The last great swing gave the common man (us middle class) a great deal of freedom and prosperity, but for decades that power has been slowly shifting back toward those in power. A mix heavily biased toward those in political power rather than industrial power.
The studios currently are at a tipping/balance point between charging a reasonable price for content, how that content is delivered, and alienating their customer base.. They have, through new laws such as the DMCA and greatly extending copyright durations tried to gain more control over their products, but again at the risk of alienating their customer base. They have spent staggering fortunes on copy protection, when it's likely had they lowered prices they could have forgone the copy protection and made more profits than they do now.
I find e-books to be handy when traveling, but an inconvenience when home. I much prefer physical books and magazines to e- books and net zines, even though computers are my field. I much prefer the large screen and keyboard of a desk top over a lap top. Actually all of my computers are full size tower cases whose video cards contain more volume than most laptops. Even at my age I prefer gaming on large screens as opposed to the hand held devices. As a touch typist I find the larger keyboards speed my work while the smaller keyboards of laptops hinder my speed. So it is with content delivery. Smart phones and cell phones to catch up on the latest TV? True you can keep up with what's happening, but at great detriment to the quality of the delivered material.
More than likely when it comes to content and content delivery the battle will be between the studios, Internet, satellite, and cable delivery systems, but the ones who end up paying will be us.
I'll make a simple prediction, which I've said before. I'd bet that within just a few years we will see the majority of free content disappear from the Internet which will have a profound effect on OTA broadcast, cable, satellite, and the internet delivery as well as studio delivery and charging techniques and business models. Like the airlines where prices have skyrocketed, while profits and quality of services have declined I expect to see much the same with the Internet. Possibly even a metered payment system based on GB or even TB totals per month as well as speeds/bandwidth consumed, much like electrical power is billed in many areas with different charges for peak and off peak demand times. I'll make one more about the Internet and that is the highly touted cloud. The cloud where you no longer control your own information and any one who can show a need can access that information. Think how much easier that makes access to your e-mail and storage for any agency who wishes to take a look and without us ever knowing. At least with our own systems they may have to work a bit for it. OTOH with the collusion of software publishers they can access our machines at will under the proper conditions. Having spent a good portion of my life working with computers and computer systems I can not under stand why anyone who really understands computers would trust the cloud. Theoretically it sounds great, but the potential for misuse is tremendous and I've found where the potential exists for abuse, it will be.
HDTV Almanac - Railroads versus Highways
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Roger Halstead
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ccclvib
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And the pendulum swings
Wow! And I thought I was a cynic!
Mike Richardson
Capitola, CA
On the shores of the blue - and cold - Pacific
Capitola, CA
On the shores of the blue - and cold - Pacific
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Roger Halstead
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I thought that's the positive outlook
I think that's the positive outlook?
Remember the old saying, "They told me to cheer up, things could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse." <:-))
At present we find ourselves in a society that is willing to give up freedoms for perceived safety, or in the case of businesses...protection.
Yet, the free market system is still alive and hasn't been killed off ... yet, so IF common sense winds out and the free market is given a chance, the best delivery systems will work themselves out and there is the *potential* for every one to gain all the way around. That "free market winning" depends on the government keeping their hands off the system. Getting rid of and not creating artificial protection systems like the DMCA. Were we provided with content at a price people considered reasonable for the product piracy would only be a minor problem. As long as copy protection is used there will be individuals and groups who see it as a challenge. As long as the studios maintain a heavy handed approach to dealing with consumers there will be many who have no sympathy when they cry foul. As it is, few of us really believe the validity of the magnitude of losses they claim to piracy. Many of us, me included, think much of their loss in physical media sales is due not to piracy but to a poor business model that can no longer remain a viable competition for downloaded and streaming media. Like the newspapers I see the studios as being stuck in a business model and technology 5 or more decades old that is just incapable of competing with today's technology and aggressive business models.
Given free reign (without government meddling), I still back the free market system as having the potential for being the most productive at the least cost.
Remember the old saying, "They told me to cheer up, things could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse." <:-))
At present we find ourselves in a society that is willing to give up freedoms for perceived safety, or in the case of businesses...protection.
Yet, the free market system is still alive and hasn't been killed off ... yet, so IF common sense winds out and the free market is given a chance, the best delivery systems will work themselves out and there is the *potential* for every one to gain all the way around. That "free market winning" depends on the government keeping their hands off the system. Getting rid of and not creating artificial protection systems like the DMCA. Were we provided with content at a price people considered reasonable for the product piracy would only be a minor problem. As long as copy protection is used there will be individuals and groups who see it as a challenge. As long as the studios maintain a heavy handed approach to dealing with consumers there will be many who have no sympathy when they cry foul. As it is, few of us really believe the validity of the magnitude of losses they claim to piracy. Many of us, me included, think much of their loss in physical media sales is due not to piracy but to a poor business model that can no longer remain a viable competition for downloaded and streaming media. Like the newspapers I see the studios as being stuck in a business model and technology 5 or more decades old that is just incapable of competing with today's technology and aggressive business models.
Given free reign (without government meddling), I still back the free market system as having the potential for being the most productive at the least cost.
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ccclvib
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Unfortunately, there's another old saying: "Follow the money." Where there's a possibility of a deep-pocketed organization losing influence, power or business - or all of those - their first response is to spend money (the best government money can buy?) on lobbying or outright paying-off to subvert your "given free reign". If your prediction does come to pass, it won't be soon, and the amount of money spent by the entrenched organizations who will lose will be lots.Roger Halstead wrote:Given free reign (without government meddling)
Mike Richardson
Capitola, CA
On the shores of the blue - and cold - Pacific
Capitola, CA
On the shores of the blue - and cold - Pacific
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Roger Halstead
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Probably won't happen
Given money, influence, and power It's unlikely the government meddling in private enterprise will ever go away. That means we are unlikely to ever see the best the system can offer, particularly with the entrenched being protected. Although with the current state of flux in the entertainment industry along with modes of delivery means we could see some big changes in the not too distant future.
I still believe we are going to see a lot of the free content go away as well as ending up with a tiered Internet delivery system. I've been on one for several years (Charter) and find even at the higher speed I still pay much less than I did just a few years ago. Currently I pay about what I did at first for dial-up. The interesting part is going to be, seeing how the increase in content prices plays with the competition between satellite, cable, and OTA.
I still believe we are going to see a lot of the free content go away as well as ending up with a tiered Internet delivery system. I've been on one for several years (Charter) and find even at the higher speed I still pay much less than I did just a few years ago. Currently I pay about what I did at first for dial-up. The interesting part is going to be, seeing how the increase in content prices plays with the competition between satellite, cable, and OTA.