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Originally Posted by acolyte289  I know deep down that you are kind of right. But I FEEL the need to have my own digital library. Its doesn't feel all too different than collecting physical albums, only its all on the computer. And I enjoy managing my library, searching for new music and adding to it, etc... I don't think I could live in a world that relies solely on corporations and a fee based structure to store and stream all knowledge and 'art'. Oh wait...I think I just described the internet.
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The problem I have with digital distribution, at least so far, is that content is usually inferior in quality to its physical counterpart, in order to save on bandwidth. I know there are some stores that do, but none of the big music sellers (iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody) offer lossless downloads, and movies aren't as good either. The exception is videogames, which by their very nature would be difficult to condense. Oh, and text, I suppose. But, until the quality catches up, I'm not interested in paying for compressed music and movies (I do use things like YouTube and Hulu, and occasionally NetFlix streaming since it's essentially free with discs by mail).
This may improve with faster speeds, but maybe not. After all, ISPs are implementing usage caps, and now offer multiple tiers of service. Many people won't opt for the fastest speed that would make 25-50GB downloads of BD-quality movies reasonable. We'll see if quality improves, and how much they'll charge for it.
BTW, I think he's kidding himself if he really thinks that most people who used Napster and Kazaa just wanted instant gratification rather than free music.
