Bert, I have some one-sided acoustical 78s that are over 100 years old. They still play just as well as they did in 1905 when they were mass produced and cost 75 cents each. Some are now valued at several hundred dollars apiece. Most have been restored and released again on CD. Do you suppose they've reached their half life yet?
Cliff On 4/14/2011 7:12 PM, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:Seems like the "half life" for broadcast TV has been incredibly long. We argue now about the ability of the the Internet to take on the task of delivering entertainment bits to the masses and whether legacy devices like PCs and TVs will be thrown on the scrap heap of history. Here;s one more shooting star that just lined on the pile...The half life of books is even longer. The half life of kitchen sinks is even longer than that. The half life of the hoola hoop is quite a bit shorter (actually, I saw some at WalMart the other day, but still, they have unquestionably exceeded their half life). Broadcast TV, including the cable channel variety, and including watching broadcast TV over the Internet pipe, will continue to exist as long as people are interested in seeing reasonably well done productions, for info or entertainment. In addition to whatever texting or YouTube videos they may be busy with most of the day. Even if the Internet takes over the distribution task, this does not translate to no more broadcast TV. Whether I watch broadcast TV in real time, or time-shifted via my PVR, or as live streams or time-shifted over the Internet, what I'm watching is unquestionably broadcast TV. Bert