The question is simple: Why do you seam to prefer total digital distribution over physical media?
I find it hard to grasp why most people i see seam to overlook physical media in favor of a digital download. Don't get me wrong, i know steam and it's other variants are very convenient (and that's why i mainly use them) but the way i see it, you generally get more out of your money when you buy a physical copy. For example, when it comes to music, the best way to get the best quality would be to rip your own CDs to a lossless format, where else Itunes, Amazon and others mainly use low quality mp3 or other compressed formats. And i can't understand why anyone would pay basically the same for an inferior quality product. Same goes for movies, why would i want to get a highly compressed, low quality image and audio, movie, or series when i can get a blu ray that has a lot more quality?
When it comes to video games, quality isn't the issue, but if a physical copy that has a steam key, and it could bring some goodies, like some artwork or something, and is usually at the same price as it's digital alternative wouldn't you prefer to go with physical media?
I stopped using optical drives more than 5 years ago. They suck, I don't get how can people tolerate them.
Delivery times.
Don't want to bother storing this useless plastic.
It has no advantages whatsoever.
If a music digital distribution service doesn't provide lossless audio, don't use it. If none of them do, there are torrent trackers where people have already ripped it for you. Although I really doubt that you will hear any difference between AAC 256 kbps and FLAC.
Same with video. You won't notice the difference between a decent BDRip and original blu-ray. Or if you really want original quality, download BD Remuxes, it's still faster than waiting for the delivery.
My point is, all 'advantages' of physical media are artificial. If distribution services don't provide you what you need, community does. The only problem is that entertainment industry thinks it's still 90's.
Dissentient makes good points, and really it's mainly just preference. Some people just like having that physical collection. Some people feel more secure having something they can hold on to, without risk of cyber intrusions for example. A service shutting down is also a scare but rare these days (especially rare without proper compensation). For example I have full trust that Valve will never sell out to EA or any other company that could turn it to shit, so I don't mind resting $1000+ worth of content on my Steam Account.
I know that i'm a minority in this situation, so because of my slow bandwidth it takes me about 12 hours to download just one gigabyte.
So instead of downloading 24/7 for 7 or 8 days and not be able to touch my computer, I could instead just buy a game from amazon and have it at my house in a couple of days and then just play it.
Now if I had a faster internet connection, I would be sitting over here saying something completely different...
Audio; I can definitely hear the difference between a lossy format like MP3, or AAC, at a low bit-rate, such as 320, or 256kbps, compared to a lossless format (FLAC is my preferred format). I may not have the greatest audio setup, but it is still quite noticeable. I rip all of my CDs using an external ODD, but only to have the quality. I want the quality - I could care less about the medium. I definitely prefer the convenience of downloading, but a lot of my music is small-scale, hard-to-find stuff, with little or no lossless uploads. I don't see the problem with physical distribution other than speed (it's slow, both in delivery, and in raw data transfer rates), and is bulky.
It takes almost 1.5m of shelf space to store 100 dvd cases vs a 3.5" hard drive sat in my case.It's also more convenient for me to leave my PC on downloading a game while I'm out at work than it is to drive to a local store or order online and have to wait a few days for delivery.
With CDs and BluRay I still buy the physical disc as I listen to most of my music in the car and when I do listen at home it's on spotify again because it's faster and more convenient than itunes or torrenting and I like to pay for the entertainment I enjoy so while I can torrent movies I prefer to support the industry when they do make the occasional good movie.