Calling 2003 "the year of the DVD," the Video Software Dealers Association said last week that consumer purchases of DVDs totaled up to more than $12-billion last year, a 45 percent jump from 2002's $8.7-billion.
While DVD sales revenue increased by $3.9-billion, consumers spent an additional $4.3-billion renting titles in the format, up 53 percent from the year before, according to the VSDA, a trade association for the home-entertainment industry.
With half of U.S. households equipped with at least one DVD player, the industry is seeing an average of 17 DVD titles being purchased per player. This is nearly three times the number of VHS titles bought during that format's peak year in 1996.
Lower prices for discs are contributing to the DVD buying boom. The average DVD price was $20.21 at the end of 2003, down from a high of $25.53 in 1999.
Many major retail chains use new-release titles as loss leaders during their debut week to draw traffic into their stores, which results in titles being available for as low as $15.99. Additionally, selling used DVDs at a discount price has become commonplace for the national Blockbuster and Hollywood video store chains, as well as independents.
New RealPlayer plays media files from rivals
RealNetworks has released unveiled last week the Switzerland of media players - a RealPlayer 10 for Windows that supports all major media types, including those from rivals Microsoft and Apple Computer.
The RealPlayer 10 reflects RealNetworks' increasing focus on packaging and delivering Internet content for a $5.95 monthly subscription fee. The media player neatly organizes content into a guide form that makes finding live newscasts or checking the latest sports scores as easy as changing channels on a TV.
Its most significant new feature is a music store, which can be accessed through the media player.
The company that pioneered the media player almost a decade ago, RealNetworks introduces the latest version of its RealPlayer at a time when it is losing market share to Microsoft. Last month, RealNetworks filed a $1-billion antitrust lawsuit against its Redmond, Wash., rival, accusing Microsoft of illegally bundling its media player with its dominant Windows operating system.
The company's willingness to create a player that bridges all media types is an attempt to find a competitive advantage in universality. It is the first player to support every major media format and play songs purchased from any online music store, including Apple's iTunes and Napster. And the RealPlayer 10 supports as many as 50 portable players, including Apple's iPod and the Handspring Treo 600.
The RealPlayer Music Store offers more than just songs. It's a heavily programmed music destination with a free listening lounge, music videos and music reviews and recommendations.
The drawback for consumers is that the RealPlayer relentlessly prods the user to subscribe to RealNetworks' premium SuperPass service. And much of the content, such as CNN news clips, Fox Sports highlights or Weather Channel forecasts, is restricted to subscribers.
Storing and showing off your pictures
Small, portable hard drives have offered the traveling digital photographer a way to empty camera memory cards without lugging around a laptop computer. The Epson P-1000, however, presents itself as more than just a storage bin. It wants to be the device you use to view your pictures.
At 3.8 inches, the liquid crystal display on the P-1000 is dwarfed by the most modest laptop screen. But it is larger than most screens on the backs of cameras. More significantly, the P-1000 screen has more than twice as many pixels per inch as a typical camera LCD panel.
While Epson is best known to consumers for printers and scanners, the company is also a leading producer of small LCD displays for cell phones and handheld computers.
The company claims that the higher resolution and more sophisticated color capabilities of the P-1000 display are good enough to allow users to edit and print pictures without using a computer. To that end, the device connects directly to several Epson printers, including both amateur and professional models.
The $600 device will be available later this month from www.epsonstore.com and other retail stores.
Its memory card reader accepts compact flash cards and the IBM MicroDrive. Optional adapters are available for other types of memory cards. Downloaded photos are stored on the device's 10-gigabyte hard drive.
Epson predicts the P-1000 will be used as battery-powered slide viewers always have: to show pictures to small groups. Unlike its technological ancestor, however, the P-1000 can be connected to a television, projector or monitor to put on a big show.
Digital radios finally hit store shelves
After years of preparation, digital radio receivers finally are on sale nationwide, pairing CD-quality audio in over-the-air broadcasts with text information such as song titles, weather and news alerts.
Digital, high-definition service has been touted as one of radio broadcasting's biggest advances in nearly a century.
Unlike satellite radio, a subscription service that also uses digital signals, digital radio represents a technological upgrade of the free service offered by traditional "terrestrial" broadcasters.
In addition to providing CD-quality sound, digital radio receivers can display whatever text broadcasters choose to offer.
"There's not been anything this technologically important to radio since FM," said Laura Behrens, an industry analyst with Gartner Inc. "Everything we know about media is going from analog to digital, and radio is the last to really take that step."
Only about 300 of the United States' 13,000 radio stations have become licensed to broadcast in digital.
