VHS era is winding down

From the LA times, a reminder to get all those family videos onto disc. I talked my father into buying a Betamax way back when. The tapes were smaller, and the quality was better, but the format didn't stick. Now it's VHS's turn.

After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes.

"It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away." -- Geoff Boucher