I get and understand the appeal of digital media. I however feel that the prices will have to be dramatically reduced to ever be a real competitor to CD/DVD/Hardprint.

Music - this is most likely where the digital media has had the most success. The prices are fair (.99 cents a song), and you pick and choose what you want. However after talking to retailers, the sell of hard copy CDs has reached a plateau.
The days of having a local record store may be gone, however the big box retailers still sell large amount of hard copies. Amazon has had over a 700% increase in vinyl sales alone the past few years.

Books/Magazines - I am not 100% on how much success they have had in this area as I do not read magazines. I can tell you the price difference is astounding, and that is why I will not purchase any books digitally. The most recent example I picked up Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) Horns on hard cover for 5 bucks brand new, my wife wanted to see how much it was digitally and it was $9.97 from amazon. Frankly that is just to much for a digital book.

I would like to see books adopt what movies have done in including a digital copy when you purchase. That is a feature I already enjoy as I have a extensive Vudu library (having never purchased a digital copy)

Movies - This is the area where I think they got it mostly right. Often when you buy a dvd/bluray it comes with a digital copy. You pay 15-20 bucks you get the bluray, digital copy and often a dvd. However if you buy the movie just digitally it will cost you 10-15 this just blows my mind. Hell if you wait a few months on new release you will be able to get the hard copy and digital copy for that price while the digital copy remains unchanged.

Rentals it seems as though the newer movies will run you from 3-7 bucks to rent for 24 hours. Again this is a price that I think is to high. Redboxes often rent the same movies and it costs you a 1.20.

A couple of closing thoughts.

I think one of the driving factors for digital is when you are younger make less money, you will be inclined to purchase the digital copies to save a couple bucks. I have seen this in my friends and coworkers how ever as they get older, digital only seems to be something that they will move away from.

Lastly me on a personal level I am less inclined towards digital cause one reason. I prefer to have a hard copy over just owning something digitally.

Back in the day I worked at Target part time. There was something they were selling as dvds just came out. It was a player and movies much like dvds and they were cheaper. However every time you watched this movie you bought you got charged a price (I think it was like 50 cents or something). We were told as employees to really push this product.

I always feel like this is the end game for these movie/music/publishing companies, and I think digital is the way they plan to eventually implement it. Maybe I am just paranoid or old... definitely one of the two.

What are your thoughts.