XenonMan, the fall in sales was not very high, just 0.6% in a recessed economy. Unfortunately, I think it's a trend that's starting because of downloads and streaming. And you're right in pointing out that those numbers represent sales and not profits. The profit margins must also be lower in the optical media (DVD & BD) as the cost of manufacturing and specially distribution are higher than in the download and streaming market. So that's another factor why the industry wants to move in that direction. The prices in optical media will definitely decrease as has happened in the CD market in the last few years but it will become a great opportunity for the BD enthusiasts to get really good bargains. I don't know how some users could have lived with a 2GB/month usage limit and those ISPs really hit customers hard ($$$) when they exceed those limits. I had a hard time living with a 30GB/month limit 3 years ago and I have since moved to an ISP that offers an unlimited plan at a much cheaper rate than I use to pay with the larger provider.

I think Kevin and beyond 1000 are also right in that most consumers don't really care about PQ and specially SQ thereby choosing the convenience of streaming. That's a sad statement considering that folks are buying these large $1K+ HDTVs that a have much greater potential that's just being wasted. Mind you, a couple of my own friends that work in the IT industry, one as a network admin and the other as a senior programmer, still don't get it or just don't really care.

I think there's a second category of consumers, much lower in percentage than the majority, that seems to care but just isn't knowledgeable enough about the technology and that are easy prey for the sleazy marketing tactics that take advantage of this lack of understanding. Heck, those folks just bought themselves a fancy new $1500 to $2000 1080P HDTV and are downloading or streaming what those providers are touting as HD content that can be anything from 720P to highly compressed 1080P and there's seldom a mention of the sound format. But this is where some of the responsibility may lie squarely on our doorstep. We the knowledgeable enthusiasts must, when we have the opportunity, at least attempt to educate those that aren't informed.

The last category are a very small minority of enthusiast videophiles and audiophiles. Those are the nuts like ourselves that understand the technology and really care about the overall quality of the experience. We may perhaps be in the 2 to 3 percent, if not lower. And like Hank indicates, most of us are never going to be content with the cloud unless they can one day provide the same level of quality as can be had on physical media, at a reasonable and competitive cost of course.

Another reason I feel IT companies and service providers want to move all kinds of services on their clouds, is that it's a scheme to gain greater control of the consumer's needs, in doing so they gain greater and increasing control of their wallets. Before long, people won't know how to do relatively simple things if not through the cloud; welcome to the Matrix.

I agree that bandwidth cost are likely to remain higher in the US and Canada. Part of it may have to do with the large distances that have to be covered, except in large metropolitan areas where the higher population densities make it more affordable through economies of scale and increased competition. Yet I also feel from my experience in Canada that most ISPs in North America, typically the larger the guiltier, want take advantage and just gouge their customers to increase their profits. In some Asian countries like Singapore and Korea, they already have Gigabit Internet services.

Like Ritz says, we should move this discussion to another thread although I don't know if there's much that remains to be exchanged about this topic.