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Things that feel outdated but sadly aren’t

marco:

Discs of all types. Why do I need to take this plastic disc out of this plastic case and insert it into this complex, loud, clunky mechanical drive mechanism every time I want to use it instead of copying it to a hard drive once or just downloading it in the first place?

DVD menus. Why do I have to wait through this crap that I can’t skip? Why was one of the most successful consumer-electronics technologies in history designed to be so hostile toward consumers? I can hit Play on the Apple TV or the Netflix 360 thing and it just plays. Why is the more expensive product, the DVD, giving me a worse experience? (And from what I understand, Blu-Ray is no better.)

Retail stores. The big markup used to be justifiable because getting things at near-wholesale prices was nearly impossible for individuals and the stores would have knowledgeable salespeople to answer questions and help you make a good choice. Now I can get nearly everything I buy from online vendors for less money whenever I want, and I’m not missing anything, because the salespeople in the stores are now just burnt out college kids who don’t give a shit about anything, don’t know a thing about whatever they’re selling, and certainly can’t possibly help me with anything.

A good number of Blu-rays jump right into either trailers or the feature film without a menu. The Dark Knight is a good example—it doesn’t have a dedicated menu at all, just a pop-up menu.