SvennoJ said:
Raze said:
That's the price paid for the era of "instant gratification". Physical media, brick and mortar shops, all dying out to digital content. In the time it takes me to write this post, I can go onto Steam, purchase and download a new videogame. I can do the same with movies and streaming shows via Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Apple TV, etc. I don't have to move anything more than my hands to get it. I don't have to drive to the store, I can buy at 3 AM if I like, and so on.
I called Blu Ray/HD-DVD a bad idea from the getgo. This will be the shortest lived reign of a kind of physical media. Maybe we should just label it "Sony's Folly". Shareholder's are going to have someone's head for only generating 1/3rd of the expected profit. |
I don't drive to the store either and buy my movies at 3AM or whenever I want. They get delivered for free at my door step, usually there a day later. Same price or cheaper than buying digital, better quality, extras, no issues with my bandwidth cap.
Physical media is here to stay, as a collector digital is simply not an option for the forseeable future. Not attractive nor possible to download more than 1 or 2 movies a month on top of usual internet usage.
Just checked what my latest batch would have cost in digital
Fargo, The big Lebowski, Miller's crossing, Raising Arizona: paid 44.94 free delivery
iTunes Canada price: 67.96
XBox video price: Only The big lebowski is available to buy in HD at 19.99
PSN price: Only the big Lebowski and Raising Arizon available at 39.98
Streaming instead of renting makes sense. But what happened to all those people that used to buy all those DVDs? Are they buying digital now, or were they just too lazy to bring rentals back that they bought DVDs instead?
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Netflix and other digital streaming services have replaced my buying / renting of DVDs. I still buy the occasional Blu-ray disc, but much less often then when I bought DVDs. Price is the biggest factor for not buying more. I also find that the "Super HD" video setting and Dolby 5.1 audio with Netflix is pretty good. I did have to max out our internet service just to prevent any overage fees (digital streaming and digital game downloads and updates eat up too much bandwidth).
