From the Atari dedicated system forum "atari to make a new game console"

[Flojomojo]

I try not to watch any of that commercial dross to begin with. Watching TV and movies is still a special event chosen with care.

 

I also don't buy into that anytime/anywhere/anything mentality. If I'm out and about it's usually for a purpose. And them I'm there, fully, in mind and body, doing whatever it is we set out to do. If I'm out photographing an air show, I'm there photographing the airshow! Not fucking around with a 2" phone screen or sexting or whatever it is they do on those things.

That's fine, I wasn't inviting you anyway.

 

Ever hear of airplanes? They're neat, you can go really far but it's boring to sit there while it happens.

 

I haven't had a 2" phone screen since 1999.

[+CyranoJ]

That's fine, I wasn't inviting you anyway.

 

Ever hear of airplanes? They're neat, you can go really far but it's boring to sit there while it happens.

 

I haven't had a 2" phone screen since 1999.

 

Not sure you'll be streaming movies on your phone while on a flight any time soon...

[Flojomojo]

You guys are on the wrong side of history.

 

Digital purchases include but are not limited to streaming.

 

What was this topic about, anyway? Atari rising from the dead with new hardware? Makes about as much sense as yet another generation of spinning optical media.

[+save2600]

You guys are on the wrong side of history.

 

 

No, we're the ones preserving it!

[Flojomojo]

No, we're the ones preserving it!

 

 

 

[82-T/A]

If people are moving away from physical media then why is there so much more of it now compared to the past?

 

Go to the video section of Walmart and in your mind change all the Blu-rays and DVD's into VHS tapes. Go to each movie, count how many copies are on that shelf, and then increase their dimensions to that of VHS. Look at the box sets of TV shows and imagine instead of being in boxes about the size of a VHS for a whole season them being converted into VHS with maybe one or two episodes on a tape.

 

 

I'm not intentionally trying to be disrespectful here, but you're really not looking at this from a logical standpoint. It's not just a replacement for Blockbuster as you say, there is a huge consolidation going on, and Target and Wall*Mart are pretty much all that are left.

 

Just take a look at all the huge CD / Music stores that no longer exist... everything from Peaches, to Specs, to whatever... there were hundreds of them. Then you look at stores like Circuit City, CompUSA, and dozens more in that area. You look at books and physical print media... that's going away too. Barnes and Noble are pretty much the SOLE book store chain left in the United States, short of the small ones you see in Airports.

 

Print media is going away faster than anything you can think to do between now and how long it takes me to finish this post. Every month sees a new mainstream newspaper or magazine going out of print forever, and moving to digital media.

 

There is most certainly, unequivocally, not MORE physical media than ever before... there is FAR FAR less of it than there ever was before. There's only a microcosm of stores left that actually sell physical media... and that's relegated to the big box everything stores like Wall*Mart and Target.

 

I mean, let's just look at what the past decade has seen in terms of video game stores closing... pretty much the only big one left right now is Game Stop... and while they've been hanging in there, they've had to get very creative about their long-term outlook.

 

Going back to Wall*Mart and Target, the size of their movie and computer game sections have decreased considerably over the past 10 years. Those sections used to be huge, and they are much... much smaller now.

 

... I want to say again though, I personally prefer physical media and am not really a fan of streaming. But... I know what side of history I'm on.

 

Also, the comment about "everyone I know" is a fallacy in research... I forget the term (sorry), but it's basically where people base their views on a subject entirely on their immediate influences which causes "group-think." Essentially, the idea is that while it may seem like it's a reality to you, your small focus group of friends do not constitute the majority, or even potentially a large minority.

 

The reality is... streaming media is the future.

 

Even more so... localized storage is probably also in the past as everything moves more and more towards cloud storage.

 

 

 

Globally, I foresee physical media being around in some form or another for years. Partly because of what I've mentioned above, partly because people are used to the long-lived tradition of owning physical copies of their own media, and partly because those who may (or may not) stream, but don't want to be beholden to the movie / music companies dictating how and when they can consume what they purchase (or pay for).

 

Globally, you're likely to see emerging nations skip physical media almost entirely. Emerging nations are always the one to adopt the more recent technologies first... just like cell phones. The vast majority of 3rd world nations don't have any kind of copper POTS land line infrastructure. They went directly from nothing, to cell phones. You literally have people living in mud huts that have smart phones and stream video. These people most certainly will never have physical media... except for the old newspapers they might have had in town.

 

I truly believe that we're less than 10 years out before a total shift to streaming media. The only people who will still have it, will be people like us who are saving it because we already have it.

 

 

 

 

Not sure you'll be streaming movies on your phone while on a flight any time soon...

 

There are several airlines that are now offering free in-air Wifi depending on your class or member rewards points. They let you do it so long as you set your phone to airplane mode.

 

 

You guys are on the wrong side of history.

 

 

 

We don't agree on a lot, but we definitely agree here.

[skip]

If one looks at the numbers, and I'll pick on Australia here, physical movie sales have declined from ~$1billion to ~$900million in the last three years (source Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association) but this has been offset by digital purchases and / or streaming rising by ~15%.

The figures in the US are roughly 20x the AU dollar amount, but the trends are similar. The decline in disc based sales was greater in the US than in AU, but the uptake of digital was more. The studios are probably reaping less than they once were, which is why I suspect they're pushing into the physical 4K market so quickly (see ** at the bottom). Here's more info and breakdown of stuff http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/home-entertainment-spending-2015-studios-1201673329/

It depends how one paints the picture. Is it indicative of the beginning of a rapid decline, or a plateau as more streaming and digital options enter the market? A bit of both. But not as rapid as some might be painting.

** Still, while some analysts argue that 4K physical media is dead in the water or at best are pessimistic (here's a reasonably balanced US centric piece that notes 15% of US households don't even have broadband: http://fortune.com/2016/01/08/blu-ray-struggles-in-the-streaming-age/) my argument that 4K TVs may provide a somewhat surprising boost to physical media is discussed in this piece that provides evidence that my hunch might be worth betting at least a small sum of money on : http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/early-ultra-hd-blu-ray-sales-numbers-exceed-disc-predecessor-1201804322/

Edited September 6, 2016 by skip

[Flojomojo]

** Still, while some analysts argue that 4K physical media is dead in the water or at best are pessimistic (here's a reasonably balanced US centric piece that notes 15% of US households don't even have broadband: http://fortune.com/2016/01/08/blu-ray-struggles-in-the-streaming-age/) my argument that 4K TVs may provide a somewhat surprising boost to physical media is discussed in this piece that provides evidence that my hunch might be worth betting at least a small sum of money on : http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/early-ultra-hd-blu-ray-sales-numbers-exceed-disc-predecessor-1201804322/

 

The emoji mangled your link, here it is again http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/early-ultra-hd-blu-ray-sales-numbers-exceed-disc-predecessor-1201804322/

 

 

 

New format growing four times as fast as Blu-ray Disc a decade ago

Studio executives are cheered by early Ultra HD Blu-ray sales numbers.

A total of 45 Ultra HD titles have been released on Blu-ray Disc since March — and according to Home Media Magazine market research, consumers bought more than 228,000 discs as of June 24.

By comparison, Blu-ray Disc, launched in June 2006, moved just 57,000 units in the comparable time frame.

 

That's interesting! Though I would consider the source -- the industry group who wants to sell UHD discs. I'd also take note of the time frame -- 5 months before the Playstation 3 came out, which I assume was many peoples' first Blu-Ray player, something which caused BD sales to spike. When a biased source claims a big, "unexpected" jump over a slow period of the last successful launch, salt to taste.

 

It would be neat to see actual numbers instead of "rates of growth," as double nothing is still nothing.

 

Paper book sales have shown growth lately too, in part because of increased sales of adult coloring books. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/13/printed-book-sales-ebooks-decline

 

I suspect we will have physical media side by side with digital sales for the foreseeable future. As so many have said, some people like paper books and spinning silver discs better, for valid reasons. I don't have a crystal ball nor would I presume to tell anyone what to buy. I know I'm done with paper books and spinning silver discs wherever possible, they simply aren't worth the hassle to me anymore.

 

Many of the people in 82's "mud huts" are buying bootleg physical media, if my traveling eyes are anything to go by. That's not necessarily a bad thing, from a certain point of view!

 

[82-T/A]

 

Many of the people in 82's "mud huts" are buying bootleg physical media, if my traveling eyes are anything to go by. That's not necessarily a bad thing, from a certain point of view!

 

 

 

Hahaha... love that... Arnold from Predator mixed in with a StarWars pack.

 

The "mud hut" people I'm talking about specifically, are people in certain parts of Africa, some in South and Central America (like Honduras, etc.). I'm talking about people who really don't even have power at their home, and largely charge their cell phones at coffee shops and stuff like that. Not only would they have no use for physical media, but they wouldn't have anything to play it on.

 

I've travelled extensively... and seen how people live in mud huts right outside of Cairo. But... my personal witness, a reliable source it does not make (says Yoda). I did do a research paper on this very thing (advancement of telecommunications) for one of my electives in college many years ago. Smart phones are so cheap now... a person who literally cannot afford to buy shoes... like someone in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Honduras, etc... CAN afford to buy a smart phone. It's crazy... but that's the world we live in today.

[+phoenixdownita]

 

 

Hahaha... love that... Arnold from Predator mixed in with a StarWars pack.

 

The "mud hut" people I'm talking about specifically, are people in certain parts of Africa, some in South and Central America (like Honduras, etc.). I'm talking about people who really don't even have power at their home, and largely charge their cell phones at coffee shops and stuff like that. Not only would they have no use for physical media, but they wouldn't have anything to play it on.

 

I've travelled extensively... and seen how people live in mud huts right outside of Cairo. But... my personal witness, a reliable source it does not make (says Yoda). I did do a research paper on this very thing (advancement of telecommunications) for one of my electives in college many years ago. Smart phones are so cheap now... a person who literally cannot afford to buy shoes... like someone in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Honduras, etc... CAN afford to buy a smart phone. It's crazy... but that's the world we live in today.

... and companies are targeting that demographic by going stream only?

[82-T/A]

... and companies are targeting that demographic by going stream only?

 

"That demographic" wonders where they'll get clean water from one day to the next. Their most valuable possession is likely a goat or an ox which they use to turn their mill which grinds the wheat or toils the soil for produce which they hope to sell on the small piece of public land they've managed to squat on. These people don't even have power, let alone a TV or DVD player for which to play it on. The kind of poverty that exists in many countries is unlike that which you really can't even imagine unless you see it in person.

 

That said... practically giving away cheap smart phones creates its own economic growth in these countries. There are many "mobile tycoons" in these countries. The Clinton foundation (not trying to be political) made millions along with an individual that sold millions and millions of smart phones and mobile service to people who didn't even have homes in Haiti. Carlos Slim... one of the richest men in the world, made essentially all his money selling smart phones and services to people in Mexico in extremely impoverished areas of the country. Thaksin Shin, did the same thing in Thailand. There are numerous people who have done this...

 

Most of the phones are made in China... insanely cheap. In addition, in many cases they provide "free" internet service with limited bandwidth, and then offer faster speeds for people who actually can afford to pay it. China is a big sponsor of this... though it's largely in their personal interest. Huawei, the "Cisco" of China, sponsors free internet in a lot of different places, including Central and South America.

 

Here's a scary fact...

 

More people have access to cell phones than a toilet. Here's a good article on that: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-study-shows/

Edited September 6, 2016 by 82-T/A

[+phoenixdownita]

 

"That demographic" wonders where they'll get clean water from one day to the next. Their most valuable possession is likely a goat or an ox which they use to turn their mill which grinds the wheat or toils the soil for produce which they hope to sell on the small piece of public land they've managed to squat on. These people don't even have power, let alone a TV or DVD player for which to play it on. The kind of poverty that exists in many countries is unlike that which you really can't even imagine unless you see it in person.

 

That said... practically giving away cheap smart phones creates its own economic growth in these countries. There are many "mobile tycoons" in these countries. The Clinton foundation (not trying to be political) made millions along with an individual that sold millions and millions of smart phones and mobile service to people who didn't even have homes in Haiti. Carlos Slim... one of the richest men in the world, made essentially all his money selling smart phones and services to people in Mexico in extremely impoverished countries. Thaksin Shin, did the same thing in Thailand. There are numerous people who have done this...

 

Most of the phones are made in China... insanely cheap. In addition, in many cases they provide "free" internet service with limited bandwidth, and then offer faster speeds for people who actually can afford to pay it. China is a big sponsor of this... though it's largely in their personal interest. Huawei, the "Cisco" of China, sponsors free internet in a lot of different places, including Central and South America.

 

Here's a scary fact...

 

More people have access to cell phones than a toilet. Here's a good article on that: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-study-shows/

You miss my point. If they really have almost no money they won't be paying for the streaming anyway, so using the huge number of cheap phones sold to third world countries as a yardstick to move everything digital is not exactly proving much.

I understand where you were going, but before streaming they need a toilet ..... so the rush can likely wait another decade or so, the flush instead is needed yesterday.

[82-T/A]

You miss my point. If they really have almost no money they won't be paying for the streaming anyway, so using the huge number of cheap phones sold to third world countries as a yardstick to move everything digital is not exactly proving much.

I understand where you were going, but before streaming they need a toilet ..... so the rush can likely wait another decade or so, the flush instead is needed yesterday.

 

What they need, and what they want, are not always the same. They are just as happy crapping behind the house or in the river... as they've done for thousands of years.

 

And you're being too American here. There are tens of thousands of streaming services all over the world. The vast majority of them are free, but have advertisements. Globally, very few people use Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc... that's really more of an American thing. Netflix has penetration in UK, much of Europe, and of course, Canada... but it's not very common anywhere else. There are plenty of streaming services available in nearly every country that cater specifically to that country.

Edited September 6, 2016 by 82-T/A

[PlaysWithWolves]

The petition's pictures are pre-RetroVGS concept renderings from the same artist who created those for said RetroVGS and Coleco Chameleon.

 

http://www.delaneydigital.com/portfolio/

[Zerosquare]

 

Aesthetics aside, that's definitely not something you want in your portfolio.

[Flojomojo]

Phweee! What's that smell? Oh, it's just the Retro VGS again.

 

Does anyone know what it might cost to get a concept render like that commissioned? I don't have the nerve to ask myself, I would hate for the artist to think I was interested in any of these imaginary video game consoles he has drawn.

[LianneJaguar64]

 

 

 

Oooooh kay, but you guys understand where I'm going with this right?

 

I hope you guys aren't suggesting somehow that the world is moving towards removable media... because it most certainly isn't. If they even end up doing what you say, it would probably be the last time they do it.

 

No one buys Blu Ray movies anymore either... most people use Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, or On-Demand. I honestly don't know a single person anymore who actually buys the physical media anymore for movies.

I do know someone who buys DVD's still, and I myself prefer having a physical copy of anything over a digital download (which is why I'm mad I can't find a regular version of Project Zero for Wii U right now!)

[skip]

Given he's already done Chameleon stuff, he'd be worth getting in touch with if anyone needed some Jaguar stuff done. Whether he'd want to touch it after the Chameleon - who knows - but at least the Jag is a tangible product

[Flojomojo]

Whether he'd want to touch it after the Chameleon - who knows

I assume the artist was paid for his work, so why not? He did the RetroVGS rendering too.

[skip]

I assume the artist was paid for his work, so why not? He did the RetroVGS rendering too.

My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek for that one. One can't make any assumptions about payment to anyone during the whole Retro VGS / Chameleon debacle.

 

But seriously, his work is very good. Given he has all the 3D assets and obviously the skills, anyone releasing a decent Jaguar (or other nerdy) product who has the money (hahaha!) to splurge on graphic design on boxes or promo stuff could do worse than using him. He's obviously got at least a bit of gaming / Atari appreciation going on there.

[Video]

There's dozens of paid and far more free video and music services for sure. I have quiet a few myself. Its a convenience thing for sure. That said my purchase oh physical media has never dropped and has actually grown in recent years. The more I use digital services the more I buy/use physical media. If you went by people like me yeah. It looks like digital is taking over. But that's only because it is. That said pm isn't going anywhere very fast. Yeah some day. Get back to me in 3 or 4 decades.

 

In the mean time I cant think of any artist that's worth a damn that isn't available on physical media. Hell I buy vinyl whenever I can and like I said any artist worth anything is available on it.

 

Games are a different beast altogether. Sure in a couple more generations most consoles wont have a physical media port of some kind. But I'm sure someone will still make one. And I can guarantee it will sell.

[Schizophretard]

I'm not intentionally trying to be disrespectful here, but you're really not looking at this from a logical standpoint.

I don't see how it isn't a logical standpoint to notice that while there has been an increase in online streaming there has also been an increase in the availability of physical media.

 

It's not just a replacement for Blockbuster as you say, there is a huge consolidation going on, and Target and Wall*Mart are pretty much all that are left.

When the internet doesn't just provide online streaming but online shopping then less retail stores are needed. Also, when collections like this:

 

 

Can now fit in one shopping bag then less retail stores are needed.

 

Just take a look at all the huge CD / Music stores that no longer exist... everything from Peaches, to Specs, to whatever... there were hundreds of them. Then you look at stores like Circuit City, CompUSA, and dozens more in that area. You look at books and physical print media... that's going away too. Barnes and Noble are pretty much the SOLE book store chain left in the United States, short of the small ones you see in Airports.

 

Print media is going away faster than anything you can think to do between now and how long it takes me to finish this post. Every month sees a new mainstream newspaper or magazine going out of print forever, and moving to digital media.

I have never heard of Peaches and Specs. But the music stores I would buy CD's from in high school still exist. In some cases there are more of them. For an example, there are more Hot Topics now and they even sell vinyl. I honestly don't recall there being mega book stores like Barnes and Noble, Half Price Books, etc. growing up. The only places I recall having that many books in one place were libraries.

 

Anyway, I already said that music was an exception to the rule because by their nature they are portable. Books are portable too. So are newspapers and magazines but they are also more disposable because it was never common for people to amass collections of magazines and newspapers to the extent that they would with books. That is why hardback books have been a thing but not the case with newspapers and magazines. It is also why looking up old newspapers at libraries have been done with microfilm.

 

There is most certainly, unequivocally, not MORE physical media than ever before... there is FAR FAR less of it than there ever was before.

Then do my converting Walmart's video section into VHS thought experiment and then tell me the name of just one dedicated video store that would have been that massive and had as many locations as Walmart. You won't find one. Here is a hint of what you once had to do to get a video collection the size that you can now from just one Walmart:

 

 

There's only a microcosm of stores left that actually sell physical media anything...and that's relegated to the big box everything stores like Wall*Mart and Target and online shopping.

 

I fixed that for you because what you are observing is everything being relegated to big box everything stores and online shopping.

 

I mean, let's just look at what the past decade has seen in terms of video game stores closing... pretty much the only big one left right now is Game Stop... and while they've been hanging in there, they've had to get very creative about their long-term outlook.

 

Some of the stores have been bought by Game Stop and there are some new stores like Disc Replay. Anyway, Game Stop is the only game store I have known about that is this big. Before it existed I don't recall finding game stores in every town. Growing up I wasn't going to game stores. For an example, when NES was at its peak I never saw a place called a game store with new NES games filling it up. We went to places like Toys "R" Us and Sears for new games and then the used games were bought at garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores, pawn shops, etc. So, what was the explanation for the lack of these video game stores when I was growing up? Did we not use physical media back then? Did the video game crash not end until around the turn of the century?

 

Going back to Wall*Mart and Target, the size of their movie and computer game sections have decreased considerably over the past 10 years. Those sections used to be huge, and they are much... much smaller now.

I haven't noticed. Especially at Walmart. Within the last 10 years I have noticed an increase in TV show box sets, compilation discs with multiple movies, and collectors/directors cuts/unrated editions of movies when in the past I had to go to video stores at the mall to find them. Since I usually shop at Walmart after midnight I have even been there to witness them expanding the area to make room for a Blu-ray section.

 

The reality is... streaming media is the future.

I agree but not as a total replacement for physical media.

[82-T/A]

I agree but not as a total replacement for physical media.

 

 

You could not possibly be any more wrong. I'm not going to go through your whole post because I realize there's probably nothing I could say that would convince you. You'll just have to see for yourself in the next decade.

[Flojomojo]

So what do you think the brave new streaming-everything world will look like at retail?

 

Do you think it will be a return to the 1980s days of "priced to rent" videos, where you could borrow something for a small amount of money, but if you wanted that VHS tape of The Godfather, it would cost a hundred bucks?

 

Maybe digital pricing will finally become competitive, so you could get digital purchases for less than the cost of a disc?

 

Or would discs no longer be readily available at the aforementioned box stores, you'd have to go online or to specialty stores to get them? The high prices and poor selection of movies and music at Barnes and Noble boggles my mind -- how much longer are they going to try that? Maybe it is working for them, perhaps they cater to the physical media crowd who aren't price sensitive?

 

I already turn up my nose at the physical media in places like Gamestop (which looks, smells, and behaves like a pawn shop) or Target, because I know I can get anything there online at a moment's notice, clutter-free. Do those departments disappear except in places with less economic opportunity (read: credit cards for online purchases) or places with bad/expensive internet?

 

In the old days, we watched video that was "streamed" (broadcast) to us from a central location. We're doing the same thing, but with a lot more power and user friendliness. Just as cloud computing is in some ways a return to mainframe-terminal computing, there are good and bad aspects to this. It's great for convenience and choice, it's great for media company control. It's bad for people who want to roll their own.

 

Schizo posted some old Star Trek stuff. It will be interesting to see what happens with the new 50th anniversary Star Trek show, which will debut on CBS free TV but subsequent episodes will require subscription to their six-dollar-per-month streaming service. I like Trek, but not enough to pay for it like that. I'd rather buy it outright (digital is fine for me) even I have to wait -- assuming it's any good. And for what it's worth, I think that giant folding cabinet of Star Trek VHS tapes is gross. Admittedly, I would have liked it at the time of the 25th anniversary.

[82-T/A]

So what do you think the brave new streaming-everything world will look like at retail?

 

Do you think it will be a return to the 1980s days of "priced to rent" videos, where you could borrow something for a small amount of money, but if you wanted that VHS tape of The Godfather, it would cost a hundred bucks?

 

Maybe digital pricing will finally become competitive, so you could get digital purchases for less than the cost of a disc?

 

Or would discs no longer be readily available at the aforementioned box stores, you'd have to go online or to specialty stores to get them? The high prices and poor selection of movies and music at Barnes and Noble boggles my mind -- how much longer are they going to try that? Maybe it is working for them, perhaps they cater to the physical media crowd who aren't price sensitive?

 

I already turn up my nose at the physical media in places like Gamestop (which looks, smells, and behaves like a pawn shop) or Target, because I know I can get anything there online at a moment's notice, clutter-free. Do those departments disappear except in places with less economic opportunity (read: credit cards for online purchases) or places with bad/expensive internet?

 

In the old days, we watched video that was "streamed" (broadcast) to us from a central location. We're doing the same thing, but with a lot more power and user friendliness. Just as cloud computing is in some ways a return to mainframe-terminal computing, there are good and bad aspects to this. It's great for convenience and choice, it's great for media company control. It's bad for people who want to roll their own.

 

Schizo posted some old Star Trek stuff. It will be interesting to see what happens with the new 50th anniversary Star Trek show, which will debut on CBS free TV but subsequent episodes will require subscription to their six-dollar-per-month streaming service. I like Trek, but not enough to pay for it like that. I'd rather buy it outright (digital is fine for me) even I have to wait -- assuming it's any good. And for what it's worth, I think that giant folding cabinet of Star Trek VHS tapes is gross. Admittedly, I would have liked it at the time of the 25th anniversary.

 

 

There's a lot of good stuff in here, and I don't want to not respond to any of it... but here are my thoughts / opinions on how I think it will go, based on the trending I see.

 

Barnes & Nobel is a good place to start because it's a clinger. I love book stores, there's just something about it. I like going in there and just hanging out, partly because it reminds me of how things used to be back in the day. I take my daughter there and I know she likes it too. There's definitely something to be said for tactile exposure to a product, rather than simply seeing it online. There are still a lot of people who feel this way, though that doesn't stop them from buying stuff online anyway. But that said... Barnes & Nobel is still around because they are essentially the LAST major book store chain. Even with that being the case, they have unfortunately been closing dozens of stores every year, and not opening but a scant few. Barnes and Nobel has survived Waldenbooks, Borders, Crown Books, etc. I think these stores will remain in areas where the clientel specifically has a need for them. I actually suspect they'll go bankrupt and someone else will buy them, sort of like what happened to CompUSA, which was then purchased by Tiger Direct and maintained in the South East... then to go out of business anyway and close most of their stores because they make more money online than in person.

 

With shipping now significantly cheaper and quicker than it was before... it takes a lot of the lag out of the instant gratification that people need / want. I live in South Florida (Miami / Fort Lauderdale area). There is a city called Plant City that is about 4 hours north-west of here. It's a major distribution hub for a lot of manufacturing, produce, and shipping. There's a commercial airport there, and rail / highway. Amazon built a huge facility there. For some things that are in "Prime," I can order it in the morning, and it's on my doorstep by the time I get home from work the same day. CRAZY...

 

I think streaming media will become far more competitive in the future. We have some big companies of course... Amazon and Netflix, and of course some of the smaller ones like Hulu and YouTube RED (or whatever it's called). But the big thing that really keeps them as a powerhouse, rather than because of their bandwidth and capability... is their licensing that they have. Each of these media companies tend to hold licensing (heavy royalties) with streaming services... at least until the demand goes down, and then they release the hold and everyone gets it.

 

For some shows... like for example, Miami Vice... I can watch any episode I want, totally for free. I don't remember where, but I could access them all online for free. Also through my Roku.

 

 

To actually answer your question... I see pretty much any store that sells physical media shutting down, or becoming nothing more than a local advertisement center for whatever is available online. There will always be plenty of stores to sell physical items (toys, games, whatever...) but any kind of "digital media" will end up being streamed. There is significant cost associated with packaging something that is essentially nothing more than 1s and 0s... and shipping that all over the country / world to various store fronts. Go to any store that sells computer games (still) and there's pretty much nothing there. The boxes sure have gotten smaller, but in some cases, all you're buying is a card that gives you steam credit towards the download.

 

 

I'm kind of excited to see what's going to happen... but I suspect that the big media companies had better be prepared for a significant shift in their business model. Especially now that it's considered illegal to provide more bandwidth to some vendors and slow down bandwidth to others (like what Verizon was doing). I think that if there are "game systems" available, they'll be far more geared to providing more speed / power / storage / capability... and I expect there will probably even become a better standard for developing applications cross-platform.

 

 

People like me, I'll still keep my physical media from back in the day... but I'm slowly warming up to it. I've bought a bunch of games off GoG that are non-DRM, and I do own a couple of games that I bought directly through Steam that are certainly DRM. Like RimWorld...

 

Interesting times we live in.