Audio Video News

Must we make a choice? While DVD is still king, Blu-ray and digital downloads seem to be battling for second place attention. Why?

There's no doubt that digital downloads are cheap, convenient, and almost instantaneous. But, not everyone has Internet speeds to make this possible, nor do they have the storage medium for downloads - or the means for getting from a computer-based system over to their home theater system. And, there's something to be said for owning the physical hard-copy of a Blu-ray disc.

CNET reported on a recent conference that covered this topic.  See what some industry-insiders had to say.

"It's a mistake to think it's either a physical (media) or an electronic (download) business," said Danny Kaye, vice president of research and technology strategy at 20th Century Fox. "That's arbitrary. They will coexist."

"Consumer habits change slowly," said Russ Crupnick, senior industry analyst for the NPD Group. "Discs are not likely to go away anytime soon."

"Consumers want to consume different movies and programs in different ways. To limit any of those things wouldn't be good for the industry," said Lori McPherson, general manager of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. "But as content creators, we have to be responsible about how that content is windowed so that we keep the industry healthy."

Until everyone has blindingly-fast Internet connections and ginormous hard drives, don't you think there will be a place for physical hard-copies of movies? -Leslie Shapiro

CNET