The reason owning a physical chunk of media is a big deal is that you don't really own the downloaded file. AND, the industries that want you to download a file are actually renting it to you, but not really telling you that. Try re-loading your iTunes library a couple of times and you'll learn that expensive lesson. In music, the download has also altered our relationship to an artist and their intention. Instead of listening to an entire album as conceived by the artist, we experience music in little bits and pieces mashed up with other artists. It's kind of symptomatic of the ADHD world we have created. Another thing about the physical object is that it is easier for the actual creator of the content to keep track of how much they have sold. My first record label still sells an album of mine on iTunes and in the past five years, they have never paid me for those sales.