Blue-ray or HD DVD: But Then, Who Cares
Right after I published my previous post on Blu-ray v. HD DVD, it occurred to me that I had missed the whole point.
The real issue is that the movie studios are finding it hard to leave behind the business model that have made them so much money.
Unfortunately for them, an increasing number of people are downloading an increasing number of movies, and these people are now finding rather archaic the notion of buying movies on discs that cost a lot of money, destined only to clutter desks and collect dust.
The now-ubiquitous iPod introduced us to the world of CD-less music. Once it becomes easy and mainstream to download movies and view them on high-definition TVs, the shift from physical media will be complete and irrevocable.
This article in the International Herald Tribune dated 1 January 2008 describes the state of the paid video download market quite well. I also like this article in the Economist which describes how not even a single person in a roomful of young people were interested in CDs being given away for free.
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