Don Your Way column: Hands up if you still watch DVDs and listen to CDs

Do you still prefer DVDs and CDs to streaming?

Christmas cards, postcard and handwritten notes are all seemingly being confined to history in this fast paced world.

Which set me thinking about some of the other forms of media that are also starting to fade from view.

This was put into sharp focus while watching a DVD the other day.

Now, I’m not saying the DVD market is dying off. It isn’t. There’s obviously quite a healthy market for them still and you only have to go into HMV to see racks crammed with the latest releases.

But from my kids’ viewing habits, its quite clear that those little silvery discs could soon be a thing of the past.

With them, its all about Netflix, streaming, YouTube and catch-up.

“You mean you have to take the disc out of a box, but it in a DVD player and then go through the menu to start watching it?”

Pah. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

The same goes for CDs. I still love my rack of compact disc albums. It looks and feels good – a lifetime of music collecting crammed onto shelves, each disc bringing back memories from the era I purchased it.

But again, the younger generation will never have that joy.

And further back, who can recall the excitement of a trip to the video rental store to try and grab a copy of the latest releases to take home and watch?

Older Doncaster readers will remember places like Blockbuster, and more locally, Clearview, Lake Vision and Angie’s as havens for movie buffs to browse the latest flicks to take and enjoy in the comfort of their own home (as long as you wound it back before heading back to the shop the following day).

Fortunately, charity shops are still keeping the DVD market and even the VHS market well and truly alive.

You can find some real classics for a matter of pence when you’re shuffling in among the discarded ornaments, jigsaws with missing pieces and second hand clothes.

There's still something decidedly old school about plonking yourself down on the sofa with your other half and a glass of something, snuggling up and watching some movie from decades ago that perhaps you’d forgotten about.

So if you’ve let your world be taken over by Netflix and the like, put down the iPad and go back and rediscover your shelf of films, TV series and box sets they may well have been gathering dust for the last few years.

There’s bound to be one or two absolute classics you’d forgotten about which will take you on a nostalgic trip back in time.