Anyone thinking back on the early promise of streaming services these days likely feels a little like Obi-Wan Kenobi delivering his “You were the chosen one!” takedown. When streaming first hit the scene, it was supposed to offer a convenient alternative to physical media that leveraged new technology to optimize how we experience movies, shows, music, and books.

These services weren’t meant to simply provide access to large libraries of content. They would apply sophisticated algorithms to help us discover new content that aligns with our tastes.

Technically, this has happened. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s lived up to its initial potential.

Some may feel the algorithms streaming platforms use can’t account for the nuances of an individual’s preferences and artistic sensibilities. There are certainly plenty of streaming service users who believe the algorithm consistently fails to deliver strong recommendations.

On the other hand, even those who’ve genuinely been introduced to content they truly appreciate via the algorithm may nevertheless feel something about this means of discovering new art isn’t natural.

We’re big fans of promoting the advantages of physical media here. Whenever possible, we also believe it’s ideal to discover physical media in an actual shop instead of purchasing discs, books, CDs, and records online. Doing so will illustrate how physical media influences the content discovery experience for the better.

A human can recommend content an algorithm wouldn’t recommend

We live in an age when AI is able to complete many tasks in a fraction of the time it takes for humans to complete them. This has understandably made some people question whether the divide between people and machines is shrinking.

One way to remind yourself that a robot is no person is to compare the experience of getting content recommendations via an algorithm to that of getting recommendations from a cinephile, book lover, or music nerd at a physical media shop.

An algorithm is a piece of computer code designed to monitor the content you consume and offer “similar” content accordingly. The problem is, an algorithm can’t fully understand the aspects of art that speak to the human soul. For example, you might watch the Lord of the Rings and receive an algorithm-driven recommendation to watch more big-budget fantasy content, like Game of Thrones.

What the algorithm might not understand is that you enjoyed Lord of the Rings not merely because it was a fantasy spectacle, but because it told a magical story about finding strength when the world is scary. A human being who owns a physical media store (or shops at one) might discuss this with you, realizing that something like Beasts of the Southern Wild would actually make more sense for your next watch.

On top of that, an algorithm will typically only recommend content that reasonably mirrors what you’ve already engaged with. This can prevent you from branching out. If you shop for content at an establishment selling physical media, you boost your odds of getting recommendations from someone who might help you find something genuinely new.

The physical act of browsing helps you discover content you might have missed

It’s funny how the adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” works perfectly well as a metaphor. However, when applied to actual, well, books (and DVDs, and Blu-rays, and records, etc.), it doesn’t hold up quite as well. True, the quality of a work’s cover art doesn’t necessarily say much about the quality of the work within. Nevertheless, it can provide enough information to capture the interest of members of the target audience.

It’s true that browsing through titles on a streaming service often involves viewing the cover art or posters of those titles. That said, there’s something about the intentional and tactile experience of browsing through discs, books, and records in an actual store that causes you to slow down and engage with the cover art.

This is another way in which physical media can change how you discover new content to enjoy. When browsing on a streaming app, it’s fairly easy to ignore the art, skipping past content that doesn’t immediately grab your attention. Browse physical media in-person, and interesting cover art might actually cause you to stop and learn about a new movie, band, or book that could become a favorite.

Physical media shops expose you to more content

Having a little less control over what you see when browsing could be a good thing

A running theme throughout this piece is the fact that some of the alleged strengths of streaming services may actually be weaknesses. Consider the way browsing a streaming service is inherently different from shopping for physical media at a brick-and-mortar shop. On a streaming service, you can navigate to the exact genre or category of content you’re looking for. In a store, even if you walk to your preferred section, you’ll inevitably pass by shelves and displays featuring content you might not otherwise see with the restricted view a streaming platform offers.

You can probably understand how this might positively contribute to your content discovery experience. For example, maybe you’re a fan of horror movies, but while heading to the horror section of your local video shop, you see a display for supernatural fantasy movies. This is something you might have missed while scrolling through a streaming platform’s options. At a store, it’s something that may be more likely to catch your eye.

The fact is that most of us actually discovered the content we like organically. We didn’t need algorithms offering potentially flawed recommendations. We got recommendations from our fellow humans and from our own reactions to content we discovered organically. For anyone who misses this experience, physical media may offer a way to reclaim it.