the download thread will go on till bluray and hd dvd death

[sieanr]

akuma said: People said that by 2000 T1 would be the standard internet connection. That worked out well...we were still 50% dial-up last year. The difference between downloading a song and a video is almost unrecognizable. A 256 kb/sec (acceptable bit rate for even picky people) album is around 100+megs while a 1080p movie, as shown by Pirates earlier, can range up to 9 gigs. 

Let's just say that the average person wants to spend $20 a month. Ten years ago, that would get you dial-up. Right now, that would get you around 1 mb/sec internet give or take a few and depending on your area. 

I say it will be another ten years before any kind of downloading service could penetrate the mass market simply because the average person is extremely impatient, especially with technology, and will not put up with waiting even a few hours for something they could waltz over to the store, buy, and watch in 30 mins or so.

Who said T1 would be the standard by 2000?

As for the $20 a month for dialup... All I can say is I spend $30 a month for 10mbps. Nice how anecdotal evidence works out, isn't it?

I'd say another 10 years is a far too conservative estimate. 10 years ago 33kbps was the norm, and look how far things have come in that time. A service like Netflix online movies allows you to start watching a film within minuets of a download beginging - something I think those impatient consumers would like. All that needs to happen is for a set top box to come along that has HD downloads. For example the AppleTV, or the newer tivo's. Hell, this is even something a cable provider could offer.

HD penetration is still too low for either HD format to take off anytime soon, not to mention that most consumers dont know about either. Case in point, many people set up their fancy new HD set and have no idea that you need special programming to get HD.

ssj12 said: it can lead to legal issues easily as it will expand movie piracy even more then it has. 
 @stranna - what file type are you extracting your files as? I rip mine as lossless audio and they are 4mbs a piece.

So, offering a legal means of downloading movies is going to increase internet piracy. Makes sense...

Oh, and are those "lossless" MP3s? lol