| The Fury said: No company does things to not make money, M$ is no different, unless they suddenly decided to be the best company in the world and be a non-profit organisation and gave all their spare money to end world dept but we know that's not going to happen any time soon. XBOX might be the first for online content but it wasn't the winner and not being the winner restricts the profitability of it as a whole. M$ are still dependent on a device that is dependent on something else (in this case gaming), to win in online content. Blu-Ray is a step forward but not to late. You are thinking to much about the modern western world where internet and high speed internet connections with their unlimited downloads are becoming the normal. But they jsut aren't yet the normal. DVDs took off like a rocket and still pulls in billions, compared to that, digital distribution is slow, people have been able to download movies for a while but not as easily and it's not as accessable as just buying a DVD. Blu-Ray is the upgrade (think when cassettes moved to CDs for music), but in the case of CDs to downloads, they are both still around. There are many that don't have that high speed internet yet or aren't rid of those pesky download limits. Infact CDs while it might not seem it in album sales still beat downloads hands down (well at least legally). People who need blu-ray are those who live in areas without modern western conveniences. Of course, you pay for internet and the download and the device to play it on, when also in Blu-ray you jsut pay for the blu-ray and the device. This is another advantage for film companies and other in general, piracy must be stopped and music pircay is far to wide spread to restrict at the moment. but Blu-Ray is secure, digital distrubution is not. Compaines as a whole to maximise profit will choose the secure one. If it is about XboxLive and PSN then Sony have already won, not because they have the better service but because they have Blu-Ray. Digital distribution is not yet a sound and viable choice but discs are and have been for years. there are still many people also that don't want to have to buy a games machine to have to watch a movie.
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DVD's to Blu-Rays is nothing like the cassette to CD upgrade. VHS to DVD is a better comparison - the upgrade offered scene selection (similar to track selection), extra features, space, removed the hassle of dealing with VHS tapes, and of course higher quality media. The only new thing Blu-Rays offer is higher quality video/audio, and maybe more room for more features.
I doubt there are really that many people without modern western conveniences that are sporting HDTV's and are craving for Blu-Ray. People are doing just fine with DVDs, and there are many out there who cannot (or don't care to) tell the difference. Assuming disc distribution is still the way to go is one thing, but that does not equate to Blu-Rays outdoing digital distribution. Don't forget that DVDs aren't going anywhere.
