Even before reading the article, the mere existance of that headline makes me want to support Sony, even if I hadn't like Blu-Ray before.

Reading through that it's pretty obvious what's driving Sony. They want to have us by the short and curlies when it comes to content control, no ability to stream the content we've payed for around our homes, no ability to backup expensive content and probably no way for us mere mortals to author content for our customers either. If you doubt that try finding out how to author a UMD for a client.
I say letting the one company own content and provide the delivery systems for that content is a very dangerous situation indeed. I'm now seeing that this isn't a battle over rival technologies, it's a battle for control over content, how and when we can view it and what we can do with it.
Bob.

You're right of course, Bob, but Microsoft is doing exactly the same thing. This is part of why Gates is pissed off too, because Sony won't be blindly following the Longhorn path, either. Everybody wants control, and while it's going to be a pain in the butt...we're the ones who allowed it to happen.
The question isn't WHAT controls will be placed on media in the future, it's WHO will be the dominant controller.

Yes but Microsoft isn't a content providor, certainly they want to make money out of us buying their content delivery systems and the more flexible that is the more uptake there'll be of it and the more money Microsoft will make.
We can currently encode to WMV or WMA and our clients can view/listen to that without uSoft getting an extra dime. Certainly if I want uSoft to provide a mechanism for content control then we have to pay uSoft a dime but we're not beholden to them unless we think we want / need that.
The Apple / Sony cartel wants a pay per view model, they see content as being where the money is but this is a very outdated business model and one that has side effects that work against the interests of us little fish. The money isn't so much in content anymore it's in the pipes that deliver that content. The telcos have made a motsa firstly out of music piracy and now out of movie piracy, the larger downloads needed for HiDef content have them laughing all the way to the bank, the money isn't in the 'water' anymore, it's in the 'pipes' and that's where the smart money should be. I suspect Bill who'se no fool knows this and unlike Steve he's not beholden to the content providors, just look at how long it took for DivX to turn up on the Mac platforms, why was that?
Bob.

"Reading through that it's pretty obvious what's driving Sony. They want to have us by the short and curlies when it comes to content control, no ability to stream the content we've payed for around our homes, no ability to backup expensive content and probably no way for us mere mortals to author content for our customers either. If you doubt that try finding out how to author a UMD for a client."


BINGO!

It ain't "Bingo"....there is a lot more there to be said.
Keep in mind that NO ONE had a clue that UMD was going to be so popular, so marketing, sales, or other internal forces dropped the ball there.
As far as backup, content control, that all still lies with the author. I don't see any difference between that, and having CSS and Macrovision available in DVDArchitect. Oops, except that Longhorn's current technology may easily prevent us from accessing our own media.

Well, the day music boxes at the dinner table became a big hit, $$$ for content delievery became a reality. Cable, cell phones, pay per view, car leasing,etc, has lower the customer's concept of ownership rights.

Surely the big question that does impact us here is how are we going to author and duplicate any of these formats. I'd suspect the big end of town is too busy worrying about their vested interests to have given that much if any thought.
To date at least the system Sonic have come up with seems the most viable for us and we can do it now and our clients don't need to buy a proprietary system beyond a decent PC to access the content, something they've most likely already got.
Bob.

I'm not sure of your question, Bob. Authoring to Blu-Ray is nearly here, as are the delivery devices for the consumer. Authoring for UMD can't be all that far off either. It's just a transitional phase right now, that's all.
You were around when DV hit, and when other new formats like CD, cassette, DVD hit...it's not much different. There is a transitional phase that will shake out, I believe. Some of us just like being on the bleeding edge too much.

The Hollywood studios would do anything to get back to their total domination of the past - quality and independent film is their nemesis. It is now looking like Blu-ray is a tool they will use to sell their products on a pay-per-view basis and inhibit small and independent studios who can not get a showing on the cable and satellite channels. Microsoft's monopoly of technology is not so disastrous for the independent film maker as a return to Hollywood's monopoly of content.

I'm placing my money on Betamax!!! Yeah, I think it's finally gonna beat VHS this time around!

"Surely the big question that does impact us here is how are we going to author and duplicate any of these formats"

I think what farss means is how are we poor indpendent media producers going to create one-offs (as we do now for DVD) for our clients? Which system will be more expensive? Who is going to try to hit us with liscensing costs? What's the gear going to cost? Just by looking at data capacity alone, one could easily project that a blue-ray recorder is going to be more expensive than a HD-DVD recorder -- simply because the recording process will be more complex.

What advantages that content distributers like about blu-ray may have may just backfire in the marketplace. We're now a majority of people who are computer literate, and those who live by file sharing are going to be the heavy consumers of these products in their projected life span. For example, a lot of people believe when they buy a CD, they OWN it (although we know different) and can do what the want ... rip it, ipod, copies to friends, compilations, etc. Are the restrictions Hollywood (and others) want to put on this content (i.e. can't transport it from player to a display elsewhere) going to sit well with these folks?

Remember DIVX disks, a competitor to DVD? They were cheaper, but playback was restrricted. That went downhill fast.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Actually, Blu-Ray was a writable format from the beginning.

Anyone?
Anywhere?
Seems to have bounced like a dead cat, which is a pity, I kinda liked the retro new age idea of it.
Bob.