Association Dis’s Forrester’s Research
By George Anderson
The International Recording Media Association (IRMA) has criticized Forrester Research’s report From Discs to Downloads for its conclusions that digital downloads of music and movies will replace DVDs and CDs.
Charles Van Horn, president of the association said in a released statement, “We don’t understand how a reputable firm can issue a report built on questionable theories and assumptions that are so easily dismissed.”
IRMA says Forrester reached the wrong conclusions because it assumed the consumers would move from downloading single music tracks to full-length motion pictures; did not account for consumers’ lack of acceptance for on-demand products; disregarded consumers’ preference for removable media and failing to see the role different technologies play in meeting specific market applications.
“What’s unfortunate is that Forrester does itself a disservice with this report, choosing to interpret their findings in a way that misrepresents the realities of the industry, reaching conclusions that are sensational rather than reflective of the behavior of mass-market consumers. What’s even more surprising is that Forrester admits its previous predictions for this market have been wrong. And, we think it will be proven wrong again.”
Moderator’s Comment: Will digital downloads replace DVDs and CDs as Forrester’s research predicts? What will this
mean for retailers?
Something will eventually replace DVD’s and CD’s just as records, eight-tracks and cassettes have been replaced. What that will be, we have no idea.
As for right now, we can only reflect on our personal behavior. After downloading music from Apple’s Music Store we transfer the recordings to a CD so we
can take it with us. [George
Anderson – Moderator]