2. Music and Movies
Entertainment has become a lot cheaper over the decades. There was a time (when VHS was new) that a movie would cost over $80 to own. Technology has made producing the physical media so cheap that people are starting to forego the physical disc. Music and movies are consumed en masse in purely electronic form.
Like so many physical products, a certain percentage of what you’re paying for goes to marketing and distribution. With digital media, companies no longer have to pay for the printed materials, gas, manpower, and shelf space. Are those savings passed along to the customer?
Another thing to consider is the loss of value. When you buy a movie, TV show, or music online you are paying for a lower quality version.
When you buy a music track from iTunes, you really don’t have a choice in the bitrate quality. For this reason some people choose to buy a physical CD and rip their own in lossless format or high bitrate MP3s (320 kbit or higher).
TV Shows can also be purchased online, sometimes for .99 cents per episode, but if you total up an entire season then you’ve spent $25 for a copy that’s lower quality than a standard-definition DVD.
The music industry claims that CD and DVD sales have slumped and blame it on piracy. Don’t feel too bad for them, because since the industry went digital sales have skyrocketed.
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