Expanding a bit on what ~maya said. I think it is largely a cultural factor, physical media feels like more care was put into it, which is not necessarily true, there are many renditions that are only possible in digital form and which require a lot of zeal and effort, but perceptions are hard to change. I think this is similar to the case of listening to vinyl records, you can say whatever you wish about analog vs digital, etc, but objectively it has no superior quality to a CD or a pure digitally stored file in a lossless format, however it is the case that when you take a vinyl for listening you are being deliberate about it. You are taking the time, turning the disc, etc, it is a much deeper connection.
Online stuff seem ephemeral/unimportant at first site, that is not always the case, and I think it is changing with newer generations. For myself, I love high quality FLAC music and reading ebooks, but nothing beats the feeling of a good book in an excelent print, and many times I want to listen to a vinyl.
Good analogy with the vinyl listening.
If it is any consolation to the users of this site, I find the text I read here invaluable. Priceless. But also priceless in that I think the involvement of money here (beyond donations for operations) would only serve to *de*-value the text I read here.
This was partially the motivations behind Gemini. A web where monetization is impossible by design results in a form of authenticity that simply couldn't be possible elsewhere. The text written here is personally meaningful to the author simply because there are no other motivations.