Constantly moving images

The CEO of “NetFlix”, the US Mail DVD rental company, was interviewed on National Public Radio recently. He was giving his projections about where he believed technology, specifically regarding video technology, will be offering us in the near future. NetFlix has been offering more titles for “immediate download” now thereby positioning itself for when the DVD becomes as obsolete as the Bakelite 78 rpm phonograph record.

Reminiscent of the VHS versus Beta Max wars of a few decades ago, the battle between High-Def and Blu-Ray came to armistice with Blu-Ray declared the victor. It has taken me three years to sort out the difference between Blu-Ray and Blue-Tooth… I don’t use either one at the present time.

Eventually all entertainment content will be online – “streamable” I guess is the term. And I am sure it will come at a cost; both to my wallet and in the number of advertisements I will be required to sit through. I said wallet? -- More likely electronic debit from my bank account. With i-pods and i-phones, we are headed toward ponying up more money to watch epic films on a screen less than two inches square. For a kid who grew up on Cinerama, I personally think it’s a step backwards.

Already music CD’s are fading as a media market. Over half the music purchased today is paid for a song at a time and downloaded into an i-Pod or i-whatever. In the NPR article the correspondent asked the NetFlix CEO, “What’s next – hearing music from a chip surgically implanted in our brains?” Laughter… but it was nervous laughter.

I have two old Hi-Fi sets (that’s “High Fidelity” for you youngsters) that were built into furniture quality mahogany cabinets. One of these I gutted and turned into a bar. The other I gutted and turned into a stereo cabinet. It’s odd to think that even my stereo system will soon be obsolete. What do I do with the beautiful cabinet? I don’t need a second bar.

Much of the content on the Internet now is free. Expect that to change also. YouTube is already mulling over ways to begin charging people to view the content. Information is a commodity and commodities are sources of revenue.

I am considering the options of charging all of you to read my blog.