BD and Digital Downloads!

[Johnny Vinyl]

I hope this thread was posted in the right forum.

Found this at CNET, and you may have come across it yourself, but I thought it was an interesting read and maybe something to get opinions on from you guys/gals.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...l;txt#comments

My personal opinion is that both physical media and digital downloads will coexist very nicely for many many years to come, if not always. I also agree that younger and perhaps more technically-savvy consumers will gravitate toward the digital download option, making it the format of choice for the majority.

I personally prefer a physical copy of my media formats, which I why I still buy CD's, DVD's, BD's and Vinyl. (I know Vinyl doesn't fit this equation, but Im a collector of it).

I would consider digital downloads if I could be assured they were of identical quality as the physical media counterpart. Also, that the price would be significantly less (no $9.99 digital download CD's, when I can buy the physical copy for $11.99 or even less). Additionally, are our current broadband connections even good enough yet? I don't think so.

In summary, I think there are still way too many obstacles in place for digital downloads to truly take root in the majority of homes. The media companies need to develop a fair price strategy, address DRM issues and/or any other schemes to limit what we can do with our digital download copies. I'm not going to address what the broadband providers and computer industry needs to do in terms of bringing digital downloads to us at speeds and reliability levels that make downloading a more seamless exercise, as I'm not technologically-savvy enough to address them. But I'm sure there is still work to do for them on that front.

What are your thoughts?

[doctorD]

There is also this article about a new study that only 0.6% of movie budgets are going to online rentals and downloads (i.e. digital downloads).

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/only-06-...downloads/5928

The first paragraph says it all!

[quexos]

I suppose that in a few years when the internet becomes "The Grid", downloading even extremely heavy files won't be an issue anymore but it will no doubt, trivialize movies if they become an easily downloadable and disposable medium just parked somewhere in some hard drive.

[fighthefutureofhd]

the same thing happened to music. or is happening anyway. and you don't a lot of people up in arms about it. sad as it is to say, this is where the culture and mindset seems to be heading. joe six pack is losing interest in the physical product to a certain degree.

[Maxell]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

the same thing happened to music. or is happening anyway. and you don't a lot of people up in arms about it. sad as it is to say, this is where the culture and mindset seems to be heading. joe six pack is losing interest in the physical product to a certain degree.

Not the same though. Music is small (about 4 minutes and 4mb per song more or less) and easily transportable. You can do many things while listening to music. You can not with video. Videos will remain physical for many years to come. Especially since internet providers are unwilling to open their bandwidth (some are even capping bandwidth now).

[Anthony P]

the same thing happened to music. or is happening anyway. and you don't a lot of people up in arms about it. sad as it is to say, this is where the culture and mindset seems to be heading. joe six pack is losing interest in the physical product to a certain degree.

I disagree in part.
1) you brought up music, but after many many years DL still has not replaced CD buying as the way to distribute music, yes many (who buy) copy the CD to their MP3 player, but CD is still king.

2) music and moves are not the same thing, if I go on a road trip every day on the bus or in the car going to work people want music going for a jog people want many songs (since most activities are longer then the length of one song), while movies tend to be mostly at home or even when not (i.e. road trip with kids, PSP/ipod in bus) deciding what you bring with you is simple (a couple of episodes of a show, a movie) so the need to have your whole collection (or a large variety) is not needed.

3) I think most of us (and me in particular) don't have anything against DL. I want two things
a) movies in the top quality possible (so we are now at BD quality and anything else I don't want)
b) on site ownership of what I want (not rental) the issue I don't want to be dependent on someone else, I don't want the on-line movie provider to decide movie X was not popular enough so it is removed (the way it happens with rental), studios that want to erase the past (the way Disney is not making song of the south available any more since it is not PC) or directors that want to change the past (like what Lucas did with star wars), or not being able to sit own and watch a movie because the net is down (happened a few weeks ago for several hours when the telco had issues)

as long as I have them I don't care if it is on a disk, a crystal, on line or beamed directly into my brain (well maybe I would have other issues with the brain thing) or anything else.

4) my issue with DL, is the same as HD DVD, it is being used by people that want to slow down BD adoption and kill it, that is why you read BS like DL is here or will be here soon when anyone knows that it is at least 5 years away (and most likely 10+)

[ryoohki]

I've tried digitla download on Xbox Live 2 times, it's epic fail. Not only the SD content look horrible , but one time, the actual content was unplayable and the company refused to refund me..