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Lessons From The Demise of The VCR

was greatly saddened to hear of beginning of the end of the video recorder. Dixons (LSE: DXNS) has sounded the death knell for the VCR with its announcement that it will stop selling them after Christmas this year.

Dixons justified its decision to stop selling VCRs by confessing to a drop in demand for video recorders. It also revealed that DVD players currently outsell VCRs by a hefty ratio of forty to one. For some of us, the impending demise of the VCR brings to the fore the problem of what to do with our library of video tapes.

Most solutions involve throwing money at the problem. For example, it is possible to buy a substantial stock of cheap video recorders and tapes that would hopefully see you through your playing days. Of course, video tapes have a limited shelf, with degradation over time an insurmountable problem. It is also possible to transfer your video tapes onto DVDs. You can do this either through your personal computer or via your existing television set-up. There are even specialist companies that will convert the tapes for you.