Posted by Gary Kelman on 07/14/06 18:21

"Sla#s" <phil@KNOT.slatts.net> wrote in message
news:44b6d5cd$0$69392$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
> For the last sixty years manufacturers have been selling us a new media
> format approximately every ten years - 78s, LPs, Cassettes, CDs, Videos,
> DVDs and now HDDVD & Blueray.
> But has this merry-go-round come to an end? What can they sell us next
> after we will all start downloading media off the net. The cash cow that
> kept the giants of the media industry in coke and champagne will be dead.
> iTunes has changed the music industry, what will iFlicks (TM) do when it
> inevitably arrives?
>
> Slatts

I think it's still a few years away (I read only 57% of UK households are
online recently, which seems a little low to me but the point being we're
still a ways from everyone being online). There's still a bit to go in terms
of everyone having massive cheap media servers where you don't have to worry
about running out of disc space and having insanely fast download speeds,
all hooked up to various audio/visual outputs. Lastly, I think there is
still a long way to go in terms of people being happy to have their
music/film/games collection existing soley as files on their media servers.
I think that could take a generation to change the perception of what
'owning' media actually means. I'm sure there's a number of youngsters out
there already that have never owned a CD but have a hardrive full of
music(how much of it they actually paid for is another discussion for
another thread) but surely they are still very much in the minority.

Sure, we'll get there at some point, but not for a while yet. On the other
hand, I think it would take a brave consortium to put significant money into
developing a new media standard to replace HD-DVD/Blu-Ray when the time
comes.

I disagree about the cash cow thing though. iTunes is hardly damaging the
music industry. Apple take their slice, of course, but the media industry
take their big slice too. I think it's more like iTunes, or whichever
download services we end up using, are replacing retailers. It will be them
that lose out, the Universals and Sonys and EMIs of this world will continue
to do fine, I'm sure.

The only thing I think they could pull them the other way, is the shopping
experience. No matter all the advantages of downloading media, I'd imagine
the consumer and even the companies selling their music and films would
still like a situation where the public can go into a bricks and mortar shop
and just have a browse, talk to a shop assistant, or get advice from someone
where you can actually see the whites of their eyes (I know the high street
shopping experience is frowned up in these parts but obviously it's still
the main way people shop). The more ways in which they can deliever a
product to the customer, the better. I'd have thought anyway. Again, I guess
it's just a wait for getting perceptions to change as to what 'shopping'
actually entails.

Gary

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