Two changes in how consumers use, access, and consume entertainment technology and content are already well under way, particularly in affluent, tech-aware households. They are:

1. The adoption of monitors for computer and TV use. The TV-versus-PC debate was never worth the amount of time spent on it. Years ago, back when "conversion" was still a hot topic, we talked about how TVs were becoming monitors and that with high resolution, content could be viewed anywhere. In this new era, rather than a device determining the place where a digital activity happened, the consumer's choice, behavior, comfort, and timing will determine what content is viewed on what monitor.
   
   
2. The adoption and investment in device-independent content. With high-resolution monitors proliferating in a household, consumers are beginning to demand that their content be portable. They paid for the content -- now they want to choose how to consume it. Increasingly, consumers are finding their high-tech gadgets can share content with each other and take advantage of local wired and wireless high-speed networks. This little taste of freedom will lead to demands for more -- from both an ease-of-use and rights standpoint.
   

While monitors and portable content are changing consumer behavior and expectations, the digital content revolution is still hobbled by:

• Incompatible or restrictive DRM. Content providers are loathe to let any of their content loose without some form of digital rights management (DRM) technology. However, full, seamless interoperability is years away. For example, digital music market leader Apple does not license its FairPlay DRM to other companies, and it does not support Microsoft's DRM efforts.
  
  
• The lack of an intuitive media server. With increasing investments in digital content delivered in reasonable time via high-speed Internet connections, the concept of storing content and serving it on various devices becomes critical. Most consumers rely on one or two computers for their primary storage; only a handful of geeks have dedicated media servers. And even those that do have servers don't have software that makes it easy to share. Apple's latest Front Row software is getting closer, as it ties into simple and automated networking to find and share content, but it still has a way to go.
  
  
• Content providers with no consensus on how to deliver their goods. Some issues aren't the fault of content providers, such as incompatible DRM. But in other cases, content providers are part of the problem. Many can't decide where and how to release their content. For example, this year CBS said it would work with Google and then announced it was "renting" downloads at its own site. Meanwhile, other networks are working with the popular Apple iTunes Music Store.
  
  
• Ignorant or consumer-unfriendly regulations and laws. In a market economy, competitors like Apple and Microsoft will always battle to determine the next-generation technology. The VHS standard beat out Betamax. The DVD knocked out VHS. Blu-ray and HD DVD will clash in the coming two years, and a winning format will emerge. But currently in the US, the government and its agencies are struggling to understand what to do about digital technology and content. So far, the voices they have listened to have been from the content providers, with consumers and their needs largely ignored.

A rough road ahead, but adoption and money will lead to improvements

The good news for consumers is that the market will force many of these issues to get resolved. Creative companies like Sling Media (the maker of a device that enables a consumer to access his or her home TV content on the road) are inspiring consumers to think of content consumption in new ways. Others, such as TiVo (one of the original digital video recorder solutions), have forced advertisers and content distribution companies to reexamine and change their offerings. While neither of these companies may survive in the long run, they are very important in terms of fueling the digital content revolution.

Over the long haul, creative technology offerings will inspire the most important forces to help hammer out a new digital content landscape:

• Mainstream consumers will demand better solutions . . . With more than 50% of US home Internet users having broadband (according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project), the continued adoption of key technologies (such as multi-purpose monitors) and more and more consumers buying digital content, mainstream consumers will demand better solutions to the DRM, media server, and content distribution issues. Companies that aren't experimenting or leading will not be able to take advantage of the new landscape and will be fighting a continual battle for relevance.
  
  
• . . . and lawmakers and regulators will finally have to balance corporate and consumer rights. Today, Congress and agencies like the FCC operate in a consumer vacuum, creating laws and rules that appeal to those with the loudest voice and most influence: the content providers and their well-funded lobbyists. But as lawmakers and their mainstream constituents begin to feel the effect of these first-generation digital handcuffs, we expect changes to emerge, such as the resurgence of basic "fair use" content rights.