Since the summer has started my wife and I have been on a roll watching new movies since we never have time to see them in theaters. The first thing I noticed is the way we consume content is different than the way we used to for starters. I noticed that the way we used to consume content with movies is totally different over the last several years.

If I want to watch a movie we find the trailer on YouTube then we go on Amazon, iTunes or Google Play and buy or rent the movie. The physical media industry has changed in what they are offering most DVDs or BluRays you buy in the store come with a free digital version included.

This got me thinking back to the old days when your parents would buy Encyclopedia Bertanicas and the selling point was hand them down to your kids. The encyclopedia business has really taken a nose dive since the adoption of the PC age and has even taken a harder hit since the tablet and smart phone era started. The question is how do you hand down movies and collections in the digital age?

Ebooks are the first sign of the issue with the introduction of the iPad and e-readers. I remember reading a book then handing the paperback off to my friend to read. Services like iBooks and Kindles do not have a sharing feature because they want users to buy the digital media to make more money.

The next example of the physical media decline is the use of media streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. Many users do not care about owning their physical media they would rather subscribe to services. The example of this change came when Apple started Apple music as they were losing a lot of business to music subscription service Spotify. Actually, Apple purchased Beats and rebranded it into Apple music but either way, Apple noticed a problem they needed to fix.

I think there would be a market out there for a service like this for users of collections. I know some users have moved their VHS home movies to digital. But how do we deal with the handing down piece? What if you store it in the cloud and the cloud service goes out of business there are just so many variables with this I think we will need to keep an eye on this as industry changes.

I do believe the age of physical media is slowing going away in exchange for all digital. Handing down books and Movies will become a thing of the past just like old photos since no body has prints anymore.

How do we pass down digital collections? Do I leave the user name and password to my Amazon account in my will for my children to have? How will we handle this issue of leaving collections to users in a digital age? I think this is an issue that is going to come more to light in years from now as the adopters of digital media grow and start to age.