Nigel wrote:
If audiofiles are finally giving up on CDs and physical media you know that the masses have too.
Why? That's like saying because wine officiados demand a 2003 Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac that the masses have now given up on Mogan David. I don't see the connection.
If audiofiles are finally giving up on CDs and physical media you know that the masses have too.
Ummm.... not really.
"The Masses" include plenty of middle aged folks who still enjoy their CD's, VHS & DVDs. Less and less for teenagers and 20 somethings yes, but physical media is still alive and well.
Funny how out of touch people can get just because their enthusiastic about a technology.
Remember that among those Stereophile readers is going to be a huge number of (rich) first-adopters, so I'm not sure their poll is very meaningful. Classical music audiophiles are very much CD hounds and of course they're big on vinyl too.
Jim beat me to it.
There is a huge resurgence of vinyl and a whole new batch of players.
And, I just found all of my packed away 33s in the garage. All in mint condition.
Now where did I put that turntable? mumble mumble...
If more people don't adopt Blu-Ray, that doesn't mean Blu-Ray will be in danger. That just means Sony will have to license cheaper manufacturers, like from China for instance, to start making cheap Blu-Ray players, which will drive the price of the players down significantly. That's how DVD players declined in price, and part of the reason DVDs were adopted by so many people so quickly.
If Blu-Ray were to be defeated...it would be by DVDs, because of the people who are already happy with DVD quality.
People are being very stubborn when it comes to online content--they want to own things physically, not electronically.
However, I do think that will change. Just not quickly or dramatically enough to drive Blu-Ray under.
When DirecTV and Microsoft finally release the receiver for Windows Media Center, I will be upgrading to Windows Vista and subscribing to DirecTV to try that out, and will be getting my HD content that way. I haven't adopted Blu-Ray yet, and won't adopt it until it becomes more affordable, that being both the players and the discs themselves.
I'm sure other people are in the same boat. But in the long run, I spend more money on DVDs than I would for a DirecTV bill, and I'm sure it will be the same situation once I finally adopt Blu-Ray.
So online HD content will become an option for more people in the coming years, but nothing will ever replace the "movies on home video" market.
I buy a few DVDs but watch movies that I get from Netflix. I like the low cost and simple return method. Netflix would like me to download but that is a PIA to me.
I also like the Netflix database.
The only thing that is attractive in Blu-Ray is its possible use as a backup media. However, it may not be fast enough.
