I can’t find a page to link to for this, but in Wal-Mart last night I saw a DVD in the magazine rack. Apparently you can get an “issue” of E! on DVD for $4.96.
I don’t exactly know what this consists of, but from the case it appeared to be something like an episode of Access Hollywood or Entertainment Tonight. Just one episode, like a magazine issue, I guess.
Will this fly? The price is comparable to a magazine, and I’m thinking the DVD would be just as cheap to produce as a 70-page paper product.
I remember when CD-ROM was the big new technology, there were a handful of magazines that got issued on CDs for a multimedia-ish experience. Every single one of them crashed and burned. Is a DVD any different, really?
This story reminds me of a question I had a while ago. A CD costs pennies to make and game demos are free to download across the net, so why do game magazines charge an extra five bucks (at least) when they plaster a CD to the front cover? A buck, sure, but five?
In response to the question in this article, I believe that a CD (or DVD) full of multimedia content is expensive to produce. Nearly any idiot can write (this post is proof) , but to record something as simple as a talking head you need lights, at least one camera, editing facilities, a script and the talking head itself. More complexity will drive the cost. A magazine will contain the same information for less money. Taking advantage of multimedia capbilities to make a CD/DVD version better will make it more expensive. The written word is an amazingly efficient method of communication.
