I’ve been getting crap from some of my peers about how I shouldn’t be buying movies on Blu-ray, because they may be phased out in favor of digital distribution, perhaps in as little as five to ten years. The obvious logistical problems aside (hard drive space, DRM, bandwidth caps, etc.), there’s a much more simple reason why such complaints are inherently flawed.

Let’s restate the argument first: don’t buy a movie on Blu-ray, because it may be replaced with a digitally distributed version in a few years. If you break that statement down into a simpler form, you get this:

• Don’t buy this product, because a better one will replace it years from now.

So, why does that argument fail to hold water? Look what happens when you apply it to other products and services:

• Don’t buy a car, because more advanced vehicles will be on the market five years from now.

• Don’t buy a computer, because a more powerful model will supersede it later.
• Don’t buy a gaming system, because new ones will be on sale in a few years.
• Don’t buy a house, because better-built houses will be available in a decade.
• Don’t buy an HDTV, because 3D holographic displays will be the standard in the future.

Do any of those make sense? Of course not. You can’t base short-term purchases on long-term projections; it’s as simple as that. As far as the Blu-ray example is concerned, the fact is that if you want to own a film on high-definition optical disc, Blu-ray is your only option. Things will change in years to come, sure, but that doesn’t affect the here and now.

This brings us to what I call the escalation factor: technology is always improving, so if you keep waiting, you’ll never end up with the product! Should movie fans have avoided buying VHS tapes in the past, because DVDs were coming much later? And following that, should they have avoided buying DVDs, because Blu-ray was on the horizon? You can see how it just keeps escalating.

If something better is coming in a few months to a year, then fine, waiting makes sense. But basing a short-term purchase on a long-term projection, which isn’t even a confirmed reality yet, is just foolhardy. Life’s too short to keep putting things off, especially when it comes to simple pursuits such as entertainment.