What's The Next Logical Step?

[the blob]

DVD is like the 4th generation method of delivering you your movies. DVDs were simply a method to simplify/enrich that movie delivery experience. so the next/better method comes along and will trump it just like DVDs relegated VHS.

 

Illustrated sequential art has thus far been on paper/parchment or whatever. Has been for thousands of years. Before that it was on cave walls and/or chiseled into stone. Going digital is a big jump.

[Davenport]

I remember being a big time dvd collector 5 years ago and mentioning that dvds would be replaced by streaming videos,and most people over at dvd talk disagreed with me. Here we are 5 years later, and dvds are going the way of cds. It`s going to happen to the monthly comic as well. It might take a little longer, but eventually the downloading of comics books will be the major way to read them. Of course I don`t like it ,but just as I saw the writing on the wall with dvds I see the writing on wall with monthly floppies. Believe me when I brought this up years ago on dvd talk most of the members over there thought I was too optimistic about streaming dvd`s, and they gave me all the same arguments such as how there wasn`t enough bandwidth to download instantly,how I rather own the dvd and hold it in my possession,how I spent thousands on my dvd collection and there is no way I am switching to download streaming, and the most important how Dvd`s are much too popular and ingrained in pop culture so they are immune to change. Well we all know what happened.

Great points. It seems like three things will utimately converge: Increased bandwidth, "on demand" consumer habits, and "mobile" devices. Soon there'll be a Generation that wants whatever media they want, whenever and wherever they want it.

[oakman29]

There is room for all types of medium,as long as it gets comics in kids hands.I will probably never buy digital comics,because I'm just not that computer savvy to care.It will never replace the floppies.

[Logan510]

I think physical media ( be it Blu ray, DVD..what have you ) will last longer than half tab comicbooks as we know them. On Demand is a great service...but, you can't take it over to a friends house. Also, if I watch an HD movie On Demand, the audio / visual quality is not even close IMHO to watching a Blu ray...this will probably change, but who knows when?

[Bfairb]

Digital comics might not put the LCS out of business in the near future as the enthusiasts

are already hooked on a print medium for comics. But the future for the LCS looks bad as new collectors are first introduced to the digital medium. Look no further than the music and movie industry. You don't see many brick and mortar shops any longer. Think ITUNES.

As a consumer I have great flexibility and selections in my buying for both TV and movies.

 

And the margins are great for apple and the music and movie industry. Same as with comics and DC and Marvel, they don't have to physically print or ship anything they just move digital files from server to the consumers hard drive. Then the consumer can download it on to his or her smart phone or an iPad or other tablet device and take it anywhere they like. Look at the ibook model as well.

 

Eventually you wont even need to take up hard drive space as the digital rights owner will keep all the records of your purchases and simply stream your "merchandise" to you when you desire.

 

It bums me out a bit as I am a 45 yr old that grew up loving the tactile feel of paper but that is not what kids are growing up with today. But I also don't buy anything new. I am the stereotypical example of the old guy revisiting the comics of their youth albeit in a much better condition. Kids today are experiencing the world in a whole new way.

The world is evolving as are the various business models.

Brian

 

[Davenport]

It bums me out a bit as I am a 45 yr old that grew up loving the tactile feel of paper but that is not what kids are growing up with today. But I also don't buy anything new. I am the stereotypical example of the old guy revisiting the comics of their youth albeit in a much better condition. Kids today are experiencing the world in a whole new way.

I've got about a decade on you and feel this is a "golden age" for fandom-geeks (like me). Growing up I couldn't imagine a time like now, not in my wildest dream. Waiting all week for a favorite monster movie to come on a black & white tv, crappy drive-in movie speakers and weak projector bulbs, not knowing what some back issue comic book even looked like, unless seeing it at a convention or store.

 

Now is like being rich beyond belief. Everything's available. You can literally have more media content at home than local TV stations and bookstores of the sixties and seventies ever had. It's truly mind-boggling.

[the blob]

Kids today are plenty familiar with paper books. My five year old was ezpected to read a book a night in school ...not ebooks. His HW is on paper. He writes with a pencil. Except for xerox replacing carbon paper he has the same krap I dix 35 years ago.

[the blob]

Though he might be the last class to learn cursive/-script

[dupont2005]

Carbon paper?