Rumours are that Toshiba is investigating dropping HD DVD, making Blue-ray the winner in the format wars.

On paper, Blue-ray is better technically in almost every way. See the Wikipedia comparison of the two HD formats.

Blue-ray is still region coded, but to three regions instead of DVDs six. HD-DVD is region free. However, regioning has apparently only been used on about a third of released Blue-ray DVDs. The regions seem to be NTSC users, PAL users and "those nasty pirates".

Blue-ray also has significantly more copy protection which can increase the cost of both players and discs. Blue-ray is included as standard in Sony PlayStation3.

A lot of photos I've seen of Blue-ray seem to have a plastic caddy around the disc, but I can't find any mention of this as a standard. I could see why a disc with a plastic caddy on it would be preferred by the rental industry, which must spend millions replacing scratched DVDs each year.

The Government will examine new legislative proposals being unveiled in Britain this week to target people who download films and music illegally. Internet service providers (ISPs) there might be legally required to take action against users who access pirated material.

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Under the three-strikes policy, a warning would be first issued to offenders who illegally share files using peer-to-peer technology to access music, TV shows and movies free of charge. The second strike would lead to the offender's internet access being suspended; the third would cancel the offender's internet access.

If such a law were created, and the ISP was to be responsible for policing the data that travels through their network, the cost of internet in Australia will skyrocket. Also, if ISPs suddenly have to police all data on their networks, why waste such power on petty music piracy when it could be used to shut out other far more damaging illegal activities?

It wouldn't be hard to argue that the copyright holders (or those paid to police such copyrights, ie. APRA, RIAA, MPAA) should pay the cost to ISPs for policing their copyright.

Perhaps I'm getting old but I'm not at all against actually policing online piracy. I'm just not sure it's actually possible.

See LawFont's analysis on this news story.

As a consumer who still buys a lot of CDs, it is frustrating to not be able to buy the product I want in the store, but to see it online for free, with extras. When searching for the music I want (to buy) I have to wade through thousands of "offers" to download it for free. I have to actively, every single day, decide not to download for free what I want to buy.

Recently I've been on a Bob Marley kick. I transferred some old vinyls and would like to buy some CDs of his other albums. In JB HiFi all I can find are some slapped together best-ofs and a couple of hideously overpriced re-releases. Most of his old albums aren't even for sale in any store I've been able to find.

So you move online, and the pirates have it all together. You can download a package of every single one of his albums, lovingly ripped, all for free. How do $35 "remaster" packages compete with that? How can they ever?

Worse, these days I look at a CD that is cheap ($10) and wonder, why is this cheap? Usually it's because a "remastered" version is available, or a "25 anniversary" version. Every time I buy a CD I wonder if something better has been hidden from me, and if I'd just looked online first I'd know and be able to make an informed choice. Every time I buy a CD I question myself.

I looked over at HMV in the mall on the weekend and noticed it's closing down. Huge sale. 50% of everything. I'd recently been wondering how they could still survive. The whole front of their store had turned into a desperate bargain bin of rubbish, while their decent product hid up the back with no-one looking at it.

Change...