Once upon a time there were events called World’s Fairs, Along with the many cultural experiences available, there were pavilions labeled “The Home of the Future”, usually sponsored by a “technology company” (at that time was defined as one that built a refrigerator that delivered ice cubes through the door). Visitors marveled at the many wonders to come, most of which turned out to be horribly impractical and seldom if ever made it into a home in the future.

Let’s visit the “Home of the Future” for 2003 and beyond, specifically in the area of digital media - music, movies and photos. Two technologies are at the heart of the home media revolution. The first was built originally for business – Ethernet networking. Ethernet enables computers to talk to each other and share information, either over cables or wirelessly, and has actually been around for some time. The other is an explosion of traditionally “analog” devices now controlled by computer chips and brains, making it easier for these devices to communicate via Ethernet with their “big brothers”.

Despite the now rapidly diminishing hoopla surrounding the “computer that is also a TV” (Windows XP Media Center Edition, for example), people are realizing there are serious limitations to family entertainment in front of a computer. Are you really going to pull the sofa in front of that 15” monitor to watch a movie on DVD or see that nifty slide show with music you made of the family vacation? No. There’s a better way, and lots of tech companies are going after it.

The idea is simple. Make TVs, digital video recorders, and stereo equipment that can access the media you store, edit and organize on your computer.
First, music. By whatever means, you’ve accumulated 2000 of your favorite songs in MP3 format, all stored on your computer and managed by software like iTunes or MusicMatch. Phillips and other companies are building into their stereo tuners the ability to access and play those MP3 files, streaming them across the Ethernet connection from the computer. See where this is going? Store all your music in one place and access it from many places.

What about the car? In the garage of the future, you can carry your iPod or other FireWire-based MP3 player out to your car, plug it into the installed jack, and listen to your 2000 songs on the road. Actually, several car companies are offering this feature today.

Next, movies. The upcoming TiVo Series 2 digital video recorder boasts full interaction with your computer. From any internet connection you can program a recording session if you forgot to do it before leaving home. TiVo Series 2 will serve MP3 music and digital photos as well. The next logical step? Download movies right through the computer-managed broadband internet connection onto the digital recorder. Want to rent for just one day? You download a version that expires in 24 hours, for, say $3. For $5.95 you get a three-day version. Want to burn it onto your own DVD disk? Can do, that’ll be $9.95 on the credit card. There’s some Digital Rights Management issues and media format competition to deal with (real cans of worms) before this next step, but it’s coming.

And what about photos? Reasonably priced Single Lens Reflex digital cameras with all the capabilities of their film siblings are here. Printing a photo with quality that rivals professional developing is but a mouse click away. But why bother printing at all? Today, there are digital picture frames available. Load the picture into the frame’s memory, and the picture is displayed on the frame’s LED. What’s the next step? Picture frames connected wirelessly to your computer, where you can program the pictures you want displayed, even select from different sets, depending upon who’s visiting. Not far behind – a picture frame that can play family videos on demand, all served from the home computer.

Sound farfetched? Most of what we’ve talked about is here already, or maybe six months away. Kinda makes that big money you spent on a faster CD burner seem like a waste, doesn’t it?

© 2003 Peter F. Zimowski