The Digital Era

With the recent instalment of Netflix in the UK it crossed my mind that more and more entertainment texts are becoming available online. But is this a good thing? I am not just talking about films, I'm talking about newspapers, books, magazines and even music, all now available online and digitalised.

Ever since Internet speeds have sped up, piracy has gone up. It has been a big subject in the news recently especially with the SOPA act that was trying to be put in place. But even they underestimated the power of the Internet nerd!

I can see why sites such as LoveFilm and Netflix have come along now because they have an easy affordable solution to illegal downloading. You can now watch official movies online for a small amount of money. The only bad thing about this is that users are still able to open a new tab and download the same films for free. I also don't think I would like to watch a film on a small pixelated screen that needs to buffer every 10 seconds depending on your connection. I would much rather get the DVD, which is an offer that LoveFilm do where they will send the disc to you, this however costs more.

But it's not just films that are becoming multi-platformed, look at books and comics. Download ibooks on to your iPad and you have millions of cheap books at your disposal wherever you are. When devices such as the Kindle were first created I couldn't see why you would want to read off a screen instead of a book. I now however have come to terms with idea as I can see the reasoning if you are a massive book worm and go through a different book everyday. But still, there are such things as libraries where you can get all these books for free.

But I do love being able to read comics off my iPod! Living in the UK, where it is not as comic book mad as the USA, I have never been able to get down to a comic books store which has all the latest releases. As a child I found myself reading a comic book here and there if it was in the library. With the Marvel Comics app I have been able to buy and read comics as soon as they have been released. It did take a while for them to get this way though. I now buy every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man and have been lucky enough to be able to experience Dan Slott's great writing style in the big Spider Island event  which took my fandom of Spider-Man to new heights!

Music is another thing I buy online which allows for it to be put straight on my iPod. I no longer have to wait until I go into town to get the latest CD, I can now just order it off iTunes. Unfortunately this hasn't been great for the music industry 'apparently' but it's a lot easier for us the music buyers!

So yes I can see the why we are going digital with our entertainment but I personally would rather see a film in the cinema rather then my laptop and if I could buy a comic rather then have it on my iPod I would! But the great advantage of the digital era is that it means the entertainment is now more easily accessible then it ever was and can be seen, read or heard by a larger audience. That's if its legal though.

On another note it's the start of Being Human Series 4 tonight!!! And a new The Amazing Spider-Man trailer should be out on the 9th!

@SuperAlexMan