This is an interesting news article on Audioholics about the state of the entertainment industry, it illustrates the push / pull between media, content providers, hardware and operating systems.  All of these conditions are vying for influence, power and most of all their piece of the pie in this new world of digital entertainment. 

It’s a fascinating story; each character has a unique angle.  The upstart Apple smashing down barriers in the media distribution arena with iTunes and now trying to do for television shows what it’s already done for music.  Gates and the Microsoft Empire tries to second guess the forthcoming landscape and make Windows Media Center and Vista all things to all people.  Can Win MC smash the PVR market and dominate digital entertainment like they’ve dominated the ‘puter?  Then of course there is Sony, the empire that is both on the hardware and entertainment sides of the fence.  It’s big business thrills, chills and spills all around.  The next few years will make for fascinating viewing in high definition.

There is one other player, one newt running around the forest of dinosaurs that I’m hoping for.  It’s the artists themselves.  Artists like actors, directors and even producers being part of the media they know where their bread is buttered.  It's unlikley they'll stand against the big studio behemoth and in favor of new digital entertainment distribution paradigms.

However. 

"Bubble" is due to be released late this month and it’ll be the first film released simultaneously to theaters, digital cable and DVD.  Bubble is a small budget piece set in Ohio that is supposedly a good quality work that crosses genres.  It's shot completely on digital HD cameras with a non-professional cast. 

What sets Bubble apart from any story of an indie production house trying something new is the director of Bubble is Award winning director Steven Soderbergh, the first director to run against himself for best director Oscars when Traffic and Erin Brockovich were nominated.

Kudos to Soderbergh for having what it takes to show the world how it’s to be done in the digital entertainment era.

About the image:  No, Aeon Flux has nothing to do with this story but Charlize Theron sure is pretty, eh?