Technically true, at least it's a transport. Then again, with how overcrowded some streets can be with cars, their value really does diminish in my eyes.

The to/from work hour line of sitting cars always fills me with pity.

It feels like THE 80's Synth-Pop album to me, like a distillation of the genre with songs covering every vibe I'd expect of that era, from the funky hits to ballads. I love "Murphy's Law" especially.

*cries* I'm so proud of myself and Bee Movie

Although from what I've heard peripherally, physical media is just getting more popular in the west anyway (but I get the feeling that's more "ooh retro" than actually caring for what physical media offers)

Is physical media dying in Japan now? Does it now need special incentives for people to support it? That's not something I'd heard happening in Japan, which might be why I thought of this as "west-targeted" choice (if it's about incentives).

I actually agree that there's some great parts to physical media that just... comes with it being physical media! Even if I'm not much of a physical buyer because of cost and maintenance problems, the format itself has to stick around.

I have no idea if that's the case here, or if it's an incentive, ala the earlier days of digital media when they might have new bonus tracks attached, possibly so people would repurchase albums they already owned. (I'm thinking of the very first release in SOUND! SHOCK SERIES, Super Hang-On).

Oh and absolutely, songs sometimes having to be excluded from digital releases because of rights dilemmas. I've seen plenty of albums that had to cut out their opening themes from the digital release.

I would never think there was intent to make the digital worse. But that's an unintended effect it can have on someone who has the means to access one thing and not another. The same difference between two things can be seen either way depending on what side of it you're on.

I'm from South Africa actually, not US/EU, but I see your point. I don't like that I came at this too much from a foreign perspective.

The good thing about this would be, now they have to make a bonus every time to make it appealing, so there's always something new to be heard. But mandatory bonuses can turn out shit sometimes, way more than when it's just done for the fun of it.

And now it's not special because its physical and comes with all the innate physical perks, it's special because they arbitrarily made bits exclusive.

Bonus inclusions can also just be a bad incentive for physical media anyway because then only the stuff with bonuses are going to really sell. People will skip anything that doesn't have a bonus, 'cause otherwise they might not have the money to buy something that does have an exclusive.

Add on to that that a lot of people just pirate VGM albums released overseas anyways, this will most likely just cut streams and purchases of the digital version.