The Road To Digital Content Delivery

by Dean Evans at Thursday 19th February, 2009 at 3:54 pm [0 comments]

With broadband now installed in millions of homes, digital content delivery is becoming a red hot topic. Consider the way we buy music – distribution has evolved from vinyl records, cassette tape and CD to online music stores such as iTunes, Amazon and HMV.

In gaming, Valve has pioneered digital distribution via its Steam platform. Challenging the traditional retail channels, members can download the newest games straight to their PCs.

In the US, movie rentals have shifted from VHS and DVD to digital downloads from Netflix and Blockbuster. Amazon is even threatening the existence of the paperback with its Kindle 2 ebook reader. Like it or not, digital content delivery is here to stay.

Digital entertainment

In one sense, digital distribution and delivery is all about convenience. Own an iPhone? If you hear a track you like you can identify it with the Shazam application and then download it immediately from iTunes. No need to wait. No need to find a shop. No need to buy a CD.

Similarly, Xbox 360 users can rent high-definition movies using Xbox Live. While the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Sky Player offer catch-up TV services that all but eliminate the TV and the PVR.

But digital content delivery is also about providing a service. We’re on the verge of a Long Tail selling model where (copyrights permitting) entertainment will be available whenever, wherever and however we want it.

Downloadable content

The Long Tail describes small sales of a niche product over a long time period. It references a vast digital marketplace that’s not reliant on release schedules and blockbuster products. The shelf space is infinite. So everything is available. All the time.

This is the methodology behind iTunes and Amazon. While new releases undoubtedly dominate weekly sales, millions of people are exploring back-catalogue items, bouncing through the Long Tail guided by user reviews and auto-generated ‘you might also like this’ recommendations.

The video game business is having particular success with digital distribution. Not necessarily in delivering full games to customers via broadband, but by extending the appeal of titles with updates and add-ons.

As VentureBeat points out, Valve’s cartoon shooter Team Fortress 2 “has been updated 63 times, and the updates happen automatically. One result: sales are continuously growing for a relatively old game, and minutes played on the game are growing as well.”

Facing up to the truth

So what’s next? The UK still lags behind the US in digital content delivery. Blockbuster UK doesn’t offer movie downloads, Netflix and Hulu aren’t available. Even the BBC iPlayer can’t provide everything online due to broadcast rights and contract niggles.

The restrictions on content undoubtedly fuel the Bittorent TV trade. DRM initiatives only galvanise talented hackers into breaking encrypted files and setting them free on shady pirate sites.

The road to digital content delivery is littered with proprietary systems, insufficient hardware, incompatible formats, excessive digital rights management, sluggish broadband connections and geographical restrictions.

But at least we’re on the road.

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