DVDs vs. VOD: Increasing Returns or Red Queens?
As a PhD student in Educational Technology a recent course
assignment has me fascinated by the short stories of Philip K. Dick (Wikipedia, 2015) . Many of his stories have been produced into
movies such as Paycheck, Next, Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report.
These movies show technologies that did exist at the time of production, but
many that have emerged in our world today. These days a person can watch movies
in a variety of formats; you purchase them from an online provider like Netflix
or iTunes or your cable company provider, or you can buy the Blu-Ray Disc or
DVD from a store.
For my assignment in Module 4, I purchased and download the
movie Paycheck from iTunes. I had the option to rent it for 3 days or purchase
it, the price difference was only $5.00 so I decided to purchase the movie to
add to my collection. I have collected movies for many years, starting with VHS
tapes. Over the years, as this technology changed to DVDs I replaced most of my
collection with DVDs. Now that I have access to VOD and online movie purchases,
I find myself using my cloud storage to store my movies and enjoy the easy
access to my collection. I also like the space I gained back in my home, by
removing the DVDS from my bookshelves. Another advantage of online movie
storage is the movies do not get scratched or damaged from excessive use. I
still purchase DVDs, but only for my children. Although I have started an
online movie collection for them to access on their iPads,, we still use the
DVD/Blu-ray player for viewing in the car and home. Most DVD movies you
purchase also have a code that you can use to download the movie to your cloud
storage; this is an incredible feature as you get both options for the same
price.
Two of the six forces in emerging technologies are Red Queens: a competition between two
technologies and in the process the others get left behind (Laureate Education, 2014g) and Increasing Returns: two technologies
enter the market at the same time and one becomes more popular driving the
other to extinction (Laureate
Education, 2014e) .
The competition between DVDS, Video on Demand (VOD) is an
example of Red Queens. They both still exist and are available to the consumer.
Neither of these technologies have driven the other to extinction (Increasing
Returns) but VOD is gaining in popularity and I predict it will drive the DVD
to extinction.
McLuhan’s Tetrad (Thornburg, 2013c)
Enhances: VOD
movies provide the consumer with many viewing options. Movies can be viewed on
a computer, tablet, and home theatre system; as well it can be stored on a
cloud storage system.
Retrieval: VOD
rekindles the VHS and Beta tape.
Reversal: VOD
media boxes i.e. apple TVs, bring back the idea of a VHS player. In the past
people used VHS players to watch movies or record TV Shows. Now the consumer
can purchase a PVR or similar device to view movies online, download movies to
their electronic device.
References
Laureate Education. (2014e). David Thornburg:
Increasing returns [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education. (2014g). David Thornburg: Red
queens [Video File]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Thornburg, D. (2013c). Emerging technologies and
McLuhan's laws of media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space
Exploration.
Thornburg, D. (2013d). Red queens, butterflies, and
strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake
Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Wikipedia. (2015). Philip K. Dick. Retrieved
July 12, 2015, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick
