Photo: Sean MacEntee

I gave this a little thought awhile back. Jake makes some good points, and offers a different perspective. One that I agree with completely. Subscription and cloud based services offer us something extraordinary; that is the ability to literally carry everything from the world around us in our pockets. Well, not exactly, it’s all up in the cloud (That’s also known as Council Bluffs in Iowa, USA). But still, we have access to it all in our pockets. And that’s what we need, to increase productivity, efficiency and accessibility. The potential wealth of knowledge and data available to us as beings of this earth is sensational. It’s the kind of thing that was unfathomable to most, but George Orwell, 50 years ago. And it’s great.

As Chris Anderson notes in “The Long Tail”, this accessibility also provides us access to the entire network of knowledge. It’s thanks to this huge network and the interconnectivity it yields that we have access to so many great things. I’m definitely an advocate of this. I love music. I can’t afford to pay huge dollars to go see an unknown band to satisfy my ever increasing hunger for good music. I can subscribe to Spotify though. Recommended artists. Perfect. Only problem is, sometimes I feel I get a little swamped by people like Amazon, Spotify, Ebay and their other friends. Sometimes they try and do a little more than suggest, they almost preach. They know so much about me, yet why do they still offer me the latest tracks from some pretentious hipster black metal band I clearly have no interest in? I think sometimes the only problem with these services is the network is so complex and interrelated, that sometimes things that seem relatable to you, don’t actually relate to you. There’s plenty of people out there who like The Rolling Stones and the Beatles.But there’s some who are Beatles purists and won’t touch the Rolling Stones and their “edgy” rip off of the Beatles. That’s where the computer loses. Some things can’t be predicted. While the network can help computers relate to us, it also reminds us that computers are not people.

Alois also raises valid contentions in this response. The digital and cloud technologies are less resource heavy then physical belongings, they’re simpler to store. That’s why they’re great. And I guess, for people like Alois, who only use things once, it is an obvious choice as to which kind of possession is more suitable. This is why the possibilities of technology are so exciting. For some people though, like myself, the experience that is related to the physical mediums is to rich to give up. Is it still wasteful to have a tangible possession if you use it repeatedly? I have a lot of things, and I lament it at times as space can be an issue. But I love to immerse myself in these things too much to give up on “real things”. I have lots of books, but I read them more than once. I have lots of records, but I have listened to them through a multitude of times (that number’s still counting). I have a lot of Blu-ray movies, but I watch them more than once. I’m not saying that digital possessions can’t be used more than once. But to me if it’s an experience you can repeatedly enjoy, I do not see it as a waste.

I guess that brings us to the crux, and my initial statement. I talked about this a while back, and it’s something I support. I can’t see a reason why it wouldn’t be viable in the market. It’s a great idea. Physical books being accompanied by a download for a free ebook version. One of the reasons I haven’t given up my physical possessions is that when I buy a lot of them (most vinyl records, all blu-rays, etc) is that they come with a digital version. I have a beautiful tangible object that yields an experience that is more intimate and irreplaceable, but I also have a convenient and accessible version that I can take with me wherever I go. I think this is the path to go down for the future. Sell digital content of all medias on its own. But sell physical versions with a digital interpretation. It would help propel the digital industry and help connect more people to the network, while still embracing the traditional experience based medium.