davextreme said:

Two points:

One, digital files are much, much easier to use for kids and for parents of small kids. There's no disc to have to find or get lost, and you'll watch the same thing over and over and over so the convenience really adds up.

Two, though I can't substantiate this, I don't think the high school and college kids are spending much on movies (or music) anymore. Where I accumulated tons of DVDs after I got out of college, 20-somethings now are using Netflix mostly and aren't buying physical media much at all. This was once a huge market for entertainment companies that's drying up over time.

People are unwittingly sacrificing the ability to watch something in the future for convenience now. There really isn't anything to stop the studios from yanking something or crippling playback if they really want to.

Those 20 somethings are going to be in for a rude awakening when they want to revisit something later in life, and they find it's not available anymore.