Film will stay around for as long as it is still manufactured, and that will depend on demand. The demand these days is a tiny fraction of the demand when film cameras were all we had. Many emulsions (Kodachrome being a prime example) have been discontinued. You can no longer find film in most supermarkets outside of some disposable cameras that a few people still buy. You have to order it or buy it in a camera store, if you're lucky enough to find one. Digital has put many camera stores and film processing labs out of business with only a few still standing.

My wife loves old movies. Even though TCM has done a good job of keeping up some interest in these movies, many that were released on DVD in the past are already out of print. I tell her that she has to buy what she can buy now.

I have a 34 year old son who appreciates the music from the 30s, 40s and 50s, thanks to my interest in this music that I listened to growing up. He works as a teacher in a high school. He has never found one student who knows who Buddy Rich was, (his idol), much less Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra etc. The music of these giants isn't played on the radio any longer except on satellite radio, and Sirius tried to get rid of it just a few years ago. They kept it because of the protests of older listeners, but what happens when they're gone?

The lack of new hardware for film is also a deterrent to its survival. There is still plenty of used equipment out there, but it is aging or even rotting in closets all over the place. But again, the real issue is how long film itself will be manufactured. I don't know, but I suspect not forever. That's the real problem.

I'm guilty of dumping film myself. I have a Nikon FTn and some old lenses that have been sitting in a closet for years. Sad, I suppose, but it's just too hard to deal with using film, and honestly, the Nikon D810 I bought a couple of years ago produces pictures that outshine any film pictures I've ever taken.

I totally agree. By the way, I heard Buddy Rich live at Carnegie Hall when I was in school in the 70s. My son has an autographed and numbered pair of his drum sticks in a display on his wall. But the most influential, though not the best, drummer of all time was Gene Krupa. He invented the modern drum kit that everyone uses and set a standard for jazz and big band drummers. He had quite a career too. My Sirius radio is on the 40's station 95 % of the time. I still prefer digital to film, but with music, it's a different story.