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[nutballs]

I think the 2 minutes of torture for 1 hour of watching is a fine trade.

I have always liked the idea of having an ad/survey/something that requires you to actually prove you were watching, which increase the value of the ad. Then you can watch the show without interruption.

This was something tried a few years ago, but went in the shitter.

Hulu would rock, IF, it wasnt for the commercials in the middle of the show.

[arms]

I think the 2 minutes of torture for 1 hour of watching is a fine trade.

I have always liked the idea of having an ad/survey/something that requires you to actually prove you were watching, which increase the value of the ad. Then you can watch the show without interruption.

This was something tried a few years ago, but went in the shitter.

Hulu would rock, IF, it wasnt for the commercials in the middle of the show.

on top of that why buy dvd (for a few years now) when you know bluray is coming. why buy bluray when they are going to replace it eventually. how many times do you need to rebuild your collection? how many times do you need to buy essentially the same product.

i think what trent reznor has started doing with his music is really cool and if other (maybe bigger) artists start doing the same thing, it might start something. you want me to pay a ton for your product, give me something that will always be of value.

[mmenashe]

heres my  on what will happen, being the armchair futurist that I am

A lot of these large entertainment companies will slowly lose market share and decline due to the inevitability of piracy, etc resulting from the internet

They will not take enough action to corner the market, as they havent in the past.....As an example, Itunes should have been promoting itself at around the time Napster was coming around, they needed to lock the market as early as possible....I dont see this happening with TV


As the larger industries crack or realize they are not the broadcast distribution powerhouse they once were, more worldly movie and independent music will become more mainstream and start to become actual competition for "real market share", that is actual number of total viewers on all media, not just TV

I see a renaissance of art, film and music coming, in that any music similar to what had came out in the 50's, 60's 70's, 80's and even 90's was much better than today

Perhaps you think I have tinfoil on my head for predicting the slow decline of the "powers that be", but its already manifesting in many other areas, like Wall Street and Main Street, and also Ive been getting a noticeably large increase of interest in 3rd party political values (ie "audit the fed" emails, etc etc)

Imagine a major US economic collapse like 90's Russia, which nearly all economists say is inevitable, and you can get an idea of how the smaller players might take market share


Image even further a TV where instead of hooking up to a cable/sat channel, you put in an IP address, and anyone that wanted to broadcast, could

I dont think the last line is an idea that is too wild or radical to expect come out in the next 5 - 15 years

[perkiset]

I equally agree and disagree with you MM.

On the agree side: Brian Eno wrote a really well done article in Wired a couple years ago (I think, can't remember) where he described the problem with the "media industry" as we know it: they have become plastic distributors, not purveyors or art/music/cinema. His assertion is that music, for example, is an experience, but that the record companies want you to purchase a plastic disc. What is happening is that people are finding that they can have the experience of music *without* the plastic disc. This is a bellwether event, because the music industry is neither equipped, comfortable or frankly even capable of competing with the Internet and the instant distribution of music, video and movies. Truly, the artists and the consumer have an opportunity to reconnect in a fundamental and profound way. Simply the notion of purchasing one song for 99c and not "having something in my hands to show for it" demonstrates this principal: we are consumers of content not media.

Which is why I will not purchase a Blu-ray and have probably purchased my last DVD in general. I've now scraped about 90% of my DVD library, about 50% of my CDs and a good 30% of all our photos. They are now on RAIDed drives with a backup. I view it all through the AppleTV at any station in the house I want to, or my computers, or my iPhone. Why would I go back to purchasing a piece of plastic?

On the disagree side: Wired, again, had an article a couple months ago about how scared the record companies are of Steve Jobs. Apple and the iTunes store have a BOATload of power ... and to this end, I think we are simply seeing a realignment of the big controlling interests, not the elimination of them. The ability for me to purchase music anywhere, at any time and in my own configuration is not lost on the Media 2.0 companies... and they will coagulate into large controlling monopolies just as Media 1.0 companies did. iTunes is currently a big player, Amazon is happenin' and there are other players in the space all vying for control. I think the 'tubes have made it so that Indy artists *may* be able to connect to (the universal Me) more easily, but the Apples of the world will try to get their toes into the way of that interaction, just as any business with an eye for the Toll Bridge Business Model has. I don't think we'll see a true democratization of media distribution ... I think we are simply witnessing the interim chaos between the death of one type of industry and the genesis of another.

I think we're still screwed, but it's a different wanker doing it. 

[mmenashe]

I have an interesting dream of how things will turn out with access to media in general

WiMax will grow in the US and become much more affordable for everyone, it will replace other types of internet connectivity

Instead of phones going to towers to satellites, they will go through the net like VoIP, and their cell phones will too

when you want to call someone, you look them on your phone list and get an indicator if they are available, busy, away, etc..   when you send them a voice mail, it goes directly to their phone, you can stream video from your little cell phone camera, theres enough bandwidth to go around

I also have a dream sometimes, that when you turn on your TV, your connecting to an IP address, and just about anyone can stream out, you just have to know their IP/Channel

Perhaps you pay $12.00 a month to a service, the service takes a cut of $2, and if you watch four (of the many choices) channels equally during the month, they each are measured for 25% of the $10 and get $2.50 in revenues.

Lets say on month two you watch the same 4 channels, but spend 90% of the time on one channel, then that channel gets 90% of the $10 and the remaining three split the 10% left according to home much time was spent watching.

Gone are the need for commercials....the same could happen with music


As you can see, I have a wild imagination

What I guess will happen is "the powers that be" will come a little late to the party, as they did post-napster and do a poor job cornering the market (as they do now), but will keep the "general masses" within their routine, like Itunes, video-on-demand payperview, and such

Im in total agreement with you, I just wanted to add a slightly different direction to this post, I hope it doesnt sound too crazy now!!