 |
These DVD-writing formats are all incompatible with one
another; while one or another will eventually become the de facto standard, the
near-future will be rife with clashes between formats, debating the pros and cons of
various standards, and other various techno-bickering. Much as VHS clashed with Betamax
two decades previous, so too shall the sundry DVD standards battle for public acceptance;
years may pass before a format is definitively hailed as the "standard"
DVD-writing technology. Regardless of which--if any--standard is agreed upon, the availability of cheap, massive, optical storage is destined to change the face of information commerce as we know it. Possession of a medium is no longer indicative of the right to use the content located on that medium. Compact discs are easily duplicated; software can be installed from one disc onto many different computers; serial numbers and passwords are freely transferable. Cheap data storage technology will compel content-producers to switch to alternate forms of property licensing: forced serial number registration, keys with a fixed lifetime, or the like. In an era of dirt-cheap media, having the media will become independent of having the ability to use what’s on it. |