Apps, iBooks, Kindle, TV 2.0: The Future of Entertainment Media
I would think that it’s relatively apparent that our sources of entertainment are all going digital, right? I mean no one is still going around collecting 8mm movies or ordering the Encyclopedia Britannica…at least not if you’re under 80 years of age. If you know anything about me you know I’ve been living under the cable radar for almost four years now. All I have in my home is high speed internet, it’s nothing amazing, especially if you live in Tokyo, but my 15-20 MBS gets the job done most days. Right now Fios isn’t available in our area of Manhattan, but when it is…oh buddy.
I far prefer using digital means to watch my shows to cable, primarily due to scheduling. I can watch what I want, when I want, verses having to be home at a certain time or TiVo as an alternate solution. Netflix, Hulu+, Boxee, I mean come on. Most if not all of those are available via a game console, web ready TV’s (which are becoming standard), additional devices (Boxee box, Apple TV, Roku, etc), or like me by a media center computer attached to your TV. And of course we can’t forget access by our digital devices – phones, tablets, and laptops.
So with the proliferation of web access to cable content, I say why pay for 250 channels I’ll never watch so I can catch a dozen shows or so? Content providers are going the right way with web-based services because they now control the market through access to specific shows rather than multiple channels. Now the individual shows are the draw for a $8 subscription to Hulu+ or whatnot versus the entire channel having to a sell. For instance if the only show I watch on Spike is the UFC fight nights, why do I want that station? I don’t. But if I can pay UFCTV $10 to watch all the fights I want. I’m okay with that. So maybe you should start looking at some alternate methods for content access, might as well be ahead of the curve.
Remember Blockbuster? National home video? Everyone laughed at Netflix when they first came on the scene and said they were going to be a primarily streaming content provider. They only did DVD’s as a start up necessity. Way to think ahead guys. And now look at them. They’re everywhere. Like herpes on college campus. iTunes put CD production out of business. Sure it hasn’t finalized yet, but more and more bands are simply publishing directly to digital. Filmmakers are releasing movies directly to iTunes before they go to theatres. What’s up with that? Cost to exposure ratio. Sure Apple is taking 30% of everyone’s profit. Well don’t get pissed at them for controlling the gateway to content after setting themselves up as the “go to” guys for pretty much anything, even if you’re a PC still. Remember those things? PC’s…haha…
And on the Apple note, they are deep into a roughly five-year plan to go completely cloud based hosting for everything. Remember when you thought a 150G hard drive was awesome? The future of computer production is facing two terrible realities: First, the market is saturated. Short of third world countries and very low-income homes, everyone that will buy a computer, has one…or two. The only market for hardware is boutique\high end platforms, like Alienware and Apple. If you’re not making something that is for gaming or highly demanding processing, like video\audio\photo editing, you’re not selling computers. Second, the profit margin for the computers is dwindling rapidly. Because tech is so cheap now, if you’re not providing the above areas of service, the future is either in software or access to content. Apple does only a little software, their typical Mac-centric content. But what they’ve done for years is create a need for access, iPod\iTunes\iDisk, and then charged for access to that content. They’ve monopolized the market. They created the entry and the need for the gate. Brilliant, and very American. At least they’re somewhat conscious of their environmental impact.
Music, documents, photos, and more are all going to server based access points. Think Google docs but on steroids. As America begins to slowly catch up with front line web access, I’m looking at you Japan, the means to move away from hardware devices increases. Which is good, because remember those people making the hardware are losing money. Soon, iCloud goes live this year, and Microsoft has had their “cloud” up and running for a bit already, all your media\content will simply be streamed form the internetz to your device. So that 100G SSD won’t have to hold much more than an OS and programs you need to make your next Billboard top 10 record. Because if Skrillex can do it, and the Ting Tings can, so can you.
because no one needs all that nonsense anymore...
Gamer? Have no fear, more and more developers are releasing their video games for direct download through services, PSN, Xbox Live, Steam, etc. And again we’re seeing the move away from hard cases. The money is in the various “collector” editions with all the added crap you don’t need but your inner hoarder says you must buy. More traditional gamer? No worries, many companies are finally moving to PDF releases of their rules, books, and manuals. I’m looking at you Paizo and Bully Pulpit Games and I’m raising my glass to you.
So grab you iPad, cuddle up in bed to your favorite novel on Kindle, flip on the latest episodes of Eureka on Netflix, and set the robo out to vacuum while you sleep and dream of robotic sheep.
What are your thoughts on web based media access over traditional methods of getting to your content?
