Q. Our granddaughter is 7 and loves listening to music. We are trying to find a way for her to have her own device to play music, but without access to the internet. Is there a device that her parents can load with Taylor Swift and Disney princesses singing? Should we get her a boombox and CDs? How can a kid listen to music in her room without parents having to worry about what she would find online?

—M.T., Oakland, California

A. CDs are definitely the way to go here. You can get her a CD radio or boombox and she can play her CDs without any online access. When she gets older she will have the CDs to play on a better stereo system, and she can keep the CDs her entire life instead of subscribing to a service and continually paying subscription and download fees. The sound quality from CDs will be better than streaming, too.

I think it is very important to support physical media formats such as CDs, vinyl records, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray by purchasing and enjoying them. There is always talk such as, "physical media is going away, it's all going to be streaming" or "I just stream everything now." I think this is a steep and slippery slope with serious implications economically, socially and culturally. Streaming has its place and I use and enjoy it every day, but I will always own physical copies of my favorite content. Not only is the sound and video quality usually better with physical media, there are other important factors to consider.

Though we can read things on the internet, I don't think anyone would suggest that ending the printing of books would be a good thing. Moving to an all-streaming model is doing exactly that, except you are eliminating movies, television shows and music rather than printed books. Books have been essential to human history and culture for thousands of years. Recorded movies, television shows and music are relative latecomers, but I submit they are no less important to our history and culture going forward. We've already seen liberties taken with previously published works, such as George Lucas' modified "Star Wars" movies that are almost universally derided by fans, and Amazon Prime's recent edits of the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life." If you do a Google search you will find that these Amazon Prime changes were widely scorned, and called "nothing less than a desecration of a sacred cultural institution" and "sacrilege" among other uncomplimentary things.

Physical media can't be taken away or edited, and is easily shared, traded and sold. Physical media can also be enjoyed in peace and privacy. While I enjoy streaming and use it to evaluate products for the column, as someone who is constantly working with it I am also constantly exposed to the endless intrusions and irritations. Being prompted to log in, authenticate, log in again, change your password, or get a code via text and enter it within five minutes. There are continuous bills and price hikes, and I have "bought" iPad games that Electronic Arts "retired." "Retired" means they were taken from me and I can no longer play them, despite "purchasing" them. All this, while they are tracking your usage and selling your info.

Many industries, including some unexpected ones such as cars and appliances, are trying to move to subscription models for important features. We need to push back when appropriate. Don't discontinue your streaming services if you are happy with them, but don't abandon physical media. If something is important to you be sure to own a physical copy.

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