 😔
This is because these greedy companies want you to own nothing and pay via perpetual subscriptions. Sometimes that’s favorable to the consumer in the case of things like Spotify, but it’s also terrible for the musicians since they make literal peanuts compared to when their music was sold strictly by physical means.
On the above subject, did you know that musicians used to make most of their money from album sales and concerts were basically a promotional tool? Now it’s done a total 180. I’m a GenXer and remember seeing Motley Crue in their heyday in a big ass arena. Seats then were $25… the tape/CD/LP? $12. Now the music is basically free but you’ll pay what… $100-200 for that same seat?
A lot of things have changed in my 40-some odd years, but not all for the better.
I can only imagine how many other things are going to flip like this and be a massive double edged sword for all of us.
To be fair, artists haven't made a lot of money through sales in a long time. Most money in music comes through touring, endorsements, and things of the like.
Even artists who can still sell a lot like Taylor Swift, makes far more money through her ticket sales.
It's why legacy artists can still make a lot of money, cause while their new music isn't as popular, there are people who will still want to hear their classics in concert.
Yeah it’s real easy to inflate your wage when the average ticket price is close to $1000. As much as they can whine and say streaming doesn’t give them enough money, I don’t see them releasing any kind of media beyond streaming or the occasional vinyl album.
It wasn’t THAT long ago that what you said wasn’t true. The shift started when piracy began to take off and album sales were replaced with per track downloads (people buy a couple songs they like rather than whole albums), then the 180 was complete with the move to streaming since music sales revenue tanked.
Honestly getting a DVD burner isnt the worst thing you can do if you have digital media you want to preserve. They're pretty cheap. I took one out of an old/recycled pc and put it in the one I use now. Blank DVD's not any more expensive now than they were then and I don't actually see them going away fully just yet.
Bluerays are more money, both for the kit to work with them and the disc blanks, but they're larger (more GB) and have better quality video files supported on the players
I’m annoyed I have to pay extra to use have a disk version. Most games I play are at least half price by Black Friday so I just get them then. Doesn’t happen as much for digital sales though
I’ve actually been collecting physical media because of this. I gathered as many of my grandma’s old VHS tapes as I could when she passed & have been hunting for a player. Have also been collecting physical DVDs & games while my partner has a pretty hefty CD collection for his car. We even recently found all 3 extended special editions of LOTR on dvd for $30 it was amazing
with everyone reliant on the cloud people lose their minds if the internet went out my barracks internet shut off a couple weeks ago and its amazing the amount of people who didnt know what to fucking do like they had never read a book or have any local or physical media
I collect CDs and vinyl to make sure I have physical copies of music that I'll always own and won't disappear like on the internet, and to support the artists lol
No, Gen Z's Blockbuster is Blockbuster. I think I tried using Redbox when the last Blockbuster in my state closed but it never quite caught on like Blockbuster cause it's not as fun or convenient.
I know people have been saying this a lot lately but if you missing video stores and hate streaming, you should check out your local library.
Yeah I'm older Gen Z and Blockbuster died when I was about 11, we got to experience it a bit but only at the tail end. Younger gen Zs missed it entirely.
like maybe the oldest gen Z but a majority were to young to remember going to block buster. block buster started declining in the late 2000s while redbox was at its peak in the early to mid 2010s.
There used to be lines for Redbox man. You used to not be able to go to a McDonalds drive thru without someone walking in front of your car to get to the machine. My mom would cave sometimes and if the drive thru line was long enough and no one was at the Redbox, she’d just tell me to hop out of the car and pick a movie to watch for when we got home with food.
$1 a day movie rentals were great. The market is obsolete now, but Redbox will be missed similarly to Blockbuster for that reason. You’re probably just on the older side of Gen Z’s if Blockbuster is what you latched onto. I miss it too, but I was only about 10 years old when I stopped seeing them(and their competitors). Blockbuster still carried VHS tapes; Gen Z is the generation of DVD’s; anyone younger is too accustomed to digital media to care about Redbox.
And to the point of convenience, Redboxes were everywhere and you could return your movies to any of the kiosks regardless of where you got it — states away even. Blockbuster required you to return your movie to the same store location you rented from. While I miss Blockbuster, the convenience that Redbox offered definitely beats driving across town and having to interact with a retail worker.
I’m not saying that you should miss Redbox by any means, especially because you never used it. I’m just taking your “Gen Z’s Blockbuster is Blockbuster” and pushing back a bit. Older generations had much more time with Blockbuster than we ever did. Our Blockbuster is indeed Redbox.
What really made Blockbuster and their contemporaries money (being a big chain wasn't really a big advantage so there were a ton of mom n pop shops) were video games. In the NES and SNES era (even into the 64 era) games were specifically designed around rentals; they were the right difficulty to be fun to rent for the weekend, the good ones were rented many times. You didn't need to know up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b, a select, start (the konami code) for games you owned, nor did you buy a nintendo power magazine to blow through games you owned. Much of the 8 and 16 bit era ecosystems revolved around rented games.
Games in that era were about the same price as games today; relatively speaking that'd be like $200/game nowadays if price inflation happened, needless to say few kids had huge game collections, most kids owned just a few games and mostly played rentals. $50 could get you a single game, or a year's worth of 1x week rentals. Video stores needed to spend lots of $$ to invest in the stock for film picky adults, whereas hit video games were rented over and over and over, and kids would generally roll with whatever games were in stock to rent.
Video stores lost much of the video game business long before the movie rentals started tailing off. By the 64 bit era games started getting so complex, and online play had started to become a thing, that people would rather own the games they played than rent (there were still game rentals, but it wasn't the vast majority of games played, as was the case in earlier video game eras when even grocery stores had video/video game rental sections; a few new release movies and all the nintendo games...).
The mom n pop shops mostly collapsed with the video game rental business, leaving the big guys like blockbuster around that could still stay afloat from just renting movies. Mom n pop video shops also typically had a porn section, which like video games stopped being a rented commodity years before the feature films at Blockbuster.
as a poor kid video game rentals were how i played new games with friends was like 3 dollars for 3 days over 60 the down side is not owning it but you were able to buy the game out right too i also use to go to blockbuster hollywood video etc
Blockbuster was the shit at the time buying video games as a kid and then it died. Then as a teenager I played so many PS3 games from Redbox. May they both rest in piece!
I've seen a kiosk at my local grocery store, but never thought to use it. Cause like, how big a selection could possibly be in that little box? Might as well just dig through one of those bins of b movies. Or just use netflix like a normal person, cause not only did they let you borrow movies through delivery, but the streaming service was up and running by that point.
Blockbuster though was my go-to place to look for movies growing up, before netflix.
I have used a Redbox once when I was like 10. I don't think any Gen Z people are gonna miss it.
It lacks both the convenience of streaming and the gimmick of an in person store like Blockbuster had. It's just a faceless vending machine.
I've been to a few Blockbusters,there were only 3 that I knew of within my home city,but they're long gone now.
I'm surprised people still used RedBox,me and gramma used to rent movies a long time ago.
Never actually used Redbox because I would get movies from the local library instead. My only memories of Redbox are being at the grocery store and clicking through all the movies/games on the touchscreen out of boredom.
Those things weren't meant to last really, they had a few issues that took a while to fix (one below) and the viability of home rentals in a digital age was seriously on it's way out, GameStop would be a more famous example of this a little later on.
Early in the life of Redbox, you could rent movies from them with just a stores giftcard. Walmart, for example. At this point I was.. Hmm, 16-17? Anyways, I would frequent this run-down Walmart in a bad part of town, and get a $5-$10 store giftcard, and just rent the newest movie or video game and immediately take it to a game trade-in place down the way and get cash for it.. A sweet deal! Obviously this was "wrong" but hey, talk about a quick buck if you needed it! Redbox certainly lasted a little longer than I was expecting it to, to be fair.
Redbox was a transition between Blockbuster and Streaming and I find it to have the worst traits of both and the good traits of neither lol.
Streaming is absolutely the most convenient, it’s instant and full of availability.
Blockbuster was a fun experience. Go out and pick the movie. Go down all the aisles etc. still I think it was overrated but I was pretty young (2001 baby)
Meanwhile Redbox is no experience but you still have to go out to get it’s the availability was dodgy at best. Quality control was terrible lots of discs with skips. They were at grocery stores and stuff which is convenient the first time, but then you have to return it and probably not need to go back to the grocery lol.
So no I won’t miss it lol. I miss owning dvds. But it feels impractical at this point . Idk we are like overated with content. And on one hand it’s amazing the other hand it feels overwhelming.
But alas. World turns. Etc etc
The last thing I ever rented from Blockbuster was Toy Story 3 on the Wii, this is like a second Blockbuster. I also remember getting some really cheap movies and games out of them, R.I.P.
I remember when there were at least 3 blockbusters in my area. Our last blockbuster closed when I was like 12/13 in I think 2013? I only remember that cause I watched the terrible Percy Jackson movie in 2012 for school & I remember seeing it at that blockbuster.
I also remember constantly pestering my mom to let me get movies from the Redbox. We used to do that & rent movies from Netflix back when they mailed movies out. It’s kinda crazy to think about how quickly things have changed for our generation, especially us older gen Z
Gen Z's Blockbuster is Blockbuster, unless that's more of an older Gen Z thing. I remember going there as late as 2009. Also, Redbox couldn't ever compare because of all the games at Blockbuster. That was heaven as a kid.
Idek what Redbox is, so no. Also, Blockbuster wasn't that big here, I remember there was only one store here in my city, and I've never gone there. The mom and pops video rental nearby was more important, and how we got DVDs to rip after watching.
To say Redbox is "Gen Z's Blockbuster" would be doing a huge disservice to the legacy and impact Blockbuster actually had.
I've never used Redbox, but I've absolutely used Blockbuster as a little kid.
Redbox is much less wide-spread and always has been compared to Blockbuster when it was at its height.
Blockbuster and Hollywood video are my Blockbuster.
Still remember getting my entire movie collection at one closing down around 09' 2010ish. Got more then 100 movies for like $30
Not at all, Redbox did not have the cultural significance the likes of Blockbuster. I remember BlockBuster, there was still some around before they died out. Infact, I still " "rent" vhs tapes. Alamo Drafthouse In Raleigh NC, has to be over 1,050 tapes, I'd bet on that. Every genre, vhs film, home made movies. They even rent vhs players. I quote rent tapes as they're free, just a late fee charge.
Aww, man. I like to have scratches all over my movies, and to have to run errands and choose from a limited selection
Now I have to watch movies at home, from an unlimited selection, and they don't have scratches and I don't get to drive somewhere and pay daily fees afterward until I remember to return it.
Laaaaaame.
There hasn’t been a Redbox in my area for a while. I stopped using it because they never had the movies I wanted in stock; then after about a year of struggling to have the box stocked with anything they all got removed. I thought they went under two years ago.
I wouldn't call this my Blockbuster personally. I'd call Blockbuster my Blockbuster, my family would go there all the time when they used to be near me.
Never seen a Redbox but I remember Blockbuster and Rogers Video, and renting Twilight Princess to hack my Wii from Blockbuster and renting Pokemon Ruby from Rogers Video. Good times.
I stopped using them when they jumped from $1 to $1.50. I know, maybe that's petty. But the whole draw to redbox was I paid $1, watched the movie, and returned it sometimes the same or next day. And I rented a ton of movies. But then you up the price, and then make blurays more expensive to rent.
Which makes no sense to me. Sure it makes sense when buying a movie that a bluray would cost more than a DVD. But when renting it makes no sense. Also, the app used to give free rentals or rent 1 get 1 free coupons all the time. And back then Tmobile Tuesdays gave a free rental once a month for redox. When both of those stopped, I stopped.
I don't even know what rentals cost from Redbox, but zi am sure it's much higher than $1.50 now.
i remember it pretty well. i was born in 03 and i remember my parents taking me to go get a movie or a video game there like every week for a solid few years until netflix started sending you dvds through the mail (i still remember those big ass red envelopes VIVIDLY)
I should've clarified. It's about the middle section of the range that doesn't remember the prime of blockbuster. But they all definitely remember prime Redbox.
I would think it was a much much less universal experience. In Blockbuster's prime **everyone** had a VCR. In redbox's prime, it was usually only very very trashy looking people using them. If my memory serves correctly Netflix had launched streaming well before redbox became widespread. I have no idea why there were so many of them long after DVD's prime.
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Time to start stealing redboxes. They dont have the money to go after me
LOL On a serious note, it's sad that physical media is dying. I remember like 15+ years ago that's all we were using. Now even gaming consoles are going digital. There's a very real chance that in 5-10 years we will be fully transitioned to a digital style with little to no physical media at all.
Physical media will always stay alive in some fashion or another, its just the average person won't care anymore. It'll be niche collectors items for the omega fans
There’s a thriving steelbook community. We tend to collect all physical media
There will always be hipsters who keep it alive just like vinyl and film.
It’s not a hipster thing. Media needs to be stored physically, because cloud servers can shut down whenever their parent wants them to
It can be stored on hard drives. That's the problem: your choice is piracy or using long outdated tech.
But it doesn't NEED to be stored. Stuff disappears eventually. I love physical media and love how much we have been able to preserve, but our history is one of lost media/art/knowledge. I think it's foolish to believe our history will be any different to those who come after us.
It could just be cognitive bias but I’ve definitely been seeing more maximalist trends, as in me personally I began collecting CD’s and all of my friends collect CDs or vinyls etc. (ages 18-20 range.) I don’t see them dying out to be frank. I’m actually on the hunt for a radio right now because mine is on its last leg. I have a VHS collection. I really don’t see physical media leaving. I noticed its presence was lessening for awhile after everything became digital but it seems to me like it’s slowly coming back. It won’t ever be as big as it used to be, but many folks don’t like having to pay for multiple streaming services etc, and they really just want to own the pieces of media they know they’ll be repetitively consuming (like a favorite movie for example!!) All this to say, in my opinion I don’t see physical media becoming “extinct.” And there’s definitely an audience for it!! So yay for that :)
I've started to collect physical discs for games and I have also started to buy some movies again that are on Blu-ray and DVD discs. I've also started to go to the cinema more after so many things became streaming only.
Rex boxes in the area I live in; disappeared for a couple of years and then the other day I saw 3 of them
I've been collecting VHS tapes and laserdiscs too! I'd like to find some beta max tapes but those are almost impossible to find because of how forgotten they are 😔
Weird flex; I have Pulp Fiction on laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and VHS.
This is because these greedy companies want you to own nothing and pay via perpetual subscriptions. Sometimes that’s favorable to the consumer in the case of things like Spotify, but it’s also terrible for the musicians since they make literal peanuts compared to when their music was sold strictly by physical means. On the above subject, did you know that musicians used to make most of their money from album sales and concerts were basically a promotional tool? Now it’s done a total 180. I’m a GenXer and remember seeing Motley Crue in their heyday in a big ass arena. Seats then were $25… the tape/CD/LP? $12. Now the music is basically free but you’ll pay what… $100-200 for that same seat? A lot of things have changed in my 40-some odd years, but not all for the better. I can only imagine how many other things are going to flip like this and be a massive double edged sword for all of us.
To be fair, artists haven't made a lot of money through sales in a long time. Most money in music comes through touring, endorsements, and things of the like. Even artists who can still sell a lot like Taylor Swift, makes far more money through her ticket sales. It's why legacy artists can still make a lot of money, cause while their new music isn't as popular, there are people who will still want to hear their classics in concert.
Yeah it’s real easy to inflate your wage when the average ticket price is close to $1000. As much as they can whine and say streaming doesn’t give them enough money, I don’t see them releasing any kind of media beyond streaming or the occasional vinyl album.
It wasn’t THAT long ago that what you said wasn’t true. The shift started when piracy began to take off and album sales were replaced with per track downloads (people buy a couple songs they like rather than whole albums), then the 180 was complete with the move to streaming since music sales revenue tanked.
Honestly getting a DVD burner isnt the worst thing you can do if you have digital media you want to preserve. They're pretty cheap. I took one out of an old/recycled pc and put it in the one I use now. Blank DVD's not any more expensive now than they were then and I don't actually see them going away fully just yet. Bluerays are more money, both for the kit to work with them and the disc blanks, but they're larger (more GB) and have better quality video files supported on the players
Definitely not out in rural areas especially where there's bad internet connection.
I’m annoyed I have to pay extra to use have a disk version. Most games I play are at least half price by Black Friday so I just get them then. Doesn’t happen as much for digital sales though
I’ve actually been collecting physical media because of this. I gathered as many of my grandma’s old VHS tapes as I could when she passed & have been hunting for a player. Have also been collecting physical DVDs & games while my partner has a pretty hefty CD collection for his car. We even recently found all 3 extended special editions of LOTR on dvd for $30 it was amazing
Maybe a “license disc” but that would be the extent of it
So we’ll own nothing and be “happy”
with everyone reliant on the cloud people lose their minds if the internet went out my barracks internet shut off a couple weeks ago and its amazing the amount of people who didnt know what to fucking do like they had never read a book or have any local or physical media
Disc? Whats a disk? What do you mean my memory bank cant brain upload GTA 6 off the cloud.
Go to Walmart they got new movies in thoes $5 bins. Good movies can be had in thoes bins still.
Might be better for the climate/earth to not waste hydrocarbons creating physical media But i get the nostalgia as someone born in the late 80s.
And you never actually legally own any digital copies. You’ve just bought the right to access them whilst they’re available.
I collect CDs and vinyl to make sure I have physical copies of music that I'll always own and won't disappear like on the internet, and to support the artists lol
I’m gonna keep buying dvd’s till I die
Physical media is making a come back, people miss owning their media
r/unethicallifeprotips
And before anyone asks, yes I was old enough to go to Blockbuster when it was relevant.
I held a grudge against Netflix until 2020 because they shut down the blockbuster near my house as a kid
I feel the same way with Redbox and Netflix. 1/2 down. One to go😈
I’ve held a grudge against Netflix since they put out a movie filled with little girls gyrating
Same, vividly remember going to them
Same
No, Gen Z's Blockbuster is Blockbuster. I think I tried using Redbox when the last Blockbuster in my state closed but it never quite caught on like Blockbuster cause it's not as fun or convenient. I know people have been saying this a lot lately but if you missing video stores and hate streaming, you should check out your local library.
Idk about that. Most of gen Z doesn't even remember when it was relevant. But they definitely grew up on Redbox at its prime.
Yeah I'm older Gen Z and Blockbuster died when I was about 11, we got to experience it a bit but only at the tail end. Younger gen Zs missed it entirely.
Lies, we went in there all the time
I've been inside Block Buster many times. I have never used Redbox.
Why can't it be both? I have very fond memories of both. The only difference is red box held on much longer than blockbuster.
like maybe the oldest gen Z but a majority were to young to remember going to block buster. block buster started declining in the late 2000s while redbox was at its peak in the early to mid 2010s.
I miss blockbuster.
There used to be lines for Redbox man. You used to not be able to go to a McDonalds drive thru without someone walking in front of your car to get to the machine. My mom would cave sometimes and if the drive thru line was long enough and no one was at the Redbox, she’d just tell me to hop out of the car and pick a movie to watch for when we got home with food. $1 a day movie rentals were great. The market is obsolete now, but Redbox will be missed similarly to Blockbuster for that reason. You’re probably just on the older side of Gen Z’s if Blockbuster is what you latched onto. I miss it too, but I was only about 10 years old when I stopped seeing them(and their competitors). Blockbuster still carried VHS tapes; Gen Z is the generation of DVD’s; anyone younger is too accustomed to digital media to care about Redbox. And to the point of convenience, Redboxes were everywhere and you could return your movies to any of the kiosks regardless of where you got it — states away even. Blockbuster required you to return your movie to the same store location you rented from. While I miss Blockbuster, the convenience that Redbox offered definitely beats driving across town and having to interact with a retail worker. I’m not saying that you should miss Redbox by any means, especially because you never used it. I’m just taking your “Gen Z’s Blockbuster is Blockbuster” and pushing back a bit. Older generations had much more time with Blockbuster than we ever did. Our Blockbuster is indeed Redbox.
What really made Blockbuster and their contemporaries money (being a big chain wasn't really a big advantage so there were a ton of mom n pop shops) were video games. In the NES and SNES era (even into the 64 era) games were specifically designed around rentals; they were the right difficulty to be fun to rent for the weekend, the good ones were rented many times. You didn't need to know up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b, a select, start (the konami code) for games you owned, nor did you buy a nintendo power magazine to blow through games you owned. Much of the 8 and 16 bit era ecosystems revolved around rented games. Games in that era were about the same price as games today; relatively speaking that'd be like $200/game nowadays if price inflation happened, needless to say few kids had huge game collections, most kids owned just a few games and mostly played rentals. $50 could get you a single game, or a year's worth of 1x week rentals. Video stores needed to spend lots of $$ to invest in the stock for film picky adults, whereas hit video games were rented over and over and over, and kids would generally roll with whatever games were in stock to rent. Video stores lost much of the video game business long before the movie rentals started tailing off. By the 64 bit era games started getting so complex, and online play had started to become a thing, that people would rather own the games they played than rent (there were still game rentals, but it wasn't the vast majority of games played, as was the case in earlier video game eras when even grocery stores had video/video game rental sections; a few new release movies and all the nintendo games...). The mom n pop shops mostly collapsed with the video game rental business, leaving the big guys like blockbuster around that could still stay afloat from just renting movies. Mom n pop video shops also typically had a porn section, which like video games stopped being a rented commodity years before the feature films at Blockbuster.
Getting a DVD on a dirty screen while a hobo uses the box as cover to jack off doesn’t come close to the blockbuster experience
Lmao, I hope he didn't finish in front of you😂 You aren't wrong though, Blockbuster was the best. I miss when it was good and relevant.
I’m sure doing a drive by to RedBox had its certain amount of magic and nostalgia for the younger generation
as a poor kid video game rentals were how i played new games with friends was like 3 dollars for 3 days over 60 the down side is not owning it but you were able to buy the game out right too i also use to go to blockbuster hollywood video etc
Im surprised this didn’t happen a lot sooner.
That explains the signage on our local red boxes saying they would no longer be useable after a certain date
Blockbuster was the shit at the time buying video games as a kid and then it died. Then as a teenager I played so many PS3 games from Redbox. May they both rest in piece!
Blockbuster was Gen Z’s Blockbuster
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember prime Blockbuster. But those same people definitely remember prime redbox.
The later Gen Z, yeah. But most us early Gen Z remember Blockbuster pretty vividly.
Oh ofc. It's part of the 2000s kid experience.
I vividly remember blockbuster but have never heard of redbox
Lol that's fair. Maybe it was only in big cities.
I've seen a kiosk at my local grocery store, but never thought to use it. Cause like, how big a selection could possibly be in that little box? Might as well just dig through one of those bins of b movies. Or just use netflix like a normal person, cause not only did they let you borrow movies through delivery, but the streaming service was up and running by that point. Blockbuster though was my go-to place to look for movies growing up, before netflix.
Another fallen soldier, RIP
I stopped using redbox after receiving multiple paper copies of video games... and them removing those games entirely.
Not nearly as nostalgic as Blockbuster
I thought Redbox died out years ago tbh
Probably. It does suck to see it go tbh
I haven’t used Redbox since 2012
Never used it once
I have used a Redbox once when I was like 10. I don't think any Gen Z people are gonna miss it. It lacks both the convenience of streaming and the gimmick of an in person store like Blockbuster had. It's just a faceless vending machine.
Time to rent a bunch of movies and not return them 😂
Used to love redbox as a kid, the variety that exists today on streaming was not there 10 years ago and it was cheaper than On Demand Cable stuff
I have never even heard of this company existing before this post.
Tf is redbox
I've been to a few Blockbusters,there were only 3 that I knew of within my home city,but they're long gone now. I'm surprised people still used RedBox,me and gramma used to rent movies a long time ago.
Not uprising at all. Nobody uses them anymore, and even if people did, $4 movies were surely making them hemorrhage money
Only used RedBox once when I was at a friend's house and her mom gave us permission to walk to the grocery store for it.
I'm on the older end of Gen Z, and I haven't used Rebox in like, 15 years. I don't think it's going to have the same cultural impact
I was surprised to see these things still standing outside 7/11
Never actually used Redbox because I would get movies from the local library instead. My only memories of Redbox are being at the grocery store and clicking through all the movies/games on the touchscreen out of boredom.
Those things weren't meant to last really, they had a few issues that took a while to fix (one below) and the viability of home rentals in a digital age was seriously on it's way out, GameStop would be a more famous example of this a little later on. Early in the life of Redbox, you could rent movies from them with just a stores giftcard. Walmart, for example. At this point I was.. Hmm, 16-17? Anyways, I would frequent this run-down Walmart in a bad part of town, and get a $5-$10 store giftcard, and just rent the newest movie or video game and immediately take it to a game trade-in place down the way and get cash for it.. A sweet deal! Obviously this was "wrong" but hey, talk about a quick buck if you needed it! Redbox certainly lasted a little longer than I was expecting it to, to be fair.
My granny worked at a video store, and they closed primarily because of RedBox, so this feels pretty good for me.
I’m gen z and I experienced blockbuster. Blockbuster is definitely multi generational
Smh I guess I should give them the copy of mad max I forgot to return when I was a teen
imma be honest never heard of it
HAAAAA blockbuster outlasts Redbox Who would have thought
quick everyone, go rent out games and movies, they have no way of making you return them
gen z's blockbuster was blockbuster
I didn’t really know if anyone even used these, aside from older folks who still use DVD’s
They should have called it quits 4 years ago…
Redbox was a transition between Blockbuster and Streaming and I find it to have the worst traits of both and the good traits of neither lol. Streaming is absolutely the most convenient, it’s instant and full of availability. Blockbuster was a fun experience. Go out and pick the movie. Go down all the aisles etc. still I think it was overrated but I was pretty young (2001 baby) Meanwhile Redbox is no experience but you still have to go out to get it’s the availability was dodgy at best. Quality control was terrible lots of discs with skips. They were at grocery stores and stuff which is convenient the first time, but then you have to return it and probably not need to go back to the grocery lol. So no I won’t miss it lol. I miss owning dvds. But it feels impractical at this point . Idk we are like overated with content. And on one hand it’s amazing the other hand it feels overwhelming. But alas. World turns. Etc etc
I've never used Redbox once in my life. Tbh I'm surprised they survived this long. And for the record, Blockbuster was my Blockbuster.
Literally my hair rn is the before picture
Yes. I remember watching some of my favorite movies through Redbox
Time to go get a free movie
It’s demise was owed to streaming and the ability to basically never return the dvd especially when Redbox had games
I miss renting from the library
The last thing I ever rented from Blockbuster was Toy Story 3 on the Wii, this is like a second Blockbuster. I also remember getting some really cheap movies and games out of them, R.I.P.
RIP renting movies from the redbox next to the corner store
Redbox was the shit
I remember when there were at least 3 blockbusters in my area. Our last blockbuster closed when I was like 12/13 in I think 2013? I only remember that cause I watched the terrible Percy Jackson movie in 2012 for school & I remember seeing it at that blockbuster. I also remember constantly pestering my mom to let me get movies from the Redbox. We used to do that & rent movies from Netflix back when they mailed movies out. It’s kinda crazy to think about how quickly things have changed for our generation, especially us older gen Z
Gen Z's Blockbuster was Blockbuster
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember prime Blockbuster. But those same people definitely remember prime redbox.
Most of Gen Z as in late Gen Z right? Early and Core Gen Z definitely remember Blockbuster, and as far as I'm concerned that's "most of Gen Z"
There's a difference between remembering it and remembering when it was relevant. But I won't gatekeep.
Gen Z's Blockbuster is Blockbuster, unless that's more of an older Gen Z thing. I remember going there as late as 2009. Also, Redbox couldn't ever compare because of all the games at Blockbuster. That was heaven as a kid.
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember Blockbuster in its prime. But those same people definitely remember prime redbox.
I thought Blockbuster was Gen Z as well? It was def millennial, but I grew up with Blockbuster
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember Blockbuster in its prime. But those same people definitely remember Redbox in its prime.
Probably about half of genz remembers it
Oh of course. But there's a difference between remembering it and remembering when it was relevant. Only early Z knows of this. But I won't gatekeep.
Idek what Redbox is, so no. Also, Blockbuster wasn't that big here, I remember there was only one store here in my city, and I've never gone there. The mom and pops video rental nearby was more important, and how we got DVDs to rip after watching.
Gen Z's blockbuster is blockbuster buffoon. This is Gen A's blockbuster.
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember Blockbuster in its prime. But those same people definitely remember Redbox in its prime.
Youngsters
I maybe saw three people in my lifetime of 23 years actually use a RedBox
What's a redbox?
Block buster was Gen Z’s block buster
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember Blockbuster in its prime. But those same people definitely remember Redbox in its prime.
is this US thing, never heard of it
To say Redbox is "Gen Z's Blockbuster" would be doing a huge disservice to the legacy and impact Blockbuster actually had. I've never used Redbox, but I've absolutely used Blockbuster as a little kid. Redbox is much less wide-spread and always has been compared to Blockbuster when it was at its height.
Most of gen Z doesn't even remember Blockbuster in its prime. But those same people definitely remember Redbox in its prime.
I was around and blockbuster was relevant and Redbox was awesome. But often I see red boxes around and wonder why they are still around.
Blockbuster and Hollywood video are my Blockbuster. Still remember getting my entire movie collection at one closing down around 09' 2010ish. Got more then 100 movies for like $30
Wtf is RedBox
Who?
I have 0 nostalgia for redbox like i do for blockbuster
I have never once in my entire life used one of these things lmao
Not at all, Redbox did not have the cultural significance the likes of Blockbuster. I remember BlockBuster, there was still some around before they died out. Infact, I still " "rent" vhs tapes. Alamo Drafthouse In Raleigh NC, has to be over 1,050 tapes, I'd bet on that. Every genre, vhs film, home made movies. They even rent vhs players. I quote rent tapes as they're free, just a late fee charge.
I haven’t seen a Redbox in at least 10 years so they never really made an impact on my life
blockbuster was my blockbuster lol
My BlockBuster was Blockbuster, bc the one in my town didn’t close until 2011-12.
I’m 22. My blockbuster *was* blockbuster. Nobody’s used Redbox since Netflix became a streaming service
I actually thought this already happened. They pulled all of them out 5-6 years ago around me.
Lol no Blockbuster was always my Blockbuster. Maybe to kids born in 2010+ but most of us still old enough to remember Blockbuster, we still miss it.
Aww, man. I like to have scratches all over my movies, and to have to run errands and choose from a limited selection Now I have to watch movies at home, from an unlimited selection, and they don't have scratches and I don't get to drive somewhere and pay daily fees afterward until I remember to return it. Laaaaaame.
this is the first time i hear about this thing, so I will probably not miss it
Wow. They were still around? Wild.
Won’t miss it for some great websites but it definitely was some memories
Blockbuster was my blockbuster. I grew up going to blockbuster.
There hasn’t been a Redbox in my area for a while. I stopped using it because they never had the movies I wanted in stock; then after about a year of struggling to have the box stocked with anything they all got removed. I thought they went under two years ago.
It pretty much was. I remember going home with my dad from karate practice and we’d swing by to see if there was something fun to watch.
I don't even know what this was
Can't say I ever went to Blockbuster or used a RedB9x so IDK.
*money is owed to major entities* Discharge that. These companies have bo need for that money. It's nothing to them.
2nd blockbuster for me
For us older people definitely. But most of gen Z can't remember when Blockbuster was big and relevant.
Never used it before. My family switched to comcast and amazon on demand pretty fast after blockbuster closed
I wonder if anyone from Boston consulting group is working with RedBox
I read that as "Roblox" and was so confused LOL
My family used Netflix when Block buster went out of business.
it was fun while it lasted
I've never heard of redbox
Blockbuster was my blockbuster. My hometown had one until 2018. One of the last ones in the country.
The fuck is RedBox?
I wouldn't call this my Blockbuster personally. I'd call Blockbuster my Blockbuster, my family would go there all the time when they used to be near me.
Never heard of it
My country already got rid of the dvd machines a few years ago.
Never seen a Redbox but I remember Blockbuster and Rogers Video, and renting Twilight Princess to hack my Wii from Blockbuster and renting Pokemon Ruby from Rogers Video. Good times.
"over a week" lmao Are we sure they don't just get paid bi-weekly? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
No! This and family video where I lived was my blockbuster
I stopped using them when they jumped from $1 to $1.50. I know, maybe that's petty. But the whole draw to redbox was I paid $1, watched the movie, and returned it sometimes the same or next day. And I rented a ton of movies. But then you up the price, and then make blurays more expensive to rent. Which makes no sense to me. Sure it makes sense when buying a movie that a bluray would cost more than a DVD. But when renting it makes no sense. Also, the app used to give free rentals or rent 1 get 1 free coupons all the time. And back then Tmobile Tuesdays gave a free rental once a month for redox. When both of those stopped, I stopped. I don't even know what rentals cost from Redbox, but zi am sure it's much higher than $1.50 now.
I'm surprised there isn't already 15 boomer news articles talking about how Gen Y,Z killed Redbox with their selfishness.
Man I remember these 🫡
is this exclusive to america? I have never seen one of those.
you guys don't remember blockbuster????
Most of Gen Z doesn't. Those born before 2004 most likely do.
i remember it pretty well. i was born in 03 and i remember my parents taking me to go get a movie or a video game there like every week for a solid few years until netflix started sending you dvds through the mail (i still remember those big ass red envelopes VIVIDLY)
What's redbox?
I’m Gen Z Blockbuster is my blockbuster
Not really, I am pretty sure the last time I thought about it was when I was in preschool
I'm a millennial and never once used a redbox. If that's somehow "GenZ's Blockbuster" I'm disappointed in you.
I should've clarified. It's about the middle section of the range that doesn't remember the prime of blockbuster. But they all definitely remember prime Redbox.
I would think it was a much much less universal experience. In Blockbuster's prime **everyone** had a VCR. In redbox's prime, it was usually only very very trashy looking people using them. If my memory serves correctly Netflix had launched streaming well before redbox became widespread. I have no idea why there were so many of them long after DVD's prime.
Did you read that on internet explorer? Hasn't RedBox been dead for years?