The recent controversy with EA and its DRM with highly anticipated Spore and Red Alert 3 illustrate a much larger situation facing society as a whole than the simple battle between user satisfaction and freedom vs piracy and theft. It is a manifestation of the fact that the concept of ownership as we know it is changing. It is evolving and adapting to new innovations in technology and communications.
Movies, music, books and video games are at the center of this change as they are the most widely digitally distributed media. In the past, in order to really have control of a release (without a time limit) you had to purchase a physical copy of it. Whether it be a novel, a CD, a tape or record or DVD you had to have it in your possession to use it at any time. The exceptions are of course libraries and rental stores like Blockbusters and such - but those include a time limit and you must go physically retrieve the medium.
Now you can gain access to any of these mediums through a number of means, from online streaming and downloads, to mobile services or peripheral devices like Ipods and media players. The biggest catch with these methods being pricing, payment and profits. The world is still feeling out these models and how they are going to work. It’s going to take time to see how these models evolve, and some of the biggest influences on them are the companies designed around this concept already.
Some popular businesses built around online distribution of music are Pandora, Last.Fm, and Project Playlist. And I’m sure you know some of the businesses built for video - YouTube, Hulu and others. Each of these offers a slightly different take on distributing and “owning” media. Some introduce new content, some allow you to access content on demand. Some are on a pay per basis, some based on advertising, and yet others are still looking for the revenue model that will work for them.
Some more terrestrial or hybrid businesses adapting to new ideas of ownership are Netflix, BookMooch, and ZipCar. Netflix turned the movie rental business on its head, and is now partnering with Xbox to provide streaming video as well as through their on demand online channel.
BookMooch is essentially a platform that allows book worms like myself to exchange books we’ve already read for those we want to read. My new profile is woefully underused, but the system itself is a lot of fun and a great alternative to Amazon and the like.
One of my favorite adaptations of this shared ownership platform is Zipcar. They make car sharing easy, and are very useful for cities in which having a car is more of an inconvenience than not having one. They are quite popular here in DC and a multitude of other urban markets. The concept itself is extremely simple, use a car when you need it. You sign up, get a Zipcard and can go online to register a vehicle near you - like the Impreza 5-door Interiano which is right outside the door to my office. You don’t have to worry about gas or insurance as it’s all included. It’s also nice when you need wheels fast and have metroed into the city and generally cost much less than a taxi.
I’d like to know what other business that have adapted to this new concept of access over ownership, do you know of some I’ve missed?
