(via Lost Remote): You can either buy into Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ vision (see below), or you may believe in IBM’s vision, which sees as things being more seamless…
Anyway, according to IBM researchers, due to technologies evolving, it may be possible for a studio to simply sell a customer the right to view a movie in the format of his or her choice — at home, in a theater, or on a portable device — rather than just selling a ticket to a performance.
Saul Berman, lead author of a research paper by IBM, writes in a paper that subscription services will make a comeback in entertainment, as opposed to the pay-as-you-go model of music download stores. Berman said more powerful digital devices with large hard disk drives that could regularly link to the Web would ease the transformation to streaming, subscription services.
“The main difference that doesn’t exist now is portability. What is going to potentially change the equation — and it is going to take time — is when people realize how much they are spending for songs digitally,” he said.
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