I feel this conversation has become a battle of egos and witty remarks, so I just want to say, before it all gets lost in translation (hmm? that doesnt sound right), I mean, before it gets lost in this pile of "MY FRIED RICE IS BETTER THAN YOURS!!! STUPID NEWB"
Most people would agree, DVDs have made learning magic easier, in many various aspects. However, I feel that the majority of the people posting would like the original poster to agree with the fact that, regardless of the popularity of DVDs, manuscripts, lecture notes, books, etc.. are still extremely viable learning mediums. Sure, it might take some a bit more time to be able to visualize the effect, slight, flourish, etc.. (I for one had to read through dMs notes several times), but learning magic from a book was possible before, and it is still possible now, even though we have new mediums to learn from.