I could make digital downloads work.

[jsteinhauer]

You need to have the right model. An you can't rely on streaming. Streaming will never work. AND, I won't argue that it could replace optical media. Some individuals get too much satisfaction from the activity of visiting the movie section of the store or the rental shop. That part of human nature can't be eliminated. For instance, Amazon.com is highly successful, but millions still enjoy a Saturday afternoon at the mall, socializing, trying on clothes and shoes and having lunch.

There are some important features of a successful model.

First, you have to allow the end use to make a single hard copy, if so desired. You would otherwise have to have a tremendous amount of storage with full reliability. One of the media servers in the recent Home Theater issue does automatic backups if a drive fails. This is an option.

Second, it's got to be full 1080p/24 with lossless audio. And before you get all in a bunch about how it would take many hours to download the whole thing, there is a way to make this okay. Like I said, for those who want to go to the store, buy a disk, take it home and play it, this won't satisfy your needs. But for those who order them from Amazon, it will.

The release of Movie A for home viewing is announced three months in advance, and goes on sale for preorder. If you want it on the release date, it's going to cost a premium, like it does now. The provider than has three months to stream the content to your hardware, in the background, off peak, whatever, in a slow or piecemeal way, with the guarantee that it will be available for play on the release date. Bandwidth is no longer an issue with this model.

If you buy a catalog title, since there is lower demand, it shouldn't take as long to download, say two days (in the offpeak hours). Similar amount of time as it takes to have one shipped.

It could also include options to download only 2.0 audio, 5.1 audio, 720p video, for lower prices or faster rates, to match your equipment.

Why won't this work?