THE EVER SHRINKING BLU-RAY WINDOW

Written by Joe Tetreault | 30 December 2010

THE EVER SHRINKING BLU-RAY WINDOW Christian Toto speculates that Blu-Ray sales will soar in 2011, no doubt, with many players available for less than $100 players are jumping off shelves.  But Toto is right to question how long this surge in the media will last. Using the anecdote of myself as a guide, my biggest interest in buying movies came in my late teens. And at that time, movies were released on VHS in two categories, priced for sale (between $19.95 and $29.95) and priced for rental (often times north of $90 at retail). Such were the advantages of holding a monopoly of distribution.

If the market of eager and enthusiastic movie buyers are in a similar age demographic as I was when last I was an eager and enthusiastic movie buyer, late teens, early to mid twenties, when the magic of cinematic storytelling becomes interesting to study and comprehend, then the window is ever shorter.  The older demographics are more hesitant to adopt new technologies, and those that do upgrade are unlikely to buy new versions of films already in their collections.  The young folks already carry around thousands of songs on their phones.  Are they keen to clutter their space with media when it can be streamed and downloaded?  I'm not a young folk, but I don't want to.  And my guess is neither will they.  First quarter of 2011 and maybe even until summer they'll sell well.  After that, fughedaboudit.