DRM is on DVD and the Blu-Ray. You are not going to get around DRM by going to a physical medium.
If some where to explain all the limitations Netflix puts on the consumer you would be hard pressed to convince them it was better than just going to the store and buying a movie.
1. Your top movie may or may not come to you next after you send in a movie 2. You may not get new movies on the day they are released. 3. If you watch a lot of movies Netflix may throttle your service down.
People tend to overlook these things because at the end of the day the service Netflix is compelling enough to ignore the issues. Digital Downloads will succeed when people perceive the value of the service tops the issues involved with it. Digital Downloads are fine it is just the service isn't there yet.
Btw Itunes is the number 2 retailer of music in the United States. I think that is a great success story if you ask me.
"DRM is on DVD and the Blu-Ray. You are not going to get around DRM by going to a physical medium."
Well actually you can get around it very easily, but even if you are going to stay squeaky clean you can still pick up a disc and loan it to a friend or ring it to to someone's house. DRM can't stop that (but Apple TV or Vudu can). Hence the beauty of a "format" as opposed to a vertically integrated service through a single company. I think the lack of an industry format is this is the biggest flaw of downloads. People may rent under these limitations (and even then there still isn't that much to rent), but they won't buy any downloads until they are convinced that they will still be able to still play them when their hardware dies or a company goes under. Google Video is an excelent example. We can;t make the business work and poof.... everything you bought from us no longer functions.
"If some where to explain all the limitations Netflix puts on the consumer you would be hard pressed to convince them it was better than just going to the store and buying a movie."
Sure, if money is no object knock yourself out. But even my local Best Buy and Borders don't carry all the movies I want to rent. Its all about the selection and Netflix knows this. You may have to wait a day or two, but compared to the absolute LACK of selection on all downloadable and VOD services I'd say that is a mighty big selling point. Content is king.
"Btw Itunes is the number 2 retailer of music in the United States. I think that is a great success story if you ask me"
It sure is. I love iTunes. But number 2 does not equal a majority. In fact all legally downloadable music represents less that 10% of all music sold. And if this is where music is at after 5 years of legitimate online sales, just imagine how long its going to take the movie studios to get their act together and do downloads right?
Downloads will happen but I predict the road to get there will be a lot longer and a lot more painful than many in the blogosphere like to believe. The threat of downloads killing physical media in the next 10 years is highly unlikely given how many parties are involved and how little they are willing to cooperate with one another. Sluggish studios who don't want to piss off their current business partners combined with bandwidth limitations combined with severe DRM restrictions combined with service providers who want to keep everything inside their little walled gardens means downloads have a hell of a lot more hurdles to overcome than just rolling out some fiber.
"I'm a college student looking for a new laptop, but almost all of my media I receive digitally. I'm looking for a laptop, not a netbook, without an optical drive, and budget sensitive. The optical drive will just be a waste of space, when I can have thinner laptop. What's out there?"
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DRM is on DVD and the Blu-Ray. You are not going to get around DRM by going to a physical medium.
If some where to explain all the limitations Netflix puts on the consumer you would be hard pressed to convince them it was better than just going to the store and buying a movie.
1. Your top movie may or may not come to you next after you send in a movie
2. You may not get new movies on the day they are released.
3. If you watch a lot of movies Netflix may throttle your service down.
People tend to overlook these things because at the end of the day the service Netflix is compelling enough to ignore the issues. Digital Downloads will succeed when people perceive the value of the service tops the issues involved with it. Digital Downloads are fine it is just the service isn't there yet.
Btw Itunes is the number 2 retailer of music in the United States. I think that is a great success story if you ask me.
"DRM is on DVD and the Blu-Ray. You are not going to get around DRM by going to a physical medium."
Well actually you can get around it very easily, but even if you are going to stay squeaky clean you can still pick up a disc and loan it to a friend or ring it to to someone's house. DRM can't stop that (but Apple TV or Vudu can). Hence the beauty of a "format" as opposed to a vertically integrated service through a single company. I think the lack of an industry format is this is the biggest flaw of downloads. People may rent under these limitations (and even then there still isn't that much to rent), but they won't buy any downloads until they are convinced that they will still be able to still play them when their hardware dies or a company goes under. Google Video is an excelent example. We can;t make the business work and poof.... everything you bought from us no longer functions.
"If some where to explain all the limitations Netflix puts on the consumer you would be hard pressed to convince them it was better than just going to the store and buying a movie."
Sure, if money is no object knock yourself out. But even my local Best Buy and Borders don't carry all the movies I want to rent. Its all about the selection and Netflix knows this. You may have to wait a day or two, but compared to the absolute LACK of selection on all downloadable and VOD services I'd say that is a mighty big selling point. Content is king.
"Btw Itunes is the number 2 retailer of music in the United States. I think that is a great success story if you ask me"
It sure is. I love iTunes. But number 2 does not equal a majority. In fact all legally downloadable music represents less that 10% of all music sold. And if this is where music is at after 5 years of legitimate online sales, just imagine how long its going to take the movie studios to get their act together and do downloads right?
Downloads will happen but I predict the road to get there will be a lot longer and a lot more painful than many in the blogosphere like to believe. The threat of downloads killing physical media in the next 10 years is highly unlikely given how many parties are involved and how little they are willing to cooperate with one another. Sluggish studios who don't want to piss off their current business partners combined with bandwidth limitations combined with severe DRM restrictions combined with service providers who want to keep everything inside their little walled gardens means downloads have a hell of a lot more hurdles to overcome than just rolling out some fiber.