In an article I read on Boston.com entitled “Online movie-streaming options may turn discs into dinosaurs” Haiwatha Bray talks about how the dvd and blue ray will eventually go the way of the laser disc and vhs tape as streaming movies through the internet becomes ever increasingly popular.
I agree with a good amount of what the author is talking about because just like any advancement in technology, something old has to go due to a decrease in usability. What bothers me though is that she writes “And a Netflix spokesman said his company fully expects to be renting discs by mail for the next 20 years”. I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement because it only took dvds a few years to take over the VHS market and now with the technology available to stream movies straight to Internet ready televisions in pristine 1080p resolution with no lag its only a matter of time before every household will want to use this technology. There is also a huge advantage for the environment by going through the Internet because there will be less dvds being produced which means less broken discs.
I have only had the chance to use the Netflix application through friends xbox 360’s and I was very impressed with it. one part that really impressed me was that the streaming helps the movie studios cash in on compulsive spending because alot of people are willing to watch a certain movie at a certain time but they either do not want to drive to the store or they do not want to wait the 2-4 days it takes Netflix to reach your mailbox depending on your location. Also with dvd by mail you run the risk of the dvd arriving in a damaged state which can be very frustrating because that means another week of no movie while you wait for them to send you a new one
