Digital media has gained popularity over physical media since the inception of the internet.

Digital media consists of digital formats on the internet such as social media sites, podcasts, or blogs. Physical media consists of books, newspapers, and a radio.

Digital media is more accessible because the internet has continued to reach nearly every household and every building, whereas physical media requires substantial transportation for only a single part of it.

Physical media retains advantages over digital media for its intimacy. Individuals have a tendency to place an aura of value onto substantial objects for various reasons. A physical book, for instance, can be valuable if it was previously owned by a celebrity, say Albert Einstein, because it is something that one can assume complete ownership over regardless of what the novel is.

But physical media requires space for it to occupy for it to exist. Too many objects for someone to own in their residence can be especially agitating, especially if that someone (like myself) lives in a small room. Digital media significantly resolves that issue because it does not require space to take up. With digital media, consumers no longer need to worry about storing physical media.

Furthermore, digital media is easily transportable. I only need my iPhone to read the news, listen to books, or watch something on Netflix. The idea that I can carry all this on a single device in my pocket is astounding. I no longer have to worry about misplacing a book I used to always carried because I just need my iPhone to read it.

It is also cheaper. News organizations charge cheaper subscriptions of internet only access than for physical newspapers to be delivered to their door. The Kindle store has a daily deals page that makes ebooks cheaper than physical books sold at Barnes & Noble. Digital advertising retains better results with smaller investments because no transportation is necessary. All it requires is a simple internet connection. Payment for a single streaming service can bring users thousands of hours in entertainment instantly than purchasing a single disc at a video store that requires time to travel to.

It is more interactive. Digital media also contains more features. Articles can be cited directly to users' Facebook feeds. Notes on Kindle ebooks can be shared with other users instantly. They are easier to use as citations for users to present arguments. How often do internet users cite an article from a physical newspaper than an article on the internet?

The internet has not usurped physical completely, granted, because more people are familiar with how physical media works. Technology, however advanced, can still be complicated to utilize for a lot of people. Physical media is not plagued with ads that can deter the experience. Digital media can also be blocked, altered, or plainly taken away from a user's ownership, whereas a piece of physical media is permanent the moment it is created.

Ultimately, the decision between physical and digital media ultimately comes down to personal preference. That physical media will survive is certain because people are more familiar with it. But as the internet becomes increasingly accessible to nearly every household in the world, so will digital media grow in popularity over physical media. Eventually, the internet will be the ultimate utility for individuals not only to survive but also the primary way to be entertained with an endless amount of content that will become far easier to access.

CITATIONS

Grady, Constance. “The 2010s Were Supposed to Bring the Ebook Revolution. It Never Quite Came.” Vox, 23 Dec. 2019, www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/23/20991659/ebook-amazon-kindle-ereader-department-of-justice-publishing-lawsuit-apple-ipad.

Thornton, Briana. “Digital vs. Traditional Advertising: How Much Does Each Cost?” Array Digital, 1 June 2020, thisisarray.com/digital-vs-traditional-advertising-how-much-does-each-cost.

“How Digital Media Is Overtaking Traditional Media.” Whacked Out Media | Blog, 9 Aug. 2019, www.whackedout.in/blog/2019/08/09/how-digital-media-is-overtaking-traditional-media.

TL;DR Digital and physical media are not diametrically opposed

Both digital and physical media are culturally significant: though digital media has become increasingly more accessible in the last twenty years it does not negate the value or presence of printed media.

When thinking about printed media in particular it's worth observing that it is a broad church. Printed ephemera is often overlooked because it is designed to be disposed of- but it is still a valuable tool for communication which exists independently of circles of algorithmic recommendation. With printed materials it is easier- for better or for worse- to evade censorship and selection by platform, moderation or authority.

An advantage of digital media is safekeeping of information: it is harder to loose a file than it is a sheet of paper. However paper will eventually fall victim to natural decay and damage- information that exists only on that page will be entirely lost (bar a combination of chance and active investigation). With digital files there is always a slight; minimal chance that the information in that document is accessed by a third party to be shared ad nauseam online without your knowledge or consent. This unlikely but the consequences can be immediate and the audience vast in a way that is harder to achieve with physical documents.

The two things are important methods of communication which work in tandem with each other and have strengths the other does not. One does not threaten the whole existence of the other.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/broadsides-and-other-printed-ephemera/about-this-collection/

TL;DR – Physical sales continue to benefit the media as it provides a tangible and intentional form for it and overall, yields more for the media creators economically.

In the music industry, digital media has not surpassed physical media. Streaming services have completely changed the landscape for owning said media, but anyone who is still buying music will most likely choose their physical copies of albums over their digital counterparts.

Digital has a greater negative effect than physical on audio media. Certain file types compress the audio and make it sound quite different than its physical form – which have waveforms literally pressed into vinyl records or magnetized onto tape.

More than anything, this is an economic discussion. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that downloads fell by almost 25% in 2017 and are almost worth less than $1 billion in total. Some other stats:

“Track sales and album sales are the two major kinds of downloads, and both lost a lot of ground in 2017, with single and song sales suffering the worst. Purchases of individual tunes dropped over 25% and Americans bought 553.5 million songs. Digital album sales fell considerably as well, though they’re holding slightly better than individual tracks. The field shrunk by 22% from the year prior, and in 2017, music lovers in the U.S. bought just over 66 million digital records, which is down from just over 85 million in 2016. Digital album sales totaled almost $624 million last year, while songs brought in $650 million, as albums sell for a much higher price.”

Through all of this, vinyl sales continue to increase and all forms of physical purchases added up to $1.5 billion in the U.S. during 2017. Overall, digital media, audio specifically, is certainly falling economically and major corporations are benefiting from it rather than the media itself. Physical sales continue to benefit the media as it provides a tangible and intentional form for it and overall, yields more for the media creators economically.