The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

There’s something very satisfying about opening a new blu-ray disc or the latest Xbox 360 game.

It’s almost like opening a Christmas present. A cover that displays colourful graphics to illustrate the product you have just purchased, with a brief description and screen shots on the back of it to let you know what you have to look forward to. And when you open up the case of said game or movie, you see it: the round, silver disc laser-imprinted with all the goodness you are anticipating. You take the disc out of the case and, wow, you OWN it! Think about how cool it is to OWN a movie that cost millions of dollars to make. I remember when the 10th anniversary DVD of Reservoir Dogs came out: You could buy the movie with one of four main characters pictured on a cardboard sleeve over the DVD package, either Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink or Mr. White. My friends and I, without consulting each other, each picked up a different "colour" reflecting our tastes and personalities somewhat (I had Harvey Keitel's "Mr. White" character, being a big fan of his early 1990s work). I thought that was pretty cool that we managed to pick up in essence a different copy of the same film.

But I know this is something that won’t last forever. In reality, manufacturing discs and packaging is an expensive and environmentally un-friendly way of selling media to the public. Downloading content is the wave of the future. We can already do so with a cable box or satellite dish, and in just a few clicks we can order any movie or pay per view event offered. My Xbox 360 has an ethernet port for internet hook-up, allowing me to download and purchase old and new games alike and have them permanently stored on my hard drive.

I can imagine a future where a hard drive is either separate from or already pre-installed on your big, widescreen HDTV, with a direct wireless internet connection. You’ll have the option of streaming content or paying an additional fee to have shows & movies permanently stored on your hard drive. No silver discs, no extra packaging: it’ll be all in your computer. And all of your personal electronic items capable of playing back media will all have wi-fi capabilities, all hooked into the same main hard drive in your home to watch, listen or play as you please.

It's fantastic technology will allow us to do this. But still…there’s something about tangible media that can’t be replaced. Ownership of a movie or game is something really special. And having the ability to hold it in your hands, admire it, share it with friends...it’ll be something that one day I’ll miss.