Zidane's Poll of the Week #332

[Zidane]

Yeah, I'm late, but I've been busy. Sorry.

The other day my mother decided to start reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy after I gave her the first book in the series. After she finished the first book she went out and bought The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, not knowing about the book in between it, The Girl Who Played with Fire. She was upset, but now that she has an iPad I told her to buy a digital copy and she now loves the service!

However, she still loves the feeling of having a book in her hands, and may or may not go back to the service.

Do you think digital distribution may take over?

I know we've had this question before, but I decided to ask again anyway.

[Tingle]

For cheap things like music or movies, I prefer digital copies, but for more expensive things like games, I prefer hard copies. I don't think digital distribution will completely take over, but it will become the dominant means of distribution.

[Mirr0rR3flection]

No I don't think so. People like myself still want hard copies. I want to be able to make money from it, trade it in, or have it incase something happens to my console/handheld. Or even better, be able to play my hard copy when my internet is down.

[Mako]

Yes, it is only a matter of time before everything becomes digital. Music, movies, tv shows, video games, books, etc. will all eventually be digital only as we move towards the future. The only thing holding this back is lack of high speed internet everywhere and people still enjoying actually holding the product/ having the actual product instead of it being on a hard drive. I think the high speed internet problem will eventually be fixed as we move forward because it will get faster and cheaper, and even if you live in the middle of no where there is still 3G/ 4G in most places. The only thing really holding it back is having a physical copy, but I think past generations care more about this than current generations and especially future generations.

[thresholdXCI]

I think there'll be a middle ground with both available. One might become dominant, but I still think we'll see physical things. They have some inherent advantages. You can't lend people digital films, games, music or books - or sell them. It's not as fun to collect them. And it's always much nicer to give and receive actual objects as gifts (you know for birthdays, Christmas etc).