10 Things Not to Buy in 2010

[The Squirrel]

Scenario: I've got a pretty packed hard drive. I've been filming a series of videos (let's say for Youtube). I need to store the video footage somewhere. Do I:
A) "Save As" within my conveniently plugged-in external hard drive?
B) Upload all of my footage to an online storage source and then download it later when I need it, the process of which could take hours both ways?

Mmmmm

Yeah, I'd rather have an external hard drive then trusting everything to an internet source.

 

[Manic]

guys what do you think about Newspapers? you think its dead?

If the industry on the whole can figure out a way to restructure itself, I think it'll be just fine.

Whenever a new medium comes to replace an older medium, the older medium has to find a way to adapt to survive. Sometimes that means sacrificing part of its traditional purpose. Look at radio! Radio used to have home entertainment on lock. Music, news, talk shows, comedies, dramas, soap operas, science fiction, superheroes, cowboys, mystery-- every genre of everything you could ever want was on the radio. Then television came along and provided a visual medium for the home, not unlike the movie theatre. Suddenly the soaps, dramas, cowboy shows, and talk shows were jumping ship to television. The radio industry thought it was gonna die.

But radio is still around. They adapted. They restructured themselves. The radio is filled with music, and it's still got news and talk shows.

Newspaper publishers will need to learn that they can't publish all the stuff they used to. As soon as they learn what sacrifices they'll have to make, they'll be fine.


And that's my diatribe on the future of the medium of newspaper.

 

[Tsunulia]

But radio is still around. They adapted. They restructured themselves. The radio is filled with music, and it's still got news and talk shows.

HAH!




Srsly, what radio are you listening to? All I get are commercials.

 

[Manic]

DVDs will be replaced by Blu Rays within the next decade. While they look the same, they aren't. Although discs will be entirely phased out by digital copies I don't think it will happen as quickly. Things like the Roku and the X-Box 360 are making it easier to watch digital copies without using a computer and as it is digital copies are already being sold with DVD packages in brick-and-mortars.

Eventually people will realize that it's easier to go online to get these movies for the same or less and eventually studios and distributors will realize that they can make way more if they don't spend the money on packaging.

I think the disc (be it DVD, Blu-Ray, or whatever) will be a tenacious bastard that'll last a lot longer than we think. Same with the CD, actually. Digital copies are great and all, but DRM restrictions make it nearly impossible to take your movies (or music) from place to place.

I've got a copy of Blazing Saddles on DVD on my shelf right now, and if a friend called me up and asked to borrow it, I'd have no problem giving it to them. Need me to bring it along so the gang can watch it on Movie Night? No problem. Big power surge at my home that fried my electronics and now I've got to buy new stuff or get it repaired? Hey, at least my DVD can play on my all-new DVD player.

But if I've got a digital copy I downloaded from somewhere, it's stuck on my PC/Cable Box/game system/hard drive. Digital Rights Management might afford me the ability to copy or transfer the file once or twice, but then it's really stuck. I'm not taking the movie with me to a friend's house. I'm not letting anyone borrow it. If a power surge wrecks my crap, it might be lost forever. Now I've spent $X on a movie, and I can't watch it again.


Specialty stores for movies and music are done for. I don't know how much longer places like FYE will last. God knows FYE's predecessors (the Warehouse, Suncoast Video, Tower Records) have already died out. However, stores that sell general electronics (Best Buy, the electronics section at Wal-Mart, Fry's Electronics if they remain privately owned and continue to profit) will carry movies on disc just fine. This year, anyway.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Scenario: I've got a pretty packed hard drive. I've been filming a series of videos (let's say for Youtube). I need to store the video footage somewhere. Do I:
A) "Save As" within my conveniently plugged-in external hard drive?
B) Upload all of my footage to an online storage source and then download it later when I need it, the process of which could take hours both ways?

Mmmmm

Yeah. That recommendation was completely stupid by the author. External hard drives aren't that expensive anyway. It's far more convenient to buy one and connect it. Never have to worry about logging on, having a good connection, upload/download speed, and waiting hours. I'll pay the $50-$200 for the convenience of not having to do that. Plus you know it's secure.

 

[Manic]

HAH!




Srsly, what radio are you listening to? All I get are commercials.

A few local San Francisco stations.

You must have terrible timing when it comes to turning on the radio. Radio stations play commercials about as often as TV networks. Start of the hour, 10 or 15 minutes into the hour, the 30 minute mark, 45 minutes into the hour, and the start of the next hour. Radio stations play commercials about as often as they do station bumps (the "You are listening to..." messages), which is about every 15 minutes.

That is, unless you're listening to early morning or evening rush hour radio. Radio gets most of its listeners during commuter hours (7am-9am, 4pm-6pm-- something like that) because everyone is stuck in the car, listening to the radio in larger volumes. That's when advertisers buy the most space, so that's when radio stations fit in the most commercials. Incidentally, DJ's who work during morning and afternoon rush hour are the highest paid at their respective stations.

 

[Tsunulia]

You must have magical tv and radio stations Commercials = 10 minutes at any time of the day, and music/show = 3 minutes.



You ever get to a channel and they just got back to the show and a few minutes later the commercials come on........ and they go for so long that you forget what you were watching?.......... yaaaaaaa

 

[Manic]

You must have magical tv and radio stations Commercials = 10 minutes at any time of the day, and music/show = 3 minutes.



You ever get to a channel and they just got back to the show and a few minutes later the commercials come on........ and they go for so long that you forget what you were watching?.......... yaaaaaaa

Again, that sounds like the radio during rush hour. When you listen to the radio any other time of the day, you usually get 2 or 3 songs in a row before a commercial break (maybe with the DJ talking inbetween). With most popular songs being 3-4 minutes long, that's usually around 10 minutes worth of show before a commercial break. Granted, these commercial breaks usually end up being 3-4 minutes long themselves. That's when I change the station and come back one song later.

 

[Majic Walrus]

I think the disc (be it DVD, Blu-Ray, or whatever) will be a tenacious bastard that'll last a lot longer than we think. Same with the CD, actually. Digital copies are great and all, but DRM restrictions make it nearly impossible to take your movies (or music) from place to place.

I've got a copy of Blazing Saddles on DVD on my shelf right now, and if a friend called me up and asked to borrow it, I'd have no problem giving it to them. Need me to bring it along so the gang can watch it on Movie Night? No problem. Big power surge at my home that fried my electronics and now I've got to buy new stuff or get it repaired? Hey, at least my DVD can play on my all-new DVD player.

But if I've got a digital copy I downloaded from somewhere, it's stuck on my PC/Cable Box/game system/hard drive. Digital Rights Management might afford me the ability to copy or transfer the file once or twice, but then it's really stuck. I'm not taking the movie with me to a friend's house. I'm not letting anyone borrow it. If a power surge wrecks my crap, it might be lost forever. Now I've spent $X on a movie, and I can't watch it again.

Reasons why online storage can take off in the future. Granted they suck now, but that's just because it's expensive and relatively worthless. In the future when there's no need for discs you can just store your Blazing Saddles online.

When a homey calls and wants to chill, drink beer, and watch Blazing Saddles you just go over to his place. Log on to his TV and access your account where you have Blazing Saddles stored. If his whole goddamn house burns down while you're watching it. No big deal. Just go to your other friend's house. Log on and keep watching from where you left off.

Specialty stores for movies and music are done for. I don't know how much longer places like FYE will last. God knows FYE's predecessors (the Warehouse, Suncoast Video, Tower Records) have already died out. However, stores that sell general electronics (Best Buy, the electronics section at Wal-Mart, Fry's Electronics if they remain privately owned and continue to profit) will carry movies on disc just fine. This year, anyway.

That's true. Specialty stores will be the first to fall, but I imagine that Wal-Mart's section for DVDs and CDs to shrink after a few years. But let's face it. You can go to my local Wal-Mart and buy a Garth Brooks' CD from 1989.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

When a homey calls and wants to chill, drink beer, and watch Blazing Saddles you just go over to his place. Log on to his TV and access your account where you have Blazing Saddles stored. If his whole goddamn house burns down while you're watching it. No big deal. Just go to your other friend's house. Log on and keep watching from where you left off.

What if your homey doesn't have the equipment for you to access it? Or his internet connection sucks and it takes forever to download? Or the streaming is absolute crap? Or his internet is down?

That is why DVD will last a long, long time.

 

[The Squirrel]

HAH!




Srsly, what radio are you listening to? All I get are commercials.

Muwaha! I have a local, commercial free radio rock station!

 

[Manic]

Muwaha! I have a local, commercial free radio rock station!

College or pirate?

 

[The Squirrel]

College or pirate?

Neither. I don't know all the technical details. It is listener sponsored though. It's like the PBS or radio.

 

[Majic Walrus]

What if your homey doesn't have the equipment for you to access it? Or his internet connection sucks and it takes forever to download? Or the streaming is absolute crap? Or his internet is down?

That is why DVD will last a long, long time.

You mean... what if the technology isn't perfected and at a commercial level?

Well... give it time. Within the next decade it will be.

We're talking about something that I can do today relatively easily. Within 10 years just imagine how much easier it would be.

Virtually everyone has a DVD player today and in the next decade virtually everyone will have access to the internet (most people do today anyway) and they'll have the necessary equipment too.

I mean DVDs are only portable if you're going to someone's house that has a DVD player anyway.

 

[Ipodman]

I see myself buying DVDs for a long time. I wont even consider online movie purchases

 

[Manic]

I've nearly bought every Mel Brooks movie on DVD as it is. No way am I buying them all over again digitally. I won't even repurchase my anime on DVD that I previously got on VHS.

 

[The Squirrel]

I've nearly bought every Mel Brooks movie on DVD as it is. No way am I buying them all over again digitally. I won't even repurchase my anime on DVD that I previously got on VHS.

I would rebuy something I have on VHS on DVD. But I seem to not want to buy something I have on DVD on BluRay.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

You mean... what if the technology isn't perfected and at a commercial level?

Well... give it time. Within the next decade it will be.

We're talking about something that I can do today relatively easily. Within 10 years just imagine how much easier it would be.

Virtually everyone has a DVD player today and in the next decade virtually everyone will have access to the internet (most people do today anyway) and they'll have the necessary equipment too.

I mean DVDs are only portable if you're going to someone's house that has a DVD player anyway.

But not everyone will have a good connection or one that always works.

Also, digital media will kill the second hand market. And it will be the second hand market that will keep physical media alive for awhile. Digital media will never go on sale and you can't sell it to someone else when you don't want it anymore; it's yours and only yours forever.

 

[Ipodman]

If Apple comes up with a programme that rips ur DVDs into ur Ipod, i will buy it for sure.

 

[SuperFerret]

I don't like the idea of not having a physical copy of whatever I buy.

 

[Speedball]

I don't like the idea of not having a physical copy of whatever I buy.

Same here. I don't care about music anymore, but I like my DVD's and game discs. It means I don't have to take up space on a hard drive.

 

[SuperFerret]

I still try to buy the CDs of the music I like, just so I have it.

 

[CBGB]

I mean, I copied some movies from DVDs onto my iTunes (to put onto my iPhone), and one day, they were all erased. I don't know what happened, but it was so unexpected and fast, I just stopped doing it. If that happened to my whole collection, I'd throw my computer across the room.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Netflix won't force DVDs to go away. Online downloads and sites that allow streaming movies for a subscription fee. That's what will force DVDs and music to go away.

wgile media may go fully to digital downloads, I don't think Netflix nor subscription sites will go away, because no one will want to pay everytime they want to watch a movie again.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

- I'll def continue to buy DVDs and CDs

- Online backing up sounds dumb. I'd much rather have a tangible external HD