Warner Goes Blu!

Hard not to notice the next-generation, high-definition disc, format war that's been imposed upon us consumers by the Blu-ray Disk Association and the DVD Forum. You may or may not understand it, but with the advertisements on movie releases and their prominence in Best Buy and Circuit City retail stores throughout North America, chances are you at least know of the existence of Blu-ray and its competitor, HD-DVD. Here's a quick rundown: First Blu-ray had the upperhand with a larger installed base (thanks to the built-in player in PS3's) and more studios supporting it. Then HD-DVD got Paramount to go exclusively HD-DVD (rumored for a sum of $150 million) and sold players at Wal-Mart for around $100 over a weekend, improving their install base. So up until yesterday, we were at a stalemate.

Yesterday, Warner Bros., one of the largest producers of movies and t.v. shows in the world, announced that due to sales figures, they were going to go exclusively Blu-ray by May 2008 (That noise you're hearing is coming from those guys still partying over at the Blu-ray camp). Subsequently, HD-DVD responded to the decision by expressing their "particular disappointment," reaffirming their "belief that HD-DVD is the format best suited to the wants and needs of the consumer" and that they were canceling their press conference at CES, the biggest consumer electronics trade show. In the words of Ryan Block over at Engadget: daaamn. 

Personally, I haven't put much money in the war myself. I bought a PS3, which incidentally is a Blu-ray disc player, and I bought 300 on Blu-ray (sick movie!). That's all! This is because, like many people, I'm waiting (or was waiting) for a definitive winner. Let's say that these latest developments are reassuring me and my purchases quite a bit. 

D.E.

Source: Engadget (Warner story) / Engadget (HD-DVD story)

DRM on its Death Bed: Warner Finally Caves!

Ever since Steve Jobs called on the music labels to remove DRM from their digital music sales, the labels have been seeing the light and falling in line. Though it hasn't been amazing for the iTunes Music Store so far (cross your fingers for Macworld!), Amazon has greatly benefited from it, now receiving the entire Warner music catalog DRM-free. Warner Music Group representative said, "We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music." Glad to see they're finally getting the picture! Warner's catalog combined with EMI's (in March) and Universal's (in August) catalogs, now puts the Amazon's store's repertoire at a total of 2.9 million DRM-free tracks. Not too shabby at all. Problem is, and this is probably due to the music labels, Amazon's DRM-free store is only available in the United States. When will they understand that these kinds of tactics only hurt those who actually purchase their music and not those who wish to pirate? And while I'm at it, I'll just add that Canada isn't a nation of pirates. I'll refer you to Michael Geist's little video for that argument. But then again, Amazon's store may just be a test shop. Here's hopin' there's more good news in the coming year...

D.E.

Source: Wired

Image Source: Greg Palmer on Flickr