Are Steelbooks a Waste of Money? Are They Worth it?

Steelbooks are becoming more and more popular in the physical media space and for good reason.

They allow movie collectors to collect their favorite movies with unique artwork and added bonus features, providing an upgrade over regular Blu-Ray or DVD.

However, Steelbooks costs substantially more than these other options, regularly selling for $30 or more, some costing over $100, looking at you Lawrence of Arabia (amazon paid link).

So this begs the question, are steel books a waste of money?

Steelbooks are not a waste of money if you value the artwork that comes with the disc you are buying.

Often times you are getting very exclusive artwork that is rare and not as generic as what you would get on a DVD or Blu-Ray.

For people who collect this can matter quite a bit, just be prepared to pay the price.

In this blog post, I will further explain why steelbooks are not a waste of money as well as why you should consider buying movies released in the format.

This includes going over some of the best steel books to buy which I will cover later in this article.

I will also explain why in some instances buying steelbooks can be a waste of money.

Why Steelbooks are not a waste of money

Steelbooks are not a waste of money if you are into collecting and want the best-looking version of a movie on your beloved shelf or storage space.

Steelbooks can look very nice and stand out compared to DVDs and Blu-rays, it can be fun to show off to your friends or family.

As a collector only you know the value of a steel book, no one else can tell you if you should or should not buy one, if you like a certain steel book and it’s important to you, then feel free to buy one.

I should mention that steel books don’t provide much to the consumer except that they have better artwork, which does matter to a lot of people.

I know that I like to buy my favorite movies of all time in Steelbook form if available, however, this is much more expensive than buying a standard Blu-ray or 4k Blu-ray.

Steelbooks do look much better on a shelf than Blu-Ray or DVD though, you also get a sense of satisfaction looking at them compared to looking at a TV screen with a digital library of films.

A dedicated Blu-Ray shelf is recommended if you want to collect Steelbooks, you want to continuously look at those marvelous things after all. Here is a good one.

Show them off on your wall

You can also hang Steelbooks on your wall by using magnetic strips (amazon paid link), you can put your favorite Steelbooks of all time on your wall like it’s a movie poster.

You can easily remove or replace the Steelbooks with these strips as well.

If the front shelf is not good enough of a display for you then this is a great option.

When steel books are a waste of money

Steelbooks can be a waste of money in some instances.

I certainly would not recommend buying any movie you somewhat liked in steel book form because that would be prohibitively expensive and would take up an enormous amount of room in your collection, steel books are much larger than regular Blu-ray cases.

If you don’t plan on displaying your steel books on an open shelf where you can see them then I do think they are a waste of money.

If you are not displaying the artwork, what’s the point?

That’s the main reason to buy a steel book, not to store it away somewhere or look at the spine of it.

Steelbooks can also come with more bonus features than other physical formats but this is something you should verify before you buy, it’s not always the case, if the steel book is labeled as a collectors edition then there’s a good chance you’ll get access to features available nowhere else.

Steelbooks are also a waste of money if they are released in standard Blu-ray when there is an already existing 4k Blu-ray available to the public.

4k Blu-Ray is much better than standard so if you can get it that way it doesn’t make sense to buy a regular Steelbook version.

Ideally, buy the 4k steelbook if available. One of the many perks of 4k blu ray is sound quality which I have discussed in a separate article you can find on my website.

Are steel books a good investment?

Steel books are not a good investment, physical media rarely appreciates in value, however, they do tend to hold their value more than standard Blu-ray or 4k because they aren’t as mass-produced and are often limited releases.

In order for the resale value to go up on a steel book it needs to be a beloved film that is somewhat popular and it had to be a very limited release.

Steelbooks that are mass-produced have practically no resale value, in order to turn a profit on a steel book it needs to be very rare.

In order to get your hands on a rare steelboook you will need to pay a pretty hefty price when it is first released.

I’d never recommend buying a steel book with the intention of reselling it.

That is about the worst idea for making money I can think of.

They can also get damaged fairly easily, causing the value to become zero.

I recommend buying steel book box protectors to take care of your steel books so you can prevent this from happening.

Steelbooks to buy

There are so many steel books you can buy, Obviously, you want to buy ones that look great and most importantly include a movie you love, I will list a couple of favorites of mine.

Conclusion

Steelbooks are not a waste of money if you as a collector find them to be worth the price.

Just know that they get damaged more easily than regular DVD and Blu Ray and take up much more shelf space as they are made of metal.

I don’t recommend buying every movie you like as a steel book, try to only pick your favorites as you can lose storage space pretty fast!