Betamax, Part II: revenge of the pornographers

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Kos takes a break from politics to give some advice to Sony, which is currently trying to get people to adopt the Blu-ray format for next generation DVDs. Kos' advice: don't dis the porn makers:

As porn was driving a major percentage of video sales and rentals, it dictated the market. While the reasons Beta failed were numerous, the porn issue was probably a big factor. (LaserDisc also banned porn, btw.)

Fast forward to today, and Sony is once again locked in a format war -- this time over the next generation of DVDs. And once again, Sony appears destined to make the same mistake again.

Kos concedes that the availability of porn over the Internet may make it less relevant in the coming standards war. Of course, the wider availability of broadband may make the new DVD format itself a lot less relevant. Shouldn't we get past the plastic discs and just shuttle the bits around electronically?

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