My once-blank video cassettes ... I’d kept my tapes, complete with their intricate sticker-led cataloguing system My hoarding meant I’d retained VHS copies of family camcorder videos ...

And not just the giant, colorful album artwork of vinyl records or holographic DVD cases, either: even the nondescript boxes for blank VHS tapes had a certain charm, if you looked for it.

That's about $4,600 in inflation-adjusted dollars. Blank tapes were priced at $20 ($72 these days). VHS was late to the game. Sony had launched the Betamax video recording system in 1975.

That's why Circuit City continues to sell VCRs and blank VHS tapes. But many consumers are resigned to the eventual upgrade to the new format. "I'm old enough to have an eight-track player and an ...