Packaged Media vs. Digital Downloads

Now that the Blu Ray/HDDVD war is over, the Blu Ray people are probably wanting me to rush out and buy that set top box I've been eyeing. But wait a minute...I'm a cheapskate...those things are $400 bucks and I don't really see myself spending $30 each on the discs (I got suckered it to buying a few $30 dollar DVD's when they were hot). I'm also a bit cynical and I have to believe there is something out there that will eventually overtake Blu-Ray. Oh wait, there is...it's called Digital Downloads! I know some of you out there are probably saying yea right, there's no way digital copies will ever outsell hard copies of movies, but I beg to differ. Just look at the music industry, Album sales dropped 9.5% in 2007 and digital sales surged 45% according to an article on the NY Times website. Do we really thing the same won't happen for movies? Apple just revamped the Apple TV to include movie rentals directly from your TV, meaning you don't have to download them to your computer first, you just click on your remote and you watch the movie without ever leaving your recliner. Several other companies are doing the same types of things. Netflix has all ready instituted a download service in an attempt to get a share of the downloaded media market. Amazon is supposedly starting up it's own service called "Amazon Unbox" for movie purchases and rentals.

So now what do I do, purchase a Digital Download set top box, just use my MacBook to play back movies to my TV, or just pony up the cash for a Blu-Ray player that is going to go obsolete in a few years anyway? Let's just all remember that I'm a cheapskate that fully believes someone should make the perfect piece of hardware at an unbelievably cheap price for me to use for years to come without going completely out of date...am I living in disillusion?? probably! If someone would make a set top box that had a Blu-Ray drive in it so I could play Blu-Ray movies if I wanted to, AND a digital download feature that would download movies over the internet I would probably consider it. But I said the same thing about set top boxes that played Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs, and those turned out to be $800 bucks! Ooh, I have another idea...maybe we should put the government in control of deciding the whole mess! Maybe I need to just be content with my trusty standard definition DVD's. That government part was heavily sarcastic just in case nobody caught that.

The real reason I write this is so that you all understand the options out there and you don't go out and spend your hard earned money on something that may be obsolete in a few years. I'm not saying not to, I'm just saying buyer beware. Please feel free to post any comments you have about the whole situation.