Damn! I really envy people who still have that stuff! Saves them doing what I've been doing the last couple of years - scouring eBay to rebuild my gaming memories. I honestly don't know what happened to much of it - I didn't consciously get rid of it, and never really stopped gaming.
I can sympathise with that. Same thing happened to me. About ten years ago, I started scouring eBay to rebuild my collection. Old 'mono' print modules, OD&D boxed set, 1e core books, etc. At the same time, I was spending a lot on 3e.
By about a year ago, I had pretty much rebuilt everything (albeit at considerable cost). And I didn't even have a particularly large number of items. I'm not a collector in that sense. However, my collection included my original copy of the 1e PHB which had spent nearly twenty years doing the rounds in friends' attics before - quite by a most wonderful example of chance - it found its way back to me.
And this time I was going to look after it. I'm not materialistic but D&D was special. (Next up would be all my old classic Traveller stuff but...)
Last September, I left the country and spent a few months living on a tiny tropical island as far away as I could get from the world I was used to without going completely off the grid. I could get an Internet connection as long as all the fruit bats were flying in the same direction that day.
When I came back, in November last year, my collection had disappeared. The details are irrelevant; it's all gone. Again. And in the case of my 35 year-old PHB, for good.
But that makes these digital (and paper) reprints worth so much more to me. I don't care that I don't have the originals. I
had the originals. As long as I can still refer to the content, that is enough. Reprints are perfectly acceptable. Digital copies even better (I can back those up to protect them from my luck).
I suppose the only niggle I have with this news is that they're not reprinting the books with their original stock and cover art. I actually find that decision a little surprising.
Nevertheless, good for WotC.