Time To Get Physical on Digital

I'm not sure where it all started for me. Being a military brat, our family moved so many times that I became okay with getting rid of some of my old things. At the time, I didn't see the significance of how nostalgia would play in my later years of my life when I accumulated a plethora of goodies to delight my inner child.

Now, with moving a handful of times in the past 5 years, I am at a crossroads. Do I keep all the things I have acquired over the years? I like having the security of knowing that if I wanted to play a game on older consoles, watch a DVD/Blu-Ray of a piece of media that might not be available online to stream or purchase, I can do so with ease.

On the other hand, I like having the option to sign up for a service for a month and treat it like a Blockbuster Video. Playing the latest and greatest whether it be games, movies, or TV when the mood suits me is great with my limited time as a parent. There is a weird feeling that I get knowing I rented said media instead of buying it and not having buyer's remorse when I don't finish something due to boredom or life getting in the way.

I'm starting to look into a happy medium between giving up physical media but still keeping tangible things around. For games it's easier since things like MiSTer exist if I want to accurately play most gaming devices using roms made from my collection of games while saving room by selling old consoles. For media such as movies and TV, ripping them into digital files to then store on my NAS is great for ease of use, though I haven't figured out storage of the physical copies yet. Maybe it's time to revisit disc binders?