Sales of VHS Tapes in the UK More Than Double

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8582699.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertai...ent/8582699.stm</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Sales of videos, games software and music fell during the recession last year, according to the Entertainment Retailers' Association (ERA) in the UK. But music sales only dropped by 0.8% in 2009 - the lowest fall for five years...In 2009, sales of PC games declined nearly 25% to 6.4 million - little more than half the level seen as recently as 2007. One surprising result from the video industry was an unexpected upturn in sales of VHS cassettes, up from 44,377 in 2008 to 95,201 last year."</em></p><p>This has to be one of the most puzzling things I've read in a long time - why would there be a more than twofold spike in VHS cassette sales compared to 2008? What possible reason is there in our current world for people to purchase VHS tapes? Seriously - I'm baffled.</p>

[crimsonsky]

Baffled am I as well. Heck, I didn't even know you could even still buy VHS tapes. What possible advantage is there is VHS nowadays?

[Hooch Tan]

Baffled am I as well. Heck, I didn't even know you could even still buy VHS tapes. What possible advantage is there is VHS nowadays?

I still see VHS tapes for sale at dollar stores. The only possible reason for the increase that I can see if if people are trying to record OTA broadcasts, and old tech may not recognize the DRM that's embedded.