TECHNOLOGY- iTunes creates new shopping experience iTunes, Steve Jobs once quant music organizer, has in the last year become the hippest thing in music since the iPod, and the single biggest threat to retailers, ever. Music shops across the country, including our very own Music Millennium, attribute iTunes and other digital distribution of music as the number one reason for decline in sales. Music Millennium has laid off several employees, and begun selling specialty items such as obscure toys and candies, in the hope to recoup some of their lost profit. The once mighty Tower Records is even closing its doors. Combined with the iPod (the mp3 player of choice among hipsters everywhere), iTunes allows one to easily and quickly purchase music and listen to it. It isn’t the first to get the idea for digital distribution, but iTunes definitely carries the most weight. By 2010, shops like Sam Goody may be obsolete.

TECHNOLOGY- Video Games The Xbox 360 has been sitting pretty on a nigh untouchable hill for the last year, but all that changed this November. Nintendo and Sony, within days of each other, have entered the next gen battle for supremacy. While there have always been somewhat unsettling things happening at system launches, there has never been pandemonium like Sony created with the Playstation 3. Shootings, robbery, and ebay swindlers have all had a go this holiday season, which may be a good reminder that we let technology dictate us a bit too much in the information age. Not that we can stop it from happening. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo in particular are lining their pockets with the success of their video game systems. It will be years before a winner in this age is clear, but Nintendo, who has been the underdog for the last decade, looks to be making some serious headway. While Sony and Microsoft battle for graphical supremacy, Nintendo is making a system with a lower price point and a unique approach to how we play games. It will be very interesting to see who comes out on top in five years.

TECHNOLOGY- MySpace and YouTube Between MySpace and YouTube, do we even need televisions anymore? This past year, Viacom (which owns MTV) missed out on buying MySpace. It was a failure that Viacom said they cannot repeat in the future. YouTube, a site that allows you to watch videos posted by users, was bought by Google. Both MySpace and YouTube are proving to be as important to big business as the teenagers who browse both services. They’re also making real life obsolete. Television critics across the country have been whining about YouTube and how it could put them out of a job. Anybody can get on, browse and watch a bit of a show, and form an opinion on it at their leisure. Sometimes whole episodes of programs are uploaded. YouTube only removes such videos when a studio like 20th Century Fox alerts them to the content. Once it’s removed, someone else can easily and quickly re-upload it. Technology like this is making the bigwigs uncomfortable, and rightly so. Here’s hoping that those sorts aren’t able to squash the Internet empowerment.

TECHNOLOGY- Blu-ray vs HD-DVD An extension of the console war is the new Blu-ray technology, which is essentially a DVD with better picture quality and a noticeably larger capacity. Sony is betting that Blu-ray will be the future by putting a Blu-ray player into each Playstation 3 system (which is also the reason a Playstation 3 costs an arm and a leg). Already, movies are being released on the new format. But is there a significant benefit? I’ve been building a DVD collection for years now. Why should I buy a new TV that can support Blu-ray, a new player, and my movies over again for a better picture? This is definitely not the same leap as DVD was over VHS, and Sony has had problems with proprietary formats before: Remember Beta? The UMD discs for the Playstation Portable (PSP) are also foundering, with many retailers taking them off shelves for lack of sales. If Sony is wrong about Blu-ray, it could mean the end for the giant. They’re riding on the back of the Playstation 3 for dear life. But if Blu-ray comes out the champion, no one will be positioned quite like Sony.