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DVD sales have already peaked. They peaked in 2007 and have been in decline since then.
On-demand and streaming subscription services have been growing every year.
Now, you're arguing that there are some people who can't or won't get Netflix because they don't have broadband. Sure. Netflix isn't the only competitor in that space. We're also looking at on-demand cable and satellite and DVRs.
So, yes, there is a non-zero number of people who are going to continue to buy physical media over the next several years instead of subscribing to on-demand services. It's unlikely that they're going to comprise more than a minority niche market. I don't think that we'll see the last DVD printed in 5 years, but we will reach a point soon where it is no longer a given that every movie release sees a DVD printing.
What all or nothing?
You are the one with the unicolour perspective here. You are seeing the situation where DVDs will die because people will just stream shit or the like. And that's it.
And I am saying there are HUGE swaths of people in the same media market as those above who have no access to these alternatives. Or no practical access. Or extremely limited access.
You are ignoring all these people in your analysis. The infrastructure and/or the services do not exist to switch these people off physical media. And the idea that it will in time to kill physical media within 5 years is pretty ludicrous considering there aren't even hints of planned movement in that direction, let alone actual movement.
Your analysis only works if everyone is like the situation you are familiar with. And that's simply not true.
Like I said above, there were places Blockbuster was making money. Think about that and maybe re-evaluate your assumptions. They do not hold everywhere.
Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at with my last response to Halfhand - I'm not saying you won't ever find DVDs or Blu-Rays in stores come 2017 or whatever. I'm saying that by then, their prominence on shelves will have been marginalized considerably.
That all or nothing, Shryke. I'm talking a slow, gradual marginalization. You keep using terminology that doesn't allow for anything even remotely resembling a curve. Just a binary on/off. My assumptions don't have to hold EVERYWHERE. Just in a large enough majority that it seems financially beneficial. The rest will be taken care of by the older, marginalized model until they can catch up.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
No you don't, because all horse and buggies were destroyed by the automobile.
You can huff about it all you want, there exist large numbers of people who currently lack the ability to switch completely from physical media. And there is little to no indication these people will be not still be large in number 5 years from now. And as long as they exist, they will be catered to because it'd be fucking stupid not to.
The sitatuation that allows one to abandon physical media is not as widespread as you assume.
Well, I guess you might see only Blu-ray, but even that I wouldn't count on.
I don't see any way they are going to be cutting tons of people out of their media markets in 5 years.
5 years (10 at the outset) is slow & gradual considering, as Feral pointed out, the peaking of this medium happened 4 years ago already. That there are "large" numbers unable to switch from physical to streaming isn't even something I'm arguing. What I'm saying is that the "large" number will likely be dwarfed by then, simply looking at how it's already declining, how streaming is rising, and the history of home video. I'm also NOT saying those large numbers won't be catered to. In fact, I allowed for that already, multiple times. I'm saying that catering will be, by then, a secondary market.
Geek: Remixed - A Decade's worth of ruined pop culture memories
Xbox Live - Fatboy PDX
The switch from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray is the same: buy a new machine and it's done. The switch from physical media to streaming involves many more factors out of the consumer's control.
And in what way are DVD sales already declining? What rate? Among what groups? Because all that is very relevant here.
For exmple: to create a simplistic model, we had half the population with highspeed no-cap internet and half with only dial-up, you would still expect to see a rapid-decline in physical media sales as streaming is introduced, but that decline would eventually bottom out without killing the physical media market.
Now I wouldn't guess on what the actual percentages or differences between groups here are, but I think you are seriously kidding yourself if you think the group for whom non-physical options are problamatic isn't large enough to keep physical media from becoming a secondary market. Especially one that doesn't receive all releases or the like.
Well, that's why I keep mentioning services as well.
Netflix actually exists up here in Canada. It just sucks. And not just because of bandwith caps, but because the selection is crap.
There's too many people these days catching on that "Hey, digital distribution is a huge money maker!" for this to go smoothly.
On the other hand, it really needs to be seamless for someone like me who uses both services. I don't want a lot of extra work to manage two queues. Adding a game service is great, but availability needs to be far, far better than Gamefly and that's not a cheap prospect.
And the new name just sucks.
I guess I'm one of those people that didn't mind the price hike or this new development. I don't think people realize how much Netflix is going to have to pay for streaming rights when their current contracts run out this year (http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/08/technology/netflix_starz_contract/index.htm). They raised prices to stay profitable, just like any company would and just like anyone that complains about the pricing would if they were in charge.
Anyway, I'm cool with this. I get great joy out of having little red envelopes in my mailbox and even greater joy being able to watch a ton of movies or TV shows whenever I want. They'll have do something way worse than up their prices a bit to lose me as a customer.
Into MMA, pro wrestling, fitness, health, drinking coffee and reading.
Height: 5' 11" Weight: 217 Goal: 200
It was like "We had a meeting and realized we could be SO MUCH BETTER. We could do SO MUCH MORE. All we needed to do was separate streaming and DVDs!"
And then there is a bit of filler.
And then it's like *cough* "Oh yeah but that means we have to jack up your prices."
Uh huh. Be so much better, do so much more. Right.
Don't care about how "seamless" the experience is. I already use NetFlix, Hulu, and Crackle.
Edit: So, I'm assuming everyone got an email with that blog post?
SODOMISE INTOLERANCE
Tide goes in. Tide goes out.
This is me right here. I use Gamefly, Netflix and a service called MMA Vault that I get martial arts training DVDs from. I'm used to working with multiple queues. Some people act like it's the end of the world that they might have another queue to deal with, but that's just how I've been rolling for over a year now. It's just not that big of a deal to me.
Into MMA, pro wrestling, fitness, health, drinking coffee and reading.
Height: 5' 11" Weight: 217 Goal: 200
While that's pretty funny, I can't take a person who uses "2" instead of "to" seriously. So fuck Mr. Scheer.
Into MMA, pro wrestling, fitness, health, drinking coffee and reading.
Height: 5' 11" Weight: 217 Goal: 200
That has got to hurt.
SODOMISE INTOLERANCE
Tide goes in. Tide goes out.
Into MMA, pro wrestling, fitness, health, drinking coffee and reading.
Height: 5' 11" Weight: 217 Goal: 200
Nope, SyFy still owns that title.
previously when a physical media format died it was replaced by another better physical media format.
you are talking about the end of physical media entirely which is another thing from DVDs being replaced as the dominant standard.
I mean, couldn't you know, send out a survey to gauge customer feelings? So because you suck at compartmentalizing people should be assed to deal with two different services now? You were better off leaving it the way it was. I think they're trying to save Netflix's streaming from the plummeting stocks, to be honest.
Nintendo ID: Beltaine
3DS: 2423-2361-7857
Steam: beltane77 PSN: Beltaine-77
Especially with Blockbuster dying and people having the ability to download movies/tv shows from amazon, iTunes, Netflix, etc, it is incredibly easy to get a digital version of your show. Plus, most nicer physical media players these days have internet capabilities. My completely tech illiterate parents just bought a blu ray player for their 20 year old CRT massive thing in the living room. They can watch blu-rays with it, just not in high def, but it has a netflix app on it! And an amazon app! It's ridiculously easy for them to get digital content. For ANYONE to get digital content.
The only people still using DVDs are those with an existing large collection they have yet to digitize, and those just blindly holding on for dear life.
Where exactly in the US at least, is there a large number of people that desire their media, but do not have a digital interface with which to access it? That instead must go get a DVD from the store or a rental place? I do not think this place exists. Bandwidth caps suck, yes, but even Comcast has a 250gig one. The average household is going to have a hard time breaking that. The average gamer household probably won't have a hard time with that, but even then, that's not going to drive people towards DVDs. It'll drive people to better ISPs. One hopes. Damn Comcast monopoly.
Physical media is simply being replaced by digital media. For instance, music CDs? They still exist (so does VHS...) but they're not massively prevalent anymore.
Reads a little trite and douchey if you ask me. It also feels like it was written like a letter to the shareholders, not a customer.
The blog post is located at http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html?lnktrk=EMP&g=16416E3EE7C406D5E7786459D80B5E270AC0315E&lkid=netflixBlog and it is hilarious. Comment sections are not a wise move on the internet!!
Anyway, it seems like a questionable business decision to me, and raises questions about Netflix management's wherewithall. If you can't compartmentalize two cost structures without seperating them into two companies/services, how do you put your shoes on in the morning without assistance?
People seem to be switching out of spite, not true inconvienience. Which is fine, I guess, but silly. I can't think of any company that offers both by mail and streaming content. There was more than likely a REASON for that. Because no one could figure out how to stay in buisness doing that. And now Netflix is deciding to do that as well.
So if you keep streaming, and decide you hate Qikster (which, based off the name I cant fault you for), and you go to something like Facet (which I hadnt heard of until today) or RedBox...aren't you still managing 2 companies? Redbox has no queue, so that makes it easier in a way, but also has much less of a selection. You still paying for 2 seperate services. Just like Netflix and Quikster.
If you decide you hate Quikster and want just streaming...stick with Netflix. You just proved thier point. The selection is as good as anything else I've seen online. I have both Netflix streaming only and Hulu+. Hulu+ lets me watch shows that just aired, but has no movies. Netflix has some decent shows not on Hulu, and a decent (but in need of improvement) movie selection. If you leave Neflix just because...I really don't understand the mentality behind that.
Yes, having a nice, all in one thing for physical and streaming media was nice, but a lot of things in life are nice and end up going away because of money problems or whatever. Netflix offered something really great, and no longer can. That's sad, but I'd rather they retool and restructure before they go under.
Video games are a nice bonus.
That name is utterly stupid though.
No, the problem is that they totally can continue to offer something great. They just, for some reason I don't think anyone can properly articulate, decided not to.
Then again, if this videogame part isnt too much more I may just switch to it. It would have to be reasonable. Like 12 dollars for both. But I doubt it will be. In which case I may just drop qwikster and get gamefly.
Hollywood saw that Netflix made money off of streaming and now wants their slice and a big slice it must be. That is the reason behind this right there.
Borderlands 2 PA Xbox Metatag - Bazillion Guns
I dont think anyone can articulate it because no one understands that they can't
The rates for the rights to streaming shows are astronomical now. They just raised rates and people went INSANE. And even after rasing rates, they STILL couldn't agree on anything with Starz so they're losing them. The content providers gave them all this great stuff at an insane bargain and now all those contracts are up, and they want, in some cases, 10 times the amount. For Mad Men ALONE it cost them $75-$100 MILLION DOLLARS. They can't keep pouring money into the streaming side of things while the DVD side isn't really doing all that well at the same time.
If they COULD do it, they absolutely would. Everyone loves making money. This needed to happen, and it is way, way less a deal than everyone is making it out to be.
Nintendo ID: Beltaine
3DS: 2423-2361-7857
Steam: beltane77 PSN: Beltaine-77
I was one of them!
I'd consider the streaming service if it wasn't mostly old shit I don't want to watch
You already have a separate subscription plan for streaming and DVD. They are just going to flip a switch and whatever sub model you chose for DVD-by-Mail will become a 'Qwikster' account. Your queue and whatnot will just shift over.
This isn't a big deal for me. I already canceled my cable TV which is going to save me about 120 dollars a month. I am looking forward to this, especially if the selections for online streaming get better.
I'll probably end up doing more with the video game rentals than I will with blu-rays, etc.
This neo-feudalism would be more tolerable if our betters had fancy titles.
Why does any of this mean that they have to break up queues, and searching, and reviews, etc?