It’s the end of an era, folks. The VHS tape, on its last leg since the DVD format took over in sales in 2003, has had its death knell sounded. According to an article on the L.A. Times website, the last major motion picture released on the format was “A History of Violence” – in 2006. Let’s take a moment to eulogize the demise of the VHS tape.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are centered around that clunky tape. I’ll miss the sound of rewinding unlabeled tapes to find that particular sketch on a previously-taped episode of “Saturday Night Live”, the motor screaming like a Porsche stuck in a Minnesota show drift. Gone are the tug-of-war battles with the VCR as I tried in vain to reclaim a section of tape that the machine decided would make a better lunch than a movie.

And tracking…what will become of my beloved tracking? Who the hell told these DVD people that I wanted a picture that never needed adjusting? Shmucks. Now all I have to do is pop in the video, sit down, and enjoy crystal clear sights and sounds. Hey, DVD guys! Maybe I liked feeling like I was an unpaid editor on whatever film I was watching, tapping the channel buttons up and down until the picture was centered and the sound stopped pitching up and down. Now that was interactive entertainment.

Vinyl. 8-tracks. Cassette tapes. Beta. Laserdisc. We hardly knew ye. Make room for a new addition to the family of discarded entertainment media. His name is VHS and he could use a few friends. Treat him well.

-R.S.