Ballmer: In 10 years all media will be delivered digitally

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Digitally-delivered words may be much more common in 10 years but this is like predicting we'll have flying cars in a few more years. It's just not practical for everyone to have a digital device to read content with. If I'm at the grocery store and want to buy a magazine and don't have my latest Sony Reader (or whatever) with me, how am I going to buy it? Do you think they won't have any for sale?

I don't think it's beyond reasonable that in 10 years, everyone (in developed countries, anyway) will have a content-reading device with them at all times. Or, in those cases when you read on a dedicated reader that you don't have with you, you might download the electronic contents of the periodical into whatever you do have on you (like a cellphone) and transfer it when you get home.

I think it's safe to say that the role of paper in our daily lives may be seriously curtailed by the realities of sustainable forestry, production and transportation, etc, in the future. Maybe paper won't disappear, but its more wasteful uses might be replaced... and periodicals like magazines and newspapers, which often tend to be thrown out almost immediately upon being read, are one of the most wasteful of paper uses.

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

And what about (dare I ask?) DRM and the protection of intellectual property and the multiplicity of hardware devices and digital formats? Does anyone think those problems will somehow evaporate allowing for the great proliferation of digital words?

Obviously still has to be worked on...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I don't think it's beyond reasonable that in 10 years, everyone (in developed countries, anyway) will have a content-reading device with them at all times.

That's largely true right now, given that that overwhelming majority of people carry a mobile phone, and a large majority of mobiles can run Mobi Reader. I suspect that most of those people don't know that they're carrying a device on which they could read, and even fewer would do so even if they did know, but the fact remains that they could, if they so wished.

[tirsales]

Does anybody here know the Shadowrun pen&paper roleplaying game? (4eth edition)
One idea in it is, that everywhere you go a wireless network exists. Everybody has his commlink - reader, music player, mobile phone, storage-access tool (obviously you wouldnt need personal storage when there is online available), etc.
And yes, I guess this is more then realistic ... Devices like e.g. the Readius are going in that direction - now imagine you had an iPhone (or similar) with a rollable eInk-display (6'') with touchscreen enabled ... Music player, remote for your home-hifi, reader, etc

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's largely true right now, given that that overwhelming majority of people carry a mobile phone, and a large majority of mobiles can run Mobi Reader. I suspect that most of those people don't know that they're carrying a device on which they could read, and even fewer would do so even if they did know, but the fact remains that they could, if they so wished.

I agree, a lot of people could read on the devices they already have. But one thing that isn't being taken advantage of with all these electronic devices, is the possibility of using your device as an electronic shopping cart: Beam the file in and store it long enough to download it when you get home. Pretty much just a local version of the wireless purchasing system that Kindle uses.

File "beaming," whether by IR, WiFi, or other methods, is one of the most underused features of most electronic devices. Given a universal transfer protocol, a real market could develop.