As regular readers know, I’m something of a cinephile. I really like movies. Yet, I’m not one of those people who have a collection of hundreds of DVDs. In fact (and I’m embarassed to confess this), I’ve only owned a DVD player for, like, 6 months.
Why don’t I have a lot of movies? Well, I guess I’ve never wanted to watch a movie more than three times. Or if I have, it’s been over a significantly long period of time, five years or more. So, if I really wanted to watch it, I’ve always figured that I could just rent the movie or borrow it from my DVD-hoarding friends. I’m not critical of the DVD collectors, it just isn’t my thing.
I currently own about seven DVDs. The reason I own these is because I highly value the content on them, and they’d be difficult or impossible to rent or borrow. They are:
- Buffy, Seasons 1 through 4
- Natalie Merchant: Live in Concert
- Peter Gabriel’s Secret World tour (among the top five concerts ever filmed, in my opinion)
So, DVD collectors, why do you buy all them movies?
This all arose because I was kicking around the idea of buying the new Gretzky DVD. I didn’t really watch hockey for the first half of the Great One’s career, so I missed a lot of the good bits. Ah, the odds are that I’ll be able to rent it somewhere.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Me too. I loves the movies, but only own a few. One of the first I bought was Amelie. I own it because it’s a quick mood-elevator for lousy days.
i own a lot of movies because i love watching my favorites over and over and over again. i’m weird like that. i do the same thing with books. 🙂
Why do people collect *stuff*? Its nice to be able to watch a movie or listen to an album whenever you want and know that it is a one off charge for the privilege.
I own a few movies, in addition to the same Buffy collections, Angel and Futurama. I don’t re-watch them often, but when the mood hits I’m glad I have them around. That said, there are some I regret buying because I really didn’t watch them as much as I thought I would. Others have paid for themselves in rental fees.
I own…geez, about 150 DVDs. A good 20 of them are football [soccer] ones, I like to have access to a goal or player info when I need to. Another 30 or so are music ones, I like 5.1 surround sound playing at home while I work, and I dig certain artists’ videos (Massive Attack, Bjork).
The other pile of movies…well, over half of them I won’t watch again and I am looking at turfing them as I get a lot of them for under 15 bucks which is the price of a few rentals anyway so I figure if I like it I’ll keep it, or someone can borrow mine and save the bucks. The other half are for either watching again, or for reference (I’m a video editor and it’s nice to have references, or ideas to rip off, hahah). Having all this stuff take up room has taught me to be a bit smarter about buying DVDs, at least.
I buy DVDs for two reasons: I really, really, really liked the movie, or it’s nearly as cheap as renting it.
I don’t buy DVDs often, but when I do, I buy a bunch. Now is one of those phases, largely I think because the price has gone down significantly. Future shop has some for $7, which is just slightly more than a one-time rental from the Blockbuster up the street. The most recent DVDs I bought were Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (extended version), Family Guy seasons 1 & 2, Firefly, Finding Nemo, The Clan of the Cave Bear (one of those $7 ones) and The Last Starfighter and Altered States (because my boyfriend begged me for them). One of these days I’ll probably get around to buying Buffy on DVD, and if/when Gilmore Girls is released on DVD I’ll probably buy that too.
I like to buy TV shows that make it on to DVD, like Sex and the City, Queer as Folk, Felicity, The Office, etc. I think I buy DVDs more for the sake of lending them out than for myself. I like sharing i.e. pushing on to others, the shows and movies that I find interesting or good to watch, and so the only way I can get others to watch them is to buy the DVD for myself and then shamelessly lend them out to people whether they ask for it or not. Email me for a list to see if there’s anything you’d be interested in.
I’m a renter myself. I prefer seeing something new over something familiar. I don’t watch the same movie more than once. I don’t buy dvds at all. I’ll admit i brought dvds in the past, but i sold them back. Since I’m not going to touch them again. If I’m not going to watch them, why bother keeping them. My dvd collection is zero and i want it to stay that way. Same goes for any other format. I just rent and go to the theater that’s it.
Heck i’ve come to realize i’m not a movie person. I’m not a tv person. I’m not a reader(but that’s another subjuct).