In this article, Mr. Spanbauer explains how computers and the web are dramatically changing the way we access and pay for entertainment. He compares this dawning digital revolution to the earlier 20th century revolution of film, radio, and television. As more and more technology becomes readily available, computer users are realizing that for the right price and with the right equipment, digital entertainment is becoming readily available from the comfort of their own homes. Since the Internet is not bound by any physical boundaries, it is quite possible that in the very near future, entertainment systems will link the Internet with televisions, stereos, PCs, and other mobile handheld devices. According to Spanbauer, the only real obstacles in the expansion of this new digital revolution are the book publishers, movie studios, and record labels who are afraid that this new method of entertainment will eventually put them out of business.

Now it is possible to download music files from Web sites, Usenet newsgroups, Napster, FTP servers, and other sources. At the time this article was published, users were able to download music files from Napster at no charge, rewrite them to audio CDs, and transfer them to handheld digital audio players or play them on their PC. As a result, the recording industry trade group claimed that these practices were hurting their sales and were able to get the courts to intervene on their behalf. Just in the last few months, Napster has begun charging fees to users who download some of their files. Although these are considered illegal copies, it hasn’t stopped big name manufacturers from marketing portable players to play music downloaded from these sites. In the future, there are sure to be controversies over actually who the user will pay for access to this music. At this point, it is safe to say that the battle is only beginning to wage over this music “tug of war.”
Another technology on the forefront is online video. As more and more users switch to DSL and cable modems it will soon be possible to download video that looks as good as what you see on TV. With the help of a media player, users would be able to burn these images to a video CD that plays in their DVD player. Will this eventually signal the end of the video rental store? Maybe, but the movie industry is not ready for the end anytime soon. Unlike CD based music, DVD content is currently sacrosanct, which means that it is extremely difficult to copy. The technology is there but it is quite expensive. As the price comes down, and the quality becomes better, online video copying will become much more common.

Although E-books are another new technology that has been around for about two years, they didn’t attract much attention until this past year when author Stephen King began publishing his books online. Thousands of books can be downloaded from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com, but e-books remain problematic for the very fact that the selection is very limited in comparison to what you can find in stores and other obstacles remain such as pricing issues and incompatible reader formats. As with the music and movie industry, the fear of copyright piracy is also an issue. The simple fact that people still prefer reading paper vs. looking at a screen or handheld device is also hindering this technology. To overcome this preference, hybrid formats are beginning to appear which attempt to combine the customization that digital downloads make possible.
In conclusion, the writer of this article says that nothing is going to stop the digital entertainment revolution because society prefers to use the Net and our PCs as a media conduit. He says that we will continue to entertain ourselves the old-fashioned way by reading paper books, going to the movies, and buying CDs. He also says that we want to entertain ourselves via the Net and that we will continue to refine the technology in order to do that. I definitely agree with his assessment of the digital technology revolution in that it will continue to expand as long as the prices of the entertainment continue to fall and the technology itself continues to improve. In other words, only the sky is the limit with the cohabitation of entertainment and cyberspace