Why Purely Digital Content is Stammering Around

If anybody plans on succeeding as a content provider with increasing customer demands, they are going to have to offer centralized content storage with a Sync between all the devices in that customers portfolio with varying qualities to match each offering. This would not only give the customer what they want (without the need to break the DRM that exists on much of today's most desirable content) but it would also help keep that customer for life in regards to buying your hardware if it links with your content management system better than anybody else. (a la Apple thus far)

What is seriously lacking, and why nobody has really taken off in the digital download space (HD video especially)is that consumers don't really have a central store to keep their content and be able to access it across all of their devices in a resolution that is fitting for each one.

For example, as a consumer I should be able to purchase a media "license" as to which I decided the highest quality variable when purchased (influenced by price) and should be able to stream the highest quality to my HDTV, a standard res to my desktop/laptop environment, as well as a lower resolution to my mobile/ipod device.

I should be able to select what types of media are physically on each device, as well as at least have the option of streaming content when I am on my own local network, if not stream my media over the web through something like Mobile Me. A great application of this would be if I am on a business trip and I would like to watch some fresh content that has downloaded to my home media server, I should be able to stream that via a web interface of some kind on my laptop given it has a fast enough connection.
This digital ownership of licenses would give way for license upgrades that would make for a much lower total cost of ownership for consumers and speed adoption rates when higher and higher quality options present themselves.

As it is right now, a customer who bought a new title on DVD for $20, the DVD player for $100 is now faced with the next medium of Blu-ray with media fetching $35, and players going for well over $200.

Imagine if you were able to consolidate this cost into a media server/Time Capsule type device and then manage your digital content lifestyle from one jumping point. Something like Time Capsule really presents itself as a candidate as if offer Draft N wireless (fast enough for higher resolution media), connected to the internet, and has expandable storage through high capacity external hard drives.

The problem here really lies with no content owner (Sony pictures etc.) wanting to give up control over their licensing rights and letting any single provider develop such a solution to completely deliver on customer needs. While Apple does dance around a Monopoly with their iTunes/iPod ecosystem, the reality is that it has WORKED for consumers, and that is why it has done so well. It is something reliable, and they have offered legal ways to upgrade your audio for those who purchased media through them before the higher fidelity was available, instead of forcing a straight rebuy for all of their customer base.

This type of solution is the ultimate successor to the physical medium (vhs, dvd, bluray...) and is what will ultimately be necessary in the coming age of digital downloads. If you have any additional thoughts, please feel free to voice them in the comments as I love hearing feedback from all of you!