Although interesting to hear King's take on it, the article didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

I do agree, however, that the analogy is a fairly good one. Not perfect, but much better than the music analogy people keep trying to make, which doesn't fit at all. With books, there are two distinct classes that most people will have: those people read once, and those they collect (those that furnish a room).

Imagine a world where the only way you could read the new 70th Anniversary Edition of The Hobbit (which features some amazing illustration plates, both in black-and-white as well as full color). Or if that isn't your cup of tea, substitute your own favorite book. Books like that deserve a place in our libraries. On the other hand, The latest paperback novel, or even a semi-great work of literature that may only be of passing interest to you, then an electronic form of distribution makes perfect sense. The kind of books that get traded to used book stores, or sold at garage sales, those are a perfect fit for that type of media.

There are a few areas where the movie/book analogy might be less than perfect, such as the fact that, with the Kindle being a portable device, it seems somewhat limiting to only be able to purchase books from one source. King claims that is only a limitation "for now", but I don't see Amazon allowing other services to access their device anytime soon. For a VOD-type movie player used for rentals, that is slightly less of an issue.

And, there are some areas that demonstrate the inherent flaws with ANY form of digital media-less delivery. For example, sharing. My wife and I can go to the bookstore, pick up a couple of books, and each be reading a different book at the same time, and then switch. Likewise, we can buy or rent a movie, and then share it with others. There is no way that is ever going to be allowed with digital delivery of either kind of media. You want to watch the movie/read the book at your house? Get your own copy.

I basically agree with the rest of your post, but you lost me if you think music is any different. People either buy classics or rent (download) the fluff. Even the used book/music store point remains. Ever look at the stock of most used CD stores? Usually the flash in the pan stuff everybody purchased, listened to while it was the hip thing to do, and then all but gave them away to the reseller. Now those people will just download the songs and delete them when the next big thing comes along.

I think it is different, personally.

Even a CD I'm not all that keen on will probably be played at least 6 or 7 times all the way through. On the other hand, very few of my books have been read more than twice. The overwhelming majority of DVDs, HD DVDs, and Blu-ray discs in my collection have only been spun once. I'd bet most people with a remotely sizeable collection of books or DVDs don't revisit what they've picked up to any great extent, but with music, they probably do.

I might like a particular song enough on a CD to put it on just to listen to that, but I wouldn't re-read my favorite chapter in a novel alone or put on a DVD just to watch one scene. I can have a CD playing in the background, but a book or a movie would require my attention to be directly focused that way.

I know any analogy can be picked apart, and I'm not trying to be one of those guys, but the time commitment and accessibility for music are different enough that I look at it as being a very different beast from DVDs and books.

Well, since I psotiong about whether people would buy the CD or download the music, you went in a different direction. I do agree with what you posted, but it's all about how they purchase it, not how people enjoy the music after the purchsed it.

Going in that direction I beleive the biggest difference would be people often listen to their music in the car or while jogging. At least I hope people are not watching their DVD's or reading while driving or jogging.

I watch stuff on my Blackberry while I do my fast-paced walks. It makes the walks go by a lot faster.

I actually would say that I revisit my books somewhere in between DVDs and CDs. Music gets a lot of play in the car - if it wasn't for that, books would win, hands down.

I would say a majority of the 150-200 books or so I have have been read at least 3 times. Some (Robin Hobb, LOTR, Asimov) have probably been read at least 9-12 times in the past 10-15 years or so - although a few of the early readings when I was a kid were possibly library books.

On the other hand, it would be a slim majority of my movies/DVDs that have revisited more than 3 times since purchase, with the majority having only been watched once I would guess. Then again DVDs haven't been around as long.

For me, being a big reader, the Kindle idea is cool. It would easier to carry the Kindle around on a trip than the 2-3 books I normally pack (I read pretty fast, so I need at least a couple of books per trip).

But I have no interest in digital downloads, especially DRM-protected / proprietary ones. Say I buy a book from Amazon, I'd be willing to pay a few more bucks for a non-DRM'd digital copy to use on a device like this. But it isn't replacing a book.
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The Kindle service could compete well with the library - I tend to buy books used instead of going to the library, as I tend to ring up a lot of late fees with the library. I'd pay a couple of bucks for a month or two book rental. Or some sort of subscription fee ala Rhapsody/Napster for book access.

I feel the same way about movie downloads. I wouldn't mind replacing rentals with downloads/VOD of some sort. But not ownership.

For Samsung BD-1400 owners, they have finally released a new firmware version. "Improves playback compatibility"

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/do...sp_nm=BD-P1400

Also makes that crosswalk sign harder to see so you get run over by a semi. ;)

There are two reasons why I consider the music model to be significantly different from the book/movie model.

First, for the overwhelming majority of music listeners, it is a "background" activity. By that I mean that, with a few exceptions, people listen to music while doing other things - driving, exercising, working, cooking, cleaning the house, having a party - whatever it might be. Yes, there are some people who immerse themselves in the music experience, but they make up a really small percentage of the music-listening public. Movies and books, on the other hand, are, by and large, primary focus activities (annoying kids with their cell phones at the local multiplex notwithstanding ;)). Although there are times when someone might have a movie on "in the background", that isn't really the way most people partake of that form of entertainment most of the time. And with books (paper books, not audiobooks), reading does consume almost all of your conscious thought.

The second reason I don't think the comparison is valid is that there really isn't a comparable rental model for music as there is for movies -- and, in a manner of speaking, for books (libraries and used book stores, for example). Whether it is on CD or downloaded from iTunes, people buy their music, they don't rent it. And unless they find that they really don't like a song or album, chances are it will be replayed numerous times. For many movies and books, however, there is the very real notion of a "I only need to read/watch this thing once" mentality.

Because of these differences, I personally don't think it is fair to use the success (or lack thereof) of music downloads as a barometer for whether or not digital downloads will ever be a replacement for physical media when it comes to books and movies. Others may, of course, disagree. :)

This is why I walk at night, and the car headlights hit my peripheral vision easily, and I adjust my route accordingly.

Sin City really should be along soon. They use it in the trailer for Blu-ray in some movies. Really would like to get and the Kill Bills.

Just because its on the trailer doesn't mean it will actually come out. How long have we seen Shawshank Redemption being advertised or Batman Begins on Blu-ray? Years....

Rather than speculate when Sin City, Batman Begins, or Lawrence of Arabia will come out, I choose to use this post to mourn the passing of a week gone by with no major Blu-ray announcements. :hairpull:

Hey guys, is there any reviews on 'Night of the Werewolf/Vengeance of the Zombie' BD that came out recently?

None of the sites covered by www.hddb.net have reviewed it. Dan's working on getting a copy of this and BCI's other titles for DVD Talk.

Groovy, Thanks for the heads up - I am current waiting on trades to go through at DVDPlanet. I havent seen these films in along time and was wondering how they transfered...

From my understand they were transfered in Full Screen... Well at least that is what DDD has posted on their site about these features. They are also seperated onto two disc; one feature per disc.

I would really think that they would squeeze both of these onto one disc.

You too? I'm waiting on $300 in store credit from them. I'm gonna go nuts after that (I tell myself that now but will probably just buy a handful of BD titles and then save the rest of my credit for new BD releases as they street).

These are the same transfers used for the DVDs, so Vengeance of the Zombies is full-frame, which is considered to be incorrect but what was supplied by the licensor. It also suffers from some nasty ghosting. Return of the Werewolf should be widescreen, like the DVD.

Christ, Dood! :lol:

I think half the board are waiting on DVDPlanet to 'get caught up'. I sent my items out to DVDPlanet on 12.28 - and each time I've called they've had different answers for why they havent gotten to my items yet.

Finally, they just fessed up to not being caught up yet from Christmas time.

From what they've said (CSR), Their Returns crew are the ones responsible for used also - it will take a further 7 days to process orders.

BAH!!! lol

I just finished watching the 1st one on my BD30... started out with the 5.1 DD track, but I was getting the center dialogue through all my speakers, so I switched to the original mono mix (Japanese) and watched it that way with no glitches at all (maybe the 5.1 was causing the freezing?). Most shots are on the soft side, so I sure wouldn't use it to demo HD, but the print is pretty clean. The only other version I have of this is on the 10 Faces of Chiba set (non-anamorphic) which I don't even remember seeing.... so I think this is a nice upgrade. Great, great stuff, I really enjoyed watching it! Well worth the money so far IMO, now it's time for SSF2, then maybe the other 2 Chiba's this weekend.

You said it perfectly. I agree on all counts.

I think another reason music downloads have been successful is that they have a de facto "standard" in iTunes, which is driven by the iPod (which drives iTunes and so on). Some even just buy it without considering other players because it's all they hear about.

So, will there be an "iPod of the video download box" that causes its standard to be successful? I really don't see one at this time. From the HD game consoles to TiVo/Amazon to AppleTV, there isn't one device that greatly outsells everything else combined.

Nielsen/VideoScan Week Ending 1/20:

BD: 83%, HD DVD: 17%

YTD: BD: 76%, HD DVD: 24%

SI: BD: 64%, HD DVD: 36%

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...27jan2008b.jpg

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ques...2708/index.php

Wow, im amazed to see Planet Earth still up there....I wonder how many copies its sold since it came out.

Forget Planet Earth, Good Luck Chuck at #1????