Blue-Ray now the winner in the format war?

It is now clear that Warner have chosen Blue-Ray to 100% and not HD-DVD. As Blue-Ray already seems to have a larger market share, the question is whether this is the nail in the coffin for HD-DVD. Or, will we all see Blue-Ray and HD-DVD forever? If players arrive that can handle both formats, will it matter for the consumer?

At least some of us remember the format discussions before VHS won over Betamax and other competing video tape formats. It was not fun, specifically for the ones that invested in the expensive players and already had recordings on the formats that went away. Dying formats are not fun at all. I look at my collection of LaserDisks, and am so afraid that the LD player I have will die one day so I will not be able to play them anymore. On the other hand, I also see myself buying the LD based films on new formats.

The only true solution is I think that we consumers get the right to the content, regardless of what plastic it is glued on. That I as a user can move the data from the plastic to for example a hard drive from which I play the movie. Or, the ability to upgrade the movie online from DVD to Blue-Ray format (for example) just like I upgrade some software to a new version.

Basically, I think it is time for movie and music industry to sell the content, and sure, numbers show that online sale of music sky rocket. New services will win. I am sure of that. We all see in what direction the market is moving…