In 2007, I wrote an article about the coming of digital media convergence.  Digital Media Convergence is the term used to describe the eventual union of television and the computer: more specifically, the mainstream media and the Internet.

My thought was that the Internet could provide more personalized content to you, the consumer. The content would be streamed on-demand so you could watch what you wanted, when you wanted. The TV’s advantage over the computer was always the fact that it was larger than your average monitor, so that many people could watch at the same time, and it was normally placed in a comfortable setting like a living room, which made content consumption easy. The computer was designed initially for content creation.

Now online video content is everywhere. You only need to look at Youtube, Hulu and Netflix to recognize its growing popularity. In 2008, the Olympics were viewable online for the first time in history, allowing people to watch the sporting events they were most interested in, not only what the television networks aired.

It’s not only video: consumers want on-demand music as well. Pandora, an online streaming radio service, is a great example of how the Internet can step in and help dying industries like the music industry, among others.

We’ve come a long way, but all these services are still half-baked ideas unless they can be moved into the living room, and onto your home entertainment system.

That is exactly what is happening now.

Go to any electronics store and look at the new TVs and Blu-ray players. What do they have in common? Most of them are web-enabled and have built-in applications for services such as Netflix, Amazon Video On-Demand, Pandora, Last.fm, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. The applications do vary depending on the make and model, but the trend towards a web-enabled entertainment center is clear and undeniable.

So what will Digital Media Convergence do for you? It will let you get to the content you want more easily, instead of just settling for whatever is on TV. As a result, I believe many of the media giants will have to change their method of delivering content as well as their business models. I also think that this will inevitably lead to a more self-educated and specialized society. Of course we will have to wait and see.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think about digital media convergence, and how it will affect our future.