拯救CD：不可能完成的任务

    你是不是认为物理介质即将退出市场？索尼（Sony）和松下（Panasonic）可不这么看。

    据《华尔街日报》（The Wall Street Journal）报道，本周早些时候，索尼和松下宣布签署一项协议，将于2015年推出更先进的存储光盘，容量高达300GB，是目前蓝光光盘容量的5倍之多。两家公司做出这个举动的原因很简单：电视技术正从1080p向更高标准的4k演进，而4k图像的像素数几乎是1080p的4倍。更高分辨率的节目内容意味着尺寸更大的文件，同时，对物理介质的容量需求也会大大提升。

    索尼和松下都能从中得到不少收获。推广一种全新格式的光盘能带动两家公司下一代光盘播放器的销售。这对于索尼而言无疑是一个福音，因为它的电子部门近来一直持续亏损。

    消费者会买账吗？支持者肯定会言之凿凿地说“当然”。蓝光销量就是坚强的例证。虽然DVD销量持续下滑，但蓝光销量却一路攀升。鉴于节目内容不断丰富，售价持续下调，在这两大因素的刺激下，蓝光光盘的销售额在2013年第一季度同比大涨28.5%。这对索尼和松下而言是个好兆头，不是吗？

    从目前来看没错。但就像许多人所指出的，内容下载和流媒体播放已是大势所趋。凯鹏华盈（Kleiner Perkins）合伙人玛丽•米克在最近的报告中指出，从2008年到2012年，全球上网人数增长了8%，达到24亿人。这个数字只会继续增加。2013年第一季度，数字媒体的销售额同比去年大涨26%。（与之形成鲜明对比的是，包括DVD在内的实体媒体去年的销售额下滑了10%。）此外，随着Netflix等流媒体公司的会员人数持续增加，显然，长期来看，越来越多的消费者将倾向于使用Roku盒子、苹果电视和互联网电视，而不是存储极限不断提高的下一代光碟。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    Thought physical media was dying? Sony and Panasonic think otherwise.

    Earlier this week, both tech companies announced an agreement to develop an advanced optical disc due in 2015 capable of storing over 300 gigabytes (GB) worth of data, according to The Wall Street Journal -- five times the amount Blu-ray discs can currently hold. Their rationale: as television technology migrates from the current 1080p picture quality standard to 4K -- images with roughly quadruple the number of pixels onscreen -- this kind of higher-definition content translates to larger files and demands, the case of physical media, much more space.

    Doing so behooves Sony (SNE) and Panasonic (PCRFY). Popularizing yet another disc format could in turn spur sales of next-gen disc players from the two companies. That would be a boon in Sony's case, at least, given its electronics division continues to lose money.

    But will consumers want it? Proponents will argue "Yes, of course." And they'll point to Blu-ray sales as Exhibit A. While DVD sales tumble, sales of Blu-ray discs are rising. In fact, Blu-ray revenues jumped 28.5% year-over-year in the first quarter 2013, likely due to a combination of a growing content catalog and lower prices. Surely, that's a sign in Sony and Panasonic's favor, no?

    In the short-to-medium term, sure. But as many have already figured out anecdotally, content downloading and streaming appears inevitable. As Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker pointed out in a recent report, the number of global Internet users climbed 8% to 2.4 billion between 2008 and 2012 -- a figure that will only grow. Spending on digital distribution spiked 26% during the first quarter of 2013 compared with the time time last year. (Meanwhile, overall sales for packaged media, including DVDs, declined 10% last year.) And with content-streaming companies like Netflix (NFLX) continually adding subscribers, it's obvious the long-term involves more and more people cozying up to Roku boxes, Apple TVs and Internet-ready television sets than next-gen optical discs with ever-rising storage limits.