Dead Media Survival Guide: VHS Collecting

A punk analog-horror inspired zine about VHS collecting, tape mold, preservation, CRT glow, dead media culture, and why magnetic media deserves better than speculation culture.

Inside this transmission:

• Why people still collect VHS in the digital age
• Tape mold and how to identify it
• What to look out for when thrifting tapes
• Anti-scalper / anti-grading manifesto
• VHS collector starter pack bingo
• Preservation-focused collecting advice
• Personal writing about safety, memory, and finding home in static-filled worlds

This zine was made for:

• VHS collectors
• horror fans
• dead media archivists
• CRT enthusiasts
• analog weirdos
• liminal space dwellers
• preservation goblins
• anyone exhausted by disposable digital culture

VHS tapes are more than nostalgia.

They are physical archives of memory, culture, forgotten broadcasts, local history, strange commercials, weird recordings, and magnetic ghosts that only survived because somebody cared enough to keep the tape.

BE KIND. REWIND.