[mythtv-users] RIAA in trouble - relevant to us

Joe Borne joe.borne at gmail.com
Tue Jun 26 13:34:31 UTC 2007


I realize that everyone is pretty consumed with the guide data/zap2it
issues right now. But I'd like to point out these recent articles.

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/06/25/2310205.shtml

http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/is-the-cd-becoming-obsolete.html

The repercussions of this are rather significant for us if you look 2
or three years down the road. Since physical media sales are declining
in music, which was the de-facto distribution method 5 years ago, a
similar trend will most likely play itself out within 18-24 months in
the video market. (Why not another 5 years? Moore's law is still
holding strong in these areas) This means that non-physical transfer
if video content will begin to dominate the market.

This brings me to the 'soccer mom" scenarios that always rule market
behaviors. In 3 years or so the video players many families have in
the minivan will likely have a USB port and be able to play video
files on inserted USB keys. Can you imagine the backlash when mom
can't load "Cars II" for the munchkins to watch on the way to
grandma's house?

I believe complete digital media freedom is on the way. All of the
sociological trend markers are in place and the change rate has moved
onto the first stage of the exponential curve.


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