I don't agree with that, nineball. We are going to have other costs to deal with. There are bandwidth caps for one. Another thing is that everybody has access to buy a DVD. Not everybody has broadband and even then, one cannot simply stream your movie as it would often have to buffer first. We complain about having to watch forced ads and commercials before watching our DVDs (well, WE don't but other people do. ) so imagine how much it is going to suck to have to wait an hour to buffer the film before you can watch it if you don't have FIOS or the equivalent? Imagine having to deal with getting a video for the kids...
Seriously, music is WAY ahead of film on this, don't have anywhere near the bandwidth issues and who doesn't have an mp3 player given they are in almost every phone now? And yet they still sell music on CD. I have purchased them as recently as a few months ago - I don't buy many because there is so much crap and manufactured bands to sort through before I can find something real, like Adele or Norah Jones. Yet they keep on making them.
They still make DVDs even though Blu-Ray is certainly here to stay, so I don't see the physical discs disappearing.
You and I keep weaving back and forth on this issue. I'm beginning to feel paranoid.........just kidding.
There was a national news item recently declaring CD's on the endangered species list. They are clearly on their way out. The business model is in place for that to happen. This year purchases of music in non CD form has been eclipsed by the net. It is as inevitable as roof top TV antennas disappearing to be replaced by cable and satellite systems even though the quality of over the air product was clearly superior to cable and satellite.
DVD's/Blurays are about to disappear at light speed.
Its absolutely inevitable. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. Material, especially mainstream material will be there tomorrow morning when you get up. So you don't have too much to worry about in the short run.
If however you were CEO of Kaleidescape preparing briefing notes for your Board of Directors on strategies for the near term I would expect you to deliver a tactical and cogent plan for the future that presumes a shrinking marketplace for DVD's/BD's. This market is NOT going to get any bigger nor will status QUO be likely. Fielding an adequate response to the changes and evolution has been a challenge for Kaleidescape to date and the calendar is going to loose its flexibility faster than anyone can imagine. Time is going to become a precious commodity all too fast. The kinds of technology and business model changes that will be necessary to cope and stay ahead of the tsunami will be significant and very expensive. It is worth it in my opinion but more imagineering needs to take place.
We also disagree about the relevance and impacts on current limitations of available bandwidth. As I have said before changes in this area are known to be exponential so if the market wants more bandwidth to deliver greater value to its consumers they will find it. Competition will take care of the rest. In the meantime the consequences to our domain will be to give in to the temptation to 'dumb' things down to fit the pipe. This is where you and I will suffer as streaming thinner movies at say 1080i or 720P will become mainstream along with iPads and heaven forbid iPhones.
I love my Kaleidescape system and I truly believe that it has continuing value in my future. Kaleidescape will know just how successful they will be by measuring my sense of continuing delight with the product.