Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

Netflix announced today that they would be offering their users the ability to stream movies straight from the Netflix website. As a diehard fan of the service, even though it only takes movies a day or so to reach me, having the ability to log on to the website, and stream the movie right then and there, is pretty cool. Along with instantly accessible downloadable music, and now that more and more TV shows are available as downloads from iTunes or from the TV networks’ websites, this service is yet another step — for movies — towards an on-demand everything/Attention Economy mindset. That will leave publishing as the last of the entertainment mediums that has yet to really embrace the concept.

From the NY Times story: “In the case of online movies, two forces, one technological and one commercial, are keeping the market from developing more quickly. On the technological front, it is still difficult to deliver various Internet video formats to a TV screen. And on the commercial front, movie studios are leery of piracy and, more important, are fearful of cannibalizing their existing distribution businesses.”

NY Times: Netflix to Deliver Movies to the PC