A Morning of Physical Media

This morning my 3-year old son came into my home office and wanted to listen to a song. He said "I want to be the music man" (aka D.J.). In my office, there's a 5-disc CD changer I got from a thrift store, and a few shelves of CDs. My son absolutely loves swapping CDs. Picking a jewel case, taking the CD out (trying his best to be careful while dad silently cringes at how he handles them), opening the disc tray, popping the CD in and figuring out how to change to the new disc.

When the music started and he recognized it as the disc he put in, he was so happy! He had successfully switched from dad's boring music (Barenaked Ladies) to something he recognizes (The Laurie Berkner Band). He was even more excited when I showed him how to skip songs. I think the physicality of finding and pressing a button, then having something happen makes him happy. A lot happier than mashing at pixels on a touchscreen for sure.

Afterwards, he asked a question that makes a dad proud: "Can we play Sonic?". In his case, Sonic refers to the physical copy of Sonic 3 sitting in my original Sega Genesis. My follow up question being "you want to be Sonic or Tails today?" as I handed him a controller that's older than both of us. He watched as I turned on the CRT (to which he said "this is the small TV"...which yeah, it's a tiny 12" Toshiba), took the cartridge out and blew in it (I know I know...but it works) and reinserted it. He gave a "yeah!" as the game announced "SEEEGGGGAAA" and off we were to Angel Island Zone.

Look, I get the convenience of digital media, and heck there's probably even a noticeable positive environmental impact (supply chain, manufacturing, landfill, etc). But physical media will always bring more joy, especially to a 3-year old. Being able to physically hold something that makes you excited and having the ability to work a machine without complicated menus/software updates/subscriptions/etc is something special. Not to mention the fact of a nearly 30 year old game cartridge continuing to bring joy throughout the decades.

When I was 10 years old playing Sonic 3 on the Genesis I found at a yard sale, I never could have imagined my player 2 would be my son in the future, playing on the same system and cartridge.