With the advent of the digital age, many mediums, institutions, and business models are dying because of the Internet or the advancement of technology. This article examines a few that I’m sure many of you will agree with.

CDs/DVDs

Music downloads are off to a huge head start in the digital age versus movie downloads. New businesses have been created as a result of digital downloads (iTunes, anyone?), and as people grow more and more comfortable downloading music content online, it’s possible that you may see some forward thinking major labels resort to digital sales only. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening until the digital generation become executives of the major labels.

The movie studios are still trying to hold onto their old business model of theater release, DVD/video release, Pay-Per-View, and then finally cable offerings of their films. However, I predict some (the smaller/independent studios) may take a bold step forward and think different by offering choices in how you receive your content. While there are some studios experimenting with simultaneous releases of films through DVD, theaters, and downloads on the same day, this is an extremely radical idea in Hollywood, which is reluctant to change their model.

For both the music and movie industry, they have two choices: adapt or die. The digitalization of content is not going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately, as the two industries adapt to the digital world, there will be an increase in DRM.

Music Stores

Tower Records went up in smoke, and many other chain retailers and individually owned music stores have followed. In my city alone, I can’t find a music store around for miles; several years ago there were at least five on my side of town alone. Now, there is only one: a small independent shop. While you can purchase CDs in large retailers like Wal‑Mart, Target, and Best Buy, it doesn’t offer the same experience and diverse collection as a music store. With global sales of music CDs decreasing every year, the music store, once a prominent institution in everybody’s life, will become extinct with the increasing popularity of digital downloads.

The Evening News/Newspapers

Believe it or not, there was a time when the only way to find out the day’s news was to sit down and tune in at 6:00 p.m. with your favorite news anchor. Of course, CNN came along and disrupted that model as well as other 24-hour news networks. Now, the Internet challenges the evening news and other 24-hour news channels by offering on‑demand news faster than traditional TV. Unlike the evening news, there are more options on what you consider newsworthy and are primarily available on the Internet where there is a wealth of variety.

While there are many who still rush out to grab their morning newspaper, circulation is down everywhere. The news in a newspaper is old news by the time you finish browsing the net for news blogs/sites, watching a 24-hour news channel/online video, or listening to it (as I do) via a podcast. While there is some useful local information in newspapers that may not be as easily available on the net, there may be a time when the presses roll to a final stop.

Desktop PCs

Yes, I know that they’re still around in many places, but the desktop PC is becoming increasingly scarce. With laptops offering portability, cheaper prices, and the same computing power as a desktop, some PC makers are focusing on ramping up their laptop models while decreasing their desktop PC model lines. There was a time when a PC filled the size of a large room and was considered a dinosaur when the first Apple and IBM desktop PCs rolled out. Now, it’s the desktop PC that’s become the dinosaur.

Privacy

Some think Google Earth and Google Street View are genius. They are, indeed, useful tools with an educational or informational purpose, but if you’re one of the innocent people caught in a satellite image or Google’s street cams, you may not be as thrilled. We are already living in an increasingly monitored society where cameras, key logging/monitoring programs on your office machine, and stored Internet search requests are the norm. Soon, there will be machines that will be able to probe your thoughts to identify what you’re thinking before you know what you’re thinking. Wait. We already have that in the making. It’s called Google!

Honorable Mentions:

• Internet Radio Stations – I realize that Internet radio stations are apart of the new medium, but with expensive fee hikes proposed by the Copyright Royalty Board, it’s possible that online radio stations will be silenced for good unless the grassroots effort to save Internet radio succeeds.
• Books – Google has been trying to digitize books for a while now, with resistance from some publishers and authors; however, the pirated release of the new (and final) Harry Potter book via bit torrents may have given us a preview of the future.

Posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 pm in the category:Commentary, Life, Play, The Machine, Web 2.0. Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Comment it , or trackback this post.