In this digital age, we find ourselves going away from physical goods and into digital goods. This is most prevalent in the music we buy and the movies we watched. Before we use to purchase endless cassettes and CDs for our music; As for movies, we use to buy tapes, DVD’s and Blu-Rays.

It’s not that way anymore with the advent of MP3 music players and streaming movie services. For music, we can download digital music from iTunes, Google Play and from Amazon. You can purchase movies from those sites as well but many consumers prefer to stream from sites like Netflix and Hulu. For a small monthly fee, you attain access to large library of movies and TV shows.

But sometimes, you won’t be able to find that one movie on Netflix or Hulu. It’s that one movie “cult” movie classic or the “hard-to-find” film that no one likes except you. There are actually a few movies that cannot be found in digital form. Example, the great Hong Kong action film “A Better Tomorrow” is a difficult movie to find on Netflix, Hulu or even Amazon. With that said, one may need to get these films in physical format.

Many people still have a DVD or Blu-Ray player that they need to dust off and play these “hard-to-find” videos. But where to get these videos. There are a host of websites, brick-and-mortar store and other resources of where to find videos. As with anything difficult to find, you will have to spend time researching.

Ebay - Always a good resource for anything, especially vintage movies. Of course, you may have to bid on auctions but do a search on “Buy It Now” items. And also, be mindful if the item you are purchasing or bidding on is new or used.

Amazon - Hosting several vendors that specialize in videos, Amazon is more trusted resource than eBay. But always be aware of the videos you are buying. Since Amazon, (and even Ebay) serve global customers, region compatibility is important. Make sure that the video you buy can play on your VCR, DVD/Blu-Ray player.

Websites - There are specific websites that cater to the vintage videophile. Robert’s Hard to Find Videos is a website dedicated to the video searcher. It does come a steep price as most video are in the $45 range. Cult Films is another site that really delves into obscure and bizarre films. The site is quite outdated but the database is amazing - they do take Paypal.

As with most searches, a lot of researching a comparisons are needed. As more and more videos are being put into digital and streaming format, DVD’s, tapes and Blu-Rays are going away. But nonetheless, they still have a lot of worth to many, especially collectors. Whether for viewing or for collecting, media like this still has a great value.

Image credit: MakeLessNoise on Flickr