The other problem with streaming is that I just don't believe everything will be at your fingertips I think that's a pipe dream. Look how long it has taken them to put African Queen on DVD.
Companies like Criterion will get stronger in the future I believe they will always have an audience that wants the care and restoration they put into these works of art,I don't see that disappearing.

you have replacement beds, tables, cars, dishwashers, tvs, etc? the idea of back-ups for digital media is certainly an anomaly when set against the rest of our lives.

What a strange idea! On the one hand you seem to imagine that companies will be able to guarentee availability of content beyond their own lifetime, while at the same time placing your faith in the infalibility of market forces to shape the future. Quite how do you imagine companies can promise to do anything after they are no longer in buisness?

Incidentally I'm not sure where you think all this money will come from to provide multiple back-up servers for all the record companies. All additional expenses will incur additional costs which will have to be met (ultimately) by raised prices for goods/services, hence damaging the rise of this particular business model. The technology exists to provide streaming movies right now in a far more professional and satisfactory manner (from a consumers stand point). However things haven't happened that way, and there's very good reason for that: money. As an analogy look at transistors. Those used in the overwhelming bulk of consumer electronics are of pretty poor quality and far better transistors are available and have been for a long time. Why then are the higher quality transistors not used? Cost. The transistors in your computer are cheap as chips and lend themselves to easy mass manufacture. Similarly multiple redundancies for streaming media might seem like a desirable feature, however with multiple streaming companies competing against each other it will be the ones which deliver the lowest price to consumers (at acceptable levels of perceived value) which will prove victorious.

All else being equal streaming is a wonder future, but its supremecy in the home theatre market is based on a series of unlikely assumptions; bandwidth availability; server reliability; buisness longevity; growth of consumer interest in rental vs retail; technological education of the consumer; etc. I think this brave new world is further in the future than some would like to believe.

What you get depends on what contracts have been signed. I was checking netflix streaming the other day and noticed that many of the BBC programs had an expiration date on them. Once they expire do they vanish. Glad I have my discs on hand.

We can lose too much all at once without backups, these other items tend to hold up rather well and can be replaced without too much trouble, I never understand when people do not backup their data, one crash and they lose everything, too much of a risk. Of course I do not backup my movies on dvd or blu-ray because they are on discs and not stored in one location.

I do backup all photographs (scanned all photos that were never digital) and have a fireproof area for personal items like that. There is no reason not to backup information, does not cost much to do and it all fits in a small device.

Like has been said, physical media has a lot of life left in it yet. As much as people in cities like to think their was is the way of the country, there still are large stretches of America that don't have broadband internet, along with a big part of the population that isn't all up on this techie stuff. So we're at least 20 years out from a totally streaming world (if that even ever happens). What's more likely is the two things will coexist. Disc based media will become more niche as more folks move to streaming, but it's always going to be there, like records are now.

I also agree that everything won't be at your fingertips, but that's nothing new. Everything isn't at our fingertips now on DVD. Even if something has come out, there are tons of OOP, region specific, and altered versions of movies out there. Sure, if a movie exists in physical form you can still hunt it down, but that can be tough and expensive.

I think the best thing about digital is that it levels the market. OOP essentially becomes a thing of the past. Movies will just cost what they cost, and not go up in price because they're scarce. The flip side to this, though, is that movies might not get marked down. I look at the digital distribution on something like Xbox and see how selective MS is with how they mark stuff down, and I do worry. That's why I think subscription is the way to go, like Netflix, instead of ala carte. But both should be offered.

I know a few of my friends and family members have gone the streaming route but personally, I'm stuck on physical media and don't see my self quitting DVD/Blu-ray anytime soon.

Just joined netflix a few weeks ago. I can now avoid buying a bunch of things I'd probably only watch once a year or so (if that). Yay! For example, I've gone through seasons of Law and Order via streaming. Saved at least $50 from that alone (unless I torrented them, of course).

The reality of my collecting is that I already have much of what I really wanted in my collection, there are still a few out there, when I can find them for the kind of $$$ I want to pay, I'll have them too. I don't plan to have the size of collection that some here have, I only want the movies and TV Shows that my wife and I can truly enjoy, and for me those are limited to the genres of SciFi, Fantasy, & Horror, with a sprinkling of Action & Drama for good measure. I can't see buying for the sake of buying, however I'm pretty darned proud of the ones I own now. I don't think that the concept of collecting will ever die for me. -kd5-

If I buy something, I want something to show for what I have paid for. You can't buy and rap up downloads for christmas/birthdays, you can't show and display what you enjoy. I'm sure there will always be a market for physical media, just like online shopping will never fully take over actual shopping.

Other than Criterions (20 in my wish-list), my R1 DVD collecting has come to an end. I'll keep an eye out for the handful of Sony and WB box sets still to be released on DVD, and of course MoC, Second Run and BFI still release worthwhile films on DVD in the U.K., but as far as American releases go, it's pretty much entirely Blu-ray from here on out for me.

Uh, no- what would happen in a world where movies are only available 'digitally' (meaning through the internet and such) is when a company loses the rights to a title, or especially in the case of Disney where they might want to put something on moratorium, that title will not be available AT ALL, whereas currently you can at least find a stray copy of an OOP title. THIS is why I don't support the move away from physical media.

Imagine seeing ads from Disney: "Stream it now, before it goes back in the vault!"

Aren't libraries supposed to put book stores out of business? Oh wait...now it's kindle.

email was supposed to put paper manufacturers out of business

It's a scary thought but there will ALWAYS be a market for psychical media IMO even if it is small and underground. I will never stop collecting.

Psychical Media, You IMAGINE you have this Title! :

I just know there's a funny picture for this quote somewhere on the internet.