I hate to admit it, but Duncan Riley from TechCrunch is probably right. Downloads will not kill Bu-ray anytime soon:
Blu-Ray will likely be the last big/ mainstream physical media technology ever and it will have a strong future. The various factors needed for mainstream digital downloading and viewing will eventually combine to finally kill Blu-Ray [...]
ice crums
geekery 2.0
blu-ray
Riley: Digital Downloads Are Not About To Kill Blu-Ray
Format War 2.0: Physical vs. Downloads
It is clear that the latest high def DVD format war winner doesn’t matter since there is a new and better format: digital downloads. I honestly didn’t care who won the traditional war (although rooting for Blur-ray since Apple supported them) since I don’t use DVDs anymore. Digital renting is what’s in now. So [...]
Wal-Mart kills HD-DVD too(last post on the format wars….promise)
Wall-Mart Facts reports:
…the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.
Blockbuster, Netflix, Best Buy and now Wall-Mart have ditched HD-DVD thus this [...]
Best Buy “prefers” Blu-ray over HD DVD
To Best Buy: In wars(format ones) you don’t just “prefer” or “showcase” a product. Diplomacy at this stage is just denial of Blu-rays victory. Take a side!
From the press release:
Beginning in early March, the leading consumer electronics retailer will prominently showcase Blu-ray hardware and software products in its Best Buy retail and online channels in [...]
HD-DVD Rip!
Ok if this is not a victory declaration of the next gen DVD format wars, please tell me what is. Blu-ray has won fair and square. According to the WSJ.com:
Netflix said Monday it will now buy only Blu-ray discs and will phase out by roughly year’s end the alternative high-definition format, HD DVD, developed by [...]
Sony and Apple Need Each Other
Businessweek is reporting that Sony BMG is dropping DMR in Q1 2008. This is a mayor break through because it comes a week later after Warner went DRM-less with Amazon. The Amazon MP3 store is gaining too much traction in content deals for Apple to ignore and they need to fight back soon.
If I [...]