Just recently Sony announced Qore a collaboration effort presented by Sony and publicized by Future US, the magazine giant that publishes the Official Xbox Magazine and the Official Playstation magazine among other publications. Is digital video e-zine distribution the way of the future?

Sony seems to think so, with their pricing model starting at $2.99 per episode and $24.99 for a 13 episode annual subscription. This is a big gamble with advertisers investing in this new form of media on the PS3 such as Burger King among others.

Many analyst have been predicting digital downloads will one day overtake physical media. The problem has always been the public’s reluctance to commit to non-physical ownership and paying a price for it online. With the event of online shopping in the past five years e-commerce has skyrocketed.

Online stores such as Amazon and Buy.com have been immensely successful cutting out the middle man and selling straight from the warehouse. As consumers become more comfortable with paying for online transaction it seems inevitable paying for digital ownership of media and e-zines will become acceptable.

Qore hosted by Veronica Belmont the former host of CNET Buzz Out loud podcast and Mahalo Daily fuse two popular trends we see on the net today. Podcasts and bit sized news clips with technology information delivered via the Web.

If Qore is successful you can bet many other Magazine companies such as EGM and EDGE will think about the online subscription model again.

What is your opinion, is digital distribution good or bad?

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Entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 9:24 pm under Ecommerce, Online video, Opinion, Technology, Web2.0.

Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
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