R.I.P. VHS

The folks at Variety wrote a wonderful lil obit for VHS on Tuesday declaring that VHS is officially dead. VHS was expected to last until January, but with High-Def taking over and DVD sales rising, it didn't stand a chance.

“It’s pretty much over,” concurred Buena Vista Home Entertainment general manager North America Lori MacPherson on Tuesday. VHS is survived by a child, DVD, and by Tivo, VOD and DirecTV. It was preceded in death by Betamax, Divx, mini-discs and laserdiscs.

Although it had been ailing, the format’s death became official in this, the video biz’s all-important fourth quarter. Retailers decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.

As a tribute to the late, great VHS, Toys ‘R’ Us will continue to carry a few titles like “Barney,” and some dollar video chains will still handle cassettes for those who cannot deal with the death of the format.

Sad. I don't like how DVDs get all scratched up. I want unscratchable, unfuckwitable DVDs, then I'll be happy.

R.I.P. VHS. I haven't been around that long, but I know it's been a good 30 years.