@Sony CEO, this is why you fail… Liquidate your business now while you still have some money left and live out your days happy on an island somewhere… Let new companies that understand the new media and it’s possibilities take the market now, they are going to eventually however much you fight them… You only damage the customers and yourselves while trying to fight innovation.

The internet stands for communication, socialization, communities and a far better way to distribute information than any medium these days.

TV as it is, is dead. Younger generations are not willed being settled onto a 24/7 timed and predefinded program anymore.

Michael Lynton, please give yourself a head.

Agreed, but Lyton heads up the motion pictures division…..sloppy logic, sloppy blogging DrewWilson

Obviously Lyton was referring to the very real copyright infringement and piracy issues that his motion picture division faces, and has faced to some degree, since the invention of consumer based video tape technology.

But in terms of creating, marketing, and distributing Sony’s product, the “internet” as actually driven prices radically down, and make those efforts exponentially more effective.

Any business entity involved in profiting from the sale of the fruits of intellectual and creative labor (Music, Movies, Books, Etc) is certainly in the midst of an evolution in the way their respective businesses are structured. Perhaps Lyton is just expressing his frustration of being in the position of always have the sands of change shifting under his feet, instead of being firmly planted on some kind of solid ground.

Unlike the music industry (whose product is soley dependent on “personal use”), the film industry still has the proverbial ace up its sleeve. Nothing replaces the experience of sitting in the dark in a crowded theater.

I just saw “STAR TREK” in a multiplex last night…it was showing every half hour on multiple screens in an economically depressed market in upstate NY….and was completely sold out, all night long.

Even with the advent of DVDs, Flat Screens, and 7-1 surround sound in your living room, if you give the people what they want, they’re going to get off their butts and buy your product….and THEN buy your DVD release, or order it on demand from their cable company.

It’s a wild and woolly internet (and broadband access) that provides these extra avenues for marketing and monetizing Sony’s product.

I suggest that Lyton enthusiastically embrace this fact, and then go out and compete in the marketplace to the best of his and his company’s ability, instead of whining like a petulant child who just had his lollypop stolen.

Mike, I agree about “real” interaction to an extent – sometimes “unreal” interaction is all you have. Should I stop email/facebook/skype-ing (the only way I can interact more than once every 2-3 years) my parents just because it is not “real”? Society is going in a certain direction, you can either rile against it and become a grumpy old man or you can embrace/accept it and be curious about how its going to turn out. The latter option also has the added benefit of less stress and therefore less likelihood of having a coronary.

One day the internet may very well bring tyranny but for now I am taking advantage of the greatest amount of liberty and freedom afforded by one of our world’s greatest wonders.