Was going through my mail today and came across a column by David Pogue of the New York Times describing the generational divide that exists today around copyright. He walks through an interesting thought process that really highlights the different shades of gray that exist around sharing digital media today - and in particular, really illustrates generational attitude differences. Here's a snippet of responses from a talk he gave to an older, mixed audience (with an ask for people to raise their hands when someone thought the example crossed the line of legality):

"I borrow a CD from the library. Who thinks that's wrong?" (No hands go up.)

"I own a certain CD, but it got scratched. So I borrow the same CD from the library and rip it to my computer." (A couple of hands.)

"I have 2,000 vinyl records. So I borrow some of the same albums on CD from the library and rip those."

"I buy a DVD. But I'm worried about its longevity; I have a three-year-old. So I make a safety copy."

With each question, more hands go up; more people think what I'm describing is wrong.

Then I try another tack:

"I record a movie off of HBO using my DVD burner. Who thinks that's wrong?" (No hands go up. Of course not; time-shifting is not only morally O.K., it's actually legal.)

"I *meant* to record an HBO movie, but my recorder malfunctioned. But my buddy recorded it. Can I copy his DVD?" (A few hands.)

"I meant to record an HBO movie, but my recorder malfunctioned and I don't have a buddy who recorded it. So I rent the movie from Blockbuster and copy that." (More hands.)

And so on.

The exercise is intended, of course, to illustrate how many shades of wrongness there are, and how many different opinions. Almost always, there's a lot of murmuring, raised eyebrows and chuckling.

 He then describes how he goes through the same exercise with a college crowd:

Recently, however, I spoke at a college. It was the first time I'd ever addressed an audience of 100 percent young people. And the demonstration bombed.

In an auditorium of 500, no matter how far my questions went down that garden path, maybe two hands went up. I just could not find a spot on the spectrum that would trigger these kids' morality alarm. They listened to each example, looking at me like I was nuts.

Finally, with mock exasperation, I said, "O.K., let's try one that's a little less complicated: You want a movie or an album. You don't want to pay for it. So you download it."

There it was: the bald-faced, worst-case example, without any nuance or mitigating factors whatsoever.

"Who thinks that might be wrong?"

Two hands out of 500.

Now, maybe there was some peer pressure involved; nobody wants to look like a goody-goody.

Maybe all this is obvious to you, and maybe you could have predicted it. But to see this vivid demonstration of the generational divide, in person, blew me away.

I don't pretend to know what the solution to the file-sharing issue is. (Although I'm increasingly convinced that copy protection isn't it.)

I do know, though, that the TV, movie and record companies' problems have only just begun. Right now, the customers who can't even *see* why file sharing might be wrong are still young. But 10, 20, 30 years from now, that crowd will be *everybody*. What will happen then?

I found this particularly interesting since I've spent quite a bit of time this holiday trying to figure out the best way to archive and playback some of my DVDs from the basement media server. Although the Xbox 360 Fall update enables a bunch of new scenarios, it's still not an easy task, especially if you want to stream the content at its original quality... and DRM is one of the primary culprits.

This is my personal opinion, of course, but I just don't think DRM (at least in its currently highly-restrictive state) is going to be the primary enabler of legitimate digital media sharing/purchasing business models in the long run. For one, consumers hate it - heck, even I detest the 24-hour viewing period for downloaded movies... including the ones from the Xbox marketplace. And the cat and mouse game between DRM providers and hackers will never end. As David says, 10, 20, or 30 years from now the world will be a very different place... especially as those of us who grew up with the concept of being able to use digital media flexibly become the same people who define the rules and laws around using that content.

To be clear, I think that future will have ways for content owners to be paid - that's obvious, or content simply would stop being created! But it's very interesting to watch the business models change from year to year - the fluidity with which DRM-free MP3s have slipped into the market is a great signpost pointing toward the future.

Right - enough rambling for now. Happy New Year! 

Just saw on Major Nelson that Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far is available for download from Marketplace. Gamespot has a good article summing up the show as well. To quote:

When it debuted in 2003, the new Battlestar Galactica was greeted with skepticism. After all, it was a remake of a 1970-'80s series with a strong cult following produced by the Sci-Fi Channel, a cable network then infamous for its low-budget TV movies of the week.

Surprisingly, Battlestar Galactica proved the naysayers wrong. Its innovative plotlines, which were created by ex-Star Trek: The Next Generation writer Ronald D. Moore, won it critical acclaim and solid ratings. The series has also garnered a major following for its unusually gritty atmosphere. Instead of the clean-cut, sober officers of the Star Trek shows, Galactica's crew is an unkempt, hard-drinking lot whose demoralized dialogue is peppered with the fictional expletive "frak."

In 2004, the show was picked up as a full-time series. It ended its most recent season, its second, in March with one of the more shocking cliff-hangers in sci-fi television history. Such boldness helped the show win one of this year's Peabody Awards, the prestigious honor for excellence in broadcasting, which it shared with CNN, NBC Nightly News, and South Park, among others.

The third season of Battlestar Galactica is premiering in October, and the Sci-Fi channel is pulling out all the stops to promote it. It has put together a television special, titled Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far, summing up the key events of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and its first two seasons. The special will air on all the cable stations owned by Sci-Fi parent NBC Universal, which includes Bravo and USA, as well as the West Coast affiliates of the NBC broadcast TV network.

I can't stress enough how good this show is, and what you're missing out on if you're not watching. I'll be the first to say that TV programming is mostly drek. I have friends who give me the hardest time for having the home theater I never use to watch TV (would much rather use it with movies and games). Battlestar Galactica is one of the first TV shows in a long time that I personally think is worth watching, and I'd encourage you to check out the free summary show if you're curious. That said, if you know you're going to watch it, I'd skip the summation and just get seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. I'm waiting for the recently announced HD-DVD versions - the show is filmed in high-def, and looks spectacular. No, I don't know why only the SD version is available on Marketplace - bummed by that.

P.S. - Muffy the robot dog is nowhere to be seen. This is a good thing.

Some of you may recall Peter Moore's comment earlier this year when he described what he saw in the future of game regarding Electronic Software Distribution, or ESD for short. To quote:

"Years from now, the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data on it and driving back and popping it in the drive will be ridiculous... We’ll tell our grandchildren we did that, and they’ll laugh at us.”

Appears Sony is jumping on the bandwagon as well, with this Wired story in which Phil Harrison of Sony is quoted as saying "I’d be amazed if the PlayStation 4 has a physical disc drive." (There's a bit of irony there since a disc-less future seems to be a bit at odds with the "future proof" messaging we've heard lately around Blu-ray and the PS3, but let's ignore that for the moment.)

What strikes me about all this is that the future is indeed coming, and I think it may well be here sooner than people expect. For what it's worth, I agree with both statements above... mostly. I do believe ESD is going to be a huge component of the gaming industry in the next few years. That said, I don't think retail is going anywhere anytime soon... nor do I think it's likely the next generation of consoles will drop physical disc drives. Here's why.

You hear a lot of theory and excitement about ESD "cutting out the middleman" (also known as retail) and "allowing developers direct access to the consumer." The problem is retail stores play a huge part in this business of getting both hardware and software into consumers' hands, and I don't see a future where retail won't be involved. First, retailers play a big part in aggregating, marketing, and promoting content. Simply put, they're a one-stop shop for the sort of content you as a gamer are looking for. Second, I just don't see ubiquitous broadband access into all of the homes this business wants to sell to five years from now. It's just not going to happen, and no console manufacturer is going to abandon a huge chunk of the market by removing a physical drive that allows offline customers to buy and play games. (Sure, there might be a huge focus on the online aspects of gaming and community... but totally abandoning those poor souls with fat wallets but no broadband? Unlikely.)Finally, and perhaps most obviously, retailers sell the hardware you play on, right?  We're a long ways away from you being able to get a physical console delivered digitally (though those new 3D printers are a pretty cool step in that direction!)

That said, don't think I'm down on ESD. I do think it's the future - but I think it's further off than Phil might promote with his disc-less PS4 quote. We all see Steam's success for Valve, and imagine Xbox Live's Marketplace and Arcade as harbingers of the future. But we still need someone to aggregate and market content and be that one-stop shop for the majority of what you might want to buy. Valve is cool technology, but has a limited selection. Same with Marketplace, and Arcade. While some might buy a game directly from the publisher (especially in cases where the game is more of a service, such as MMOs), I think it's more likely that we'll see the equivalent of electronic storefronts on the web and online services that sell the majority of titles. In other words, instead of you walking into a physical store to buy Halo 4, you might just visit the EB Games or Walmart blade in Marketplace and buy it based on price.

We're a ways away from the grand vision. We need broadband penetration to become so ubiquitous it's just a "duh" that everyone's connected. And we need more consumers to try out digital ways of getting content. I think it'll happen... but it's going to take time. That said, don't be surprised if you see some pretty big steps in that direction this generation. It's going to be a fun five years.

Just saw over on Major Nelson that the Saint's Row demo is available for download on Marketplace. Haven't spent a lot of time with it, but I'll say the open world and physics make it a different sort of game than you might have experienced in the past. Besides, price (for the demo) is right.