array of bytes, that can be deleted by some Apple or Amazon from your device, and doing so for nearly the same money as if you buy real book or CD! It's not japanese who are crazy, it's more like western people are totally irrational and insane!
I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to have the best of both worlds here? What if there was a service that could act as a depository of your physical media? You could mail them boxes of stuff, which they'd keep someplace like a warehouse in Reno. The service could require that you use special packaging to reduce their costs. You'd also be able to request digitized versions, up to some fixed number of requests per month. Of course, the types of media would be limited. I would start with CDs, DVDs, and books.
I'm wondering if it wouldn't be possible to have the best of both worlds here? What if there was a service that could act as a depository of your physical media? You could mail them boxes of stuff, which they'd keep someplace like a warehouse in Reno. The service could require that you use special packaging to reduce their costs. You'd also be able to request digitized versions, up to some fixed number of requests per month. Of course, the types of media would be limited. I would start with CDs, DVDs, and books.