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Will on-demand content defeat physical media?
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For as long as we can remember, media (music, movies, art, etc) has been on a physical medium. Movies were collected on actual reel film, then film cassettes, DVD and now Blu-ray. Film has a unique trend of evolving its physical medium to accommodate better picture, sound and features, but music has recently skipped the tracks (pun intended). After the vinyl, the 8-track, cassette and CD, music had little direction. Tech giants like Sony competed in the markets of Super Audio CD and MiniDisc, but the collection of music people expected to take with them just didn't fit on a medium. When music went digital in 1998 (general adoption was much later), it paved the way for digital distribution. Apple's online marketplace, iTunes, became the singular online music service with the help of the spacious iPod. Since then, music has been selling at increasing rates through online services, with the now 20-year old Compact Disc in its death throes (have to admit, that's a pretty good format run).
In 2007, Sony and their Blu-ray format aggressively fought Toshiba and Microsoft, the figureheads behind competitor HD-DVD. It wasn't until mid-2008 that film distributors abandoned HD-DVD, putting the final stake in the format. Major films series are finally making their way to Blu-ray, offering high definition experiences with a plethora of features. Now that Blu-ray has won the high def format war, all is still not well. Even though widescreen HDTVs are becoming a staple of American households, many are still viewing DVDs and standard definition cable. A recent Gizmodo poll showed that a majority 40% of their readers, arguable consumer electronic savvy, are content with DVDs and video on demand (online streaming). When asked why they haven't made the switch, they responded that adopting the new format is too expensive. Granted, large collections of one format are hard to abandon in favor of another, but DVDs still play on Blu-ray; new titles that take advantage of Blu-ray tech are the only ones that needs to be viewed on the format.
Movie rental by mail service Netflix is quickly adding their existing catalog to their "Watch Instantly" streaming feature, which can be accessed through the web, XBOX 360 or dedicated Roku players. When a buffet of titles can be access for a flat monthly fee, why bother collecting? Another format is going to replace Blu-ray eventually, and high definition home theaters are static when streaming players are conveniently portable. The new format war isn't one "high definition/fidelity", it's one of convenience and cost effectiveness. The only thing that prevents video on demand from really competing with the quality of Blu-ray is Internet bandwidth. Common broadband speeds still aren't fast enough to download that much data in time. Netflix wouldn't have to worry about offering standard and high definition streaming if it weren't for niche products like Vudu, which offers HD download-to-rent and to-own titles, meaning no buffering, just longer downloads in advance to get the higher quality content.
With Blu-ray still threatened for the throne of "format of choice", players are dropping in price, with the PS3 being the best value for what it does and titles available for great prices when looked for carefully. Best advice: pick a format and stick with it, supporting multiple formats is what really gets expensive, ask HD-DVD owners.
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