I'm kinda on the fence on this. If the digital distribution picks up dramatically beyond disc sales, retail stores could suffer along with their workers if all they have to sell is hardware. Imagine Gamestop without any discs.  Then again, it's just so convenient to have stuff in a hard drive of any kind. 

 I remember I couldn't fit a CD player in my pocket, and if I wanted to slip a different band I had to bust out with a different CD. With the iPod, however, I can just go through different bands and playlists with such an easy interface, and the best part is that I don't have to insert something in the player to do it. 

There's just so many numerous conveniences and ramifications with digitally distributed media.  What do you guys think? I think it'll be a major issue with the next generation. I think it's something that will be more convenient for people who like to play single-player games, but when it comes to bringing a game over to a friend's house to play with a bunch of friends, it'll get frustrating if you have to take your hard drive or whole system. It's an issue that's up in the air with music, movies, and games. 

What do you guys think?

Pro digital?

Pro disc?

Half and half? 

Digital Distribution advantages:

Faster (sometimes...sometimes it is MUCH slower)
More convenient (also debatable because it usually isn't as portable and can be lost)
Easier to copy (unless ridden by DRM, etc. which most stuff that you buy digitally will be)
Is often deleted after a certain amount of time (at least with movies)
Cheaper (but the tradeoff is you sometimes can't actually "own" it)
Can't be scratched like discs

Disadvantages:

Difficult to hook up to your TV (at least with movies requires set top boxes, extra cables, etc.)
Your hard drive can crash (more likely than your stuff getting stolen)
Limited amount of hard drive space (versus limited physical space)
Eats up a lot of bandwith
Can take FOREVER to download if files are large
Requires broadband
Bullshit DRM
Often lower quality (the information stored on a disk usually has better picture with movies and better graphics with games because the file would have to be too large to reproduce the same graphics)

At least for now, until bandwidth gets much higher and hard drives get much larger, physical media is still better.

Biggest con ever - Lack of physical property.

here's my reason for NOT liking Digital distribution, reasons are completely personal, of course

1), Internet speed, I'm getting 11kb/s right now using cable, it will take me MONTHS to donwload a 1080P movie

2) bandwidth limitation, I have a monthly quota of 25gb, (I pay 45bucks a month for my internet)

3) I like having a physical disc with cover-arts to look at.

4) DRM (no need to explain that one)

5) what if my hardware fails? I don't want to redownload 100+ movies.

6) you can't lend it to friends.

I live near a major city in Canada and i can only download 60gb a month or something based on what the Rogers papers say. I'm also pretty sure most countries have limits on how much you can download before paying out the ass for each GB. I also have a have a good connection and i can download most stuff off the net at 800KB/s, and that costs me about $50 a month.

Most people don't have the speed to download and keep many 25gb to 50gb movies, if you want DolbyHD or trueHD sound.

It really depends on how much you value the pluses and minuses.

Store employees rarely add value to the purchase of media, so they should be cut out of the chain. They can then get jobs that actually add value to an economy. And physical media is a huge drag on our commerce system and an ecological nightmare when you think about the materials used to make, ship, and eventually dispose of these things.

Of course digital still has a ways to go. 'Net speeds in some parts of the world really aren't fast enough to deliver the content some people want. And those bandwidth limitations need a major overhaul. (Thank goodness I don't have one! :) ) We need still need greater selection of content. And a much better system of protecting yet allowing users to access their media whenever, wherever they want to use it.

If I was told that I could watch any movie, at any time, and only pay $20 a month, I'd probably jump at that idea. (Oh wait, I already kind of do that w/ Blockbuster Online. But I digress...) Digital is the way to go. Someone will eventually get it right. And that will be a great day.

I like being able to have a disc that I can hold up and say "This is my movie."