Digital Distribution

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon.com is getting into the digital distribution business. This is not actually very surprising - digital distribution is the future of media distribution. It is less expensive than pressing CDs, and doesn't rely on brick-and-mortar stores. The biggest advantage is that there's no need to go with a distributor - you can set up a store on your own website. Failing that, distribution companies like Steam and Greenhouse are far more cost-effective than brick-and-mortar, and feature their own DRM.

Of course, there's some good evidence that DRM is worthless. Of course, the iTunes App Store probably doesn't have similar piracy numbers - but that's a platform where DRM is not intrusive and where prices are, by and large, reasonable. Regardless, for the vast number of users for any type of electronic gaming - console, mobile, or PC - digital download is the best option. And its power is only going to increase as time goes on. Especially with the FCC pushing for more bandwidth freedom.