VHS lives on--just barely
Writing for Make magazine, Larsson described how an old VCR--assuming its timer was still operational--could be turned into a "programmabowl VCR" designed to ensure that pets be fed on time in their owners' absence. "The crux of it is that when a VCR becomes redundant or becomes faulty, it's usually the case that the system that runs timing and motor control are the last to die," Larsson said. "Mostly, people junk their VCRs because the picture is becoming a bit weird, but there's usually a lot of life left in a junked VCR, and I wanted to take advantage of that." While few people may be quite as creative in creating a second life for their VCRs, one point is irrefutable: The once-ubiquitous consumer technology is on that slow road to niche status already traveled by record players, cassette players and (dare we say?) 8-track decks.
Holly Vershum, a manager in Blockbuster's brand public relations department, noted that revenue from rentals of VHS tapes was 31.7 percent in full year 2003, but was only 5.5 percent for the second quarter of 2005. By the same comparison, revenue from DVD rentals throughout the company skyrocketed from 57.3 percent to 84.1 percent. Nonetheless, the death of VHS is hardly something that will happen overnight--if ever. After all, there's still a collectibles market for LPs. And a few diehards still use the Betamax videotape format, simply because it can be cool in "digerati" circles to own something that's so uncommon. "(VHS) is far from being a dead format," said Andrew Shadgett, the manager of a Streetlight Records outlet in San Francisco. "We still sell several hundred pieces a month."
At least Streetlight has a notable VHS section. On a recent visit to a nearby Tower Records, the store devoted nearly an entire floor to thousands of DVDs, but had a mere 161 VHS tapes for sale in a display no more than 1,200mm wide and 900mm deep. According to some in the video industry, these disparities accurately reflect the state of the video store in late 2005. | |||||||||||||
)
)
)
- Talkback
-
There are currently no comments for this story.
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
