Physical media is back!

I'm not just talking about vinyl, but CDs, DVDs.

Honestly, as a millennial, I have mixed feelings about things from the 90s being coined as "vintage," but I'm here for it.

There's something satisfying about things not requiring Wi-Fi or a password reset.

And there are plenty of places in St.

Louis who I think would agree.

Records, tapes, CDs, DVDs, musical instruments, anything music or movie related.

Jean Haffner founded the Record Exchange in 1977 for a very simple reason.

He liked it.

Nearly 50 years later, that passion is still paying off.

The store has evolved over time, once expanding to nine locations and now operating out of a single 10,000 square foot space on South Hampton, inside the former Buder Library.

These days, Jean runs it alongside his daughter and business partner, Jena.

"We've definitely had a big resurgence of younger people coming.

And there's a lot of young people who I have learned enjoy coming here because they want to find something weird.

They are looking for something unique and maybe bizarre to some degree and we have it."

"It's interesting to watch people as they come in.

Some people yell like, 'Wow!'

Other people will be in the store for 10 minutes and find something they've been looking for for 20 years and they'll yell.

In an era dominated by streaming platforms, you might expect physical media to be in a steady decline, but the data tells a more nuanced story.

While DVD and Blu-ray sales are still down overall, the rate of decline slowed to just 9% in 2025, compared to drops of more than 20% in previous years.

And vinyl sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025, marking the 19th consecutive year of growth.

Why?

Three main reasons.

One, subscription fatigue - the cost and overwhelming amount of choices from multiple streaming platforms.

Two, content fragmentation - where content is spread, removed, or altered across multiple platforms.

Three, quality - the reliability and tangible connection to media also drives consumers, particularly Gen Z, to seek ownership for a more intentional viewing or listening experience.

"I think it makes perfect sense.

They're looking for what isn't popular.

They're looking for what isn't easy to get.

They are looking for the hunt.

Some people don't even listen to records when they buy them.

They're buying them to display them in their house and that's totally fine.

You know, that's how they're enjoying them.

What about deterioration?

CDs are the problem.

CDs came out in 1983 or thereabouts and they guaranteed to take over the vinyl situation, but that didn t happen for two reasons.

Vinyl is still the best sound because you get the full sound with a record.

You don t get the full sound with a CD.

You get a sampling sound.

So in that respect, vinyl will last forever as long as you take care of it.

But CDs, on the other hand, will separate one of these days.

How soon, I don t know, but they will separate because they re a laminated product.

So in your opinion, you think vinyl is the thing to outlast all of the other trends?

It will.

Yeah.

As long as you take care of it.

Yeah.

You re preserving history in a way.

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

The building and everything thats in it.

Yeah.

What do you feel about that responsibility?

Well, it s a responsibility, but it s also a lifestyle.

I ve grown up with it.

Its what I want to do.

People ask me, how can I do this 50 years and still enjoy it?

It s just what I want to do.

It s where I want to be, what I want to do.

- Yeah.

So physical media is having a moment.

but here's the question we don't typically ask ourselves ask ourselves when deciding to put on a record or yell at our Alexa.

What is actually better for the environment?

Physical media or streaming?

I ll start with the most annoying but most honest answer.

There isn t a simple right or wrong choice.

Research suggests streaming typically has a lower environmental impact over buying a disc.

Thats because you re avoiding the materials, plastics, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, that kind of stuff.

Of course, that s only part of the story.

Streaming isnt invisible.

It runs on a whole chain of stuff.

data centers, networks, routers, and your screen.

And heres where it gets spicy.

Streaming is so convenient that we often watch or listen to more.

When convenience increases consumption, we can wipe out the benefits.

It s a well-known problem.

The efficiency makes us use more effect.

One major study found streaming is better until it leads to about four times more viewing.

Then the climate impact flips.

And in today's binge-watching culture, that's super easy to do.

But here's the part I can't stop thinking about.

Why is this on us to solve with a remote control?

We're asked to make responsible choices inside of a system that's designed to keep us watching.

Autoplay, higher default resolutions, bigger files, and so much more content than we will ever be able to consume in a lifetime.

Sure, our habits matter, but so do the choices these platforms make.

How efficient their infrastructure is, what energy they use, and whether they're designed for sustainability or just maximum watch time.

So what do we do with this?

Here are four simple things to be mindful of.

Turn off autoplay, lower your resolution, especially when you're media multitasking, use Wi-Fi instead of mobile data.

And if you rewatch or re-listen to something a lot, downloading can reduce repeated data transmission.

And if you wanted to explore other options to streaming but aren't quite ready to dedicate the shelf space, I know the perfect solution.

I don't know who still needs to hear this, but libraries are the best.

There are countless benefits.

And when it comes to home media, you can check out movies, music, just like you've always been able to.

No subscription required.

Well, except your library card.

But some of the most important media we own isn't entertainment at all.

It's personal.

The family photo albums, home movies.

And here at the library, there's an initiative to keep those memories alive.

Memory Lab is your one-stop DIY center to convert all of your memories into digital assets.

You can digitize photos, you can digitize books, you can digitize videos of all sorts, camcorders.

I love the vacation slides.

Yes, I want to have a cocktail party and invite everyone over to look at my vacation slides, but it's so much easier to put them on social media and share them via emails.

So we're going to take that and pop it in this tray.

So the memory lab technically encompasses two separate spaces, the personal history recording studio, and then the scanning and digitizing studio, which is where we are presently.

And people can just come in here and kind of it's self-serve.

Like it's they figure it out on their own.

We do kind of like introduce people to how everything works.

We'll sit down and show them.

We've got user guides and binders at every station.

Give people the tools and then once you get started, it's very, very easy.

I have like a 95-year-old friend who can use the slide digitization.

One of our core goals here is to get people computer literate as well as literacy in books and writing.

We're one of the largest genealogy departments in the country, so we have the third largest collection in the United States for genealogical materials.

We help people connect to what's most important to them, their family, right?

It's not just like putting a family tree together, it's not just putting names on there, it's actually preserving memories.

Digitization, there are two factors to it, right?

So you're talking preservation, so allowing you to freeze it in the state that it's in, and then you're also talking about accessibility.

So if you have the only copy of a photo in your closet, right?

And that burns up, it's not accessible anymore.

Here's an existential problem.

VHSs.

Just like us, VHSs die too.

Nothing lasts forever, not even November rain.

So you have VHS that 10 to 25 years down the road starts to demagnetize, so you're going to see a loss in quality.

And then eventually that keeps spreading and you're no longer able to view those things.

And I bet everyone who's watching this has stored them in probably their basement, attic, shed.

I'm not judging, by the way, judgment-free zone here.

That's 10 to 25 years if it's stored correctly.

So imagine the quality of this material.

So I'm telling people, "Hey, you didn't take good care of it yesterday.

Go ahead and digitize it and then take bad care of it tomorrow.

So throw it away, recycle it, get rid of it.

Don't be burdened by these things."

- But then the question is, when we're dead and gone, who cares?

Why should we digitize these memories?

- Now this is where I get emotional because we're talking about history and purpose, right?

So we don't know where we're going until we know where we've been.

Individual history matters way more than ever.

Not just about the elites and about military and conquest, it's about everyday life.

Your descendants down the road, they may want to see you eating ice cream 100 years from now.

If it's a sweet meme, you can probably find that again.

But if it's not a sweet meme, let's say it's my 9-year-old daughter enjoying her life.

How about we print it off?

So digitizing your media is one step, but ultimately, you're still stuck with the physical materials.

Tapes, discs, and sure, recycling is an option.

There's a lot of electronic recyclers around St.

Louis.

But another option?

Creative reuse.

What is Leftovers, etc.?

Um, it's a conglomeration of everything in your house.

Yeah!

We are a resource center and we take in household and industrial discards.

I'm not a crafter, so I look at all of this stuff and say, "Oh, it's interesting.

What do you do with it?"

Hey, that's the name of the show.

That's exactly right.

Maybe you were expecting to see a more electronic deconstruction of how home media can be recycled.

But hear me out.

Think of all the crafty ways you can reuse scratched up records and CDs, or demagnetized tapes.

And similar to Sandy, I'm not the most crafty person, but Leftovers etc.

allows those Pinterest users, teachers, artists, and maybe most importantly, kids, to use their imagination, learn new ways to reuse items, keep things out of the landfill, and all for a very low price.

And we have craft classes, we have crochet classes, we have a scientist that comes in here and teaches science classes.

The things that we see most of is school supplies, flower arrangements, books, pantry.

I don't know what happened and why we got so many trophies, but we have a ton of trophies right now.

If your child at school comes home and they have made a telescope out of a Pringles can, their teacher got the Pringles can from here.

Okay?

Because they'll walk in here and then they'll need 60 to 70 to 80 Pringles can.

Well, we have 60 to 70 to 80 Pringles can.

We probably got 5000 toilet paper rolls in the back in the storeroom right now.

Serious.

Seriously.

I'm serious.

Yeah.

It's really just a tremendous amount of fun.

We all have a good time here.

Oh my gosh, this is going to replace Hobby Lobby for me.

And I'm like, totally.

You're never going to go to Hobby Lobby ever again.

And we have birthday cards, get well cards, sympathy cards, invitations to parties, thank you notes.

And we sell those only for 25 cents a piece, brand new.

It's fun to help out, you know, the teachers especially.

This represents probably about one week of contributions.

Where do you even start?

We start way over there.

Way over there.

At one end and make your way to the other.

This is a very unique place and it does take a lot of effort and a lot of hard work from a lot of good people to keep it going.

Have you done some cool crafts?

No, not really.

No?

You just like looking at all the stuff?

Yeah.

There's a lot of cool stuff, isn't there?

Yes.

Yeah.

People will walk in here and look around and say, "Oh my heavens, I don't have a clue what I'm looking for.

I don't have a clue what I want."

And I'll always tell them, "Go look at the Idea Zone."

And because all of that is made by kids.

That you're, you know, allowing people to be creative and use their imagination.

And you're saving things from the landfill.

And we're keeping everything out of the landfill.

You know, we weigh everything in that people come in, everything out that comes out.

It started out small and it just keeps growing.

What do I say?

You know, and I mean, and I love it.

Well, because I'm not going to turn anything down.

Very little will I turn down.

You know, I mean, like I said, I don't want trash.

I don't want clothes.

And we, you know, but other than that, everything in your house is game as far as we're concerned.

Thanks for watching this episode of What Do I Do With This?

and I hope you have a better understanding of what to do with your home media.

There's record stores or thrift stores, the library, or maybe even getting a little crafty.

What do you do with your home media?

Do you reread books?

I don't reread any of my books at home, but I still like them because they're pretty to keep on the shelf.

Let us know at ninepbs.org/whatdoidowiththis.

♪♪