I don’t think it’s much of a question of whether local businesses are suffering nowadays. Social interaction is a huge thing I’m missing from the demise of local music stores by the advent of digital distribution, for the best example. They were a great place to meet people. They are almost gone now. Other economic forces are at work, obviously, but a big one and seemingly the final nail in the coffin is the concentration of profits away from small, midsize, and even large businesses to a small number of digital retailers. True, some labels have their own online digital stores now, benefitting themselves and the artists more; and I’m not bemoaning or blaming technology as a whole. But it still cuts out what was once a great experience.

As far as I know, video games didn’t have quite the same level of local, independent stores that music did. That’s just an example of what is given up for the sake of convenience.

In an exercise in trying to understand the other side, I listened to an IGN Xbox podcast. The reasons given for the DRM and the reactions to the reversal were such utter fanwank. I know I’m preaching to the choir but most of their podcasts are complete fanboy opinion validation slop. Weak reasoned arguments to play to people who need their purchases justified. Their UK podcast is the exception. That’s a good one.

I think it makes MS look worse now to flip their plans so quickly, and ostensibly out of fear for their bottom line. And please don’t blame us for having concerns for our privacy and consumer rights and not putting them aside in faith of their poorly articulated vision. Furthermore, used games sales aren’t the sole domain of Gamestop – I happen to know a completely independent used music, movies and games store in town which seems to have kept in business by games more than the other two media, which have already been debased in value by the all digital “future.” Oh yes, I rue the day when places like that don’t exist, when everything is downloaded and shared digitally so there’s no impetus to go out and interact except completely on corporate terms.

The Apple and Amazon “ecosystems” illustrate that brave new world well. Music and book stores were places to go to hear/read new things, talk to other folks there and meet new people, places to go spend time and enjoy life. Independently owned, they could be unique destinations adding to the life, character, and economy of a town. My ideal future is not having one online store, appealing to the lowest common denominator, devoid of face to face personal interaction, benefitting no one in the immediate vicinity, cheaper because there are less jobs and money to go around because locally owned business has disappeared, empowering corporations to be even more dominant… The more “easier and convenient” we get as a society, the less society we really have.