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An Introduction to Digital Media is a clear and comprehensive account of the development and future possibilities of digital media by one of their most authoritative analysts. Tony Feldman addresses fundamental questions about digital media and their potential use in our everyday lives. What are digital media? What is special about them? How do digital media systems work, technologically and commercially? And where is the digital media revolution taking us? Tony Feldman considers the new digital media in two distinct but increasingly converging areas: the world of packaged 'offline' media such as CD-ROM and the world of transmitted media, including digital broadcasting and interactive online services. He begins with an overview of the digital media landscape, and goes on to describe the impact of CD-based media and the development of a consumer market for multimedia products. Feldman then traces the equally dramatic growth of online services and the Internet in particular, assessing myths and realities about the information superhighway and its commercial possibilities. An Introduction to Digital Media concludes with an assessment of the strategic implications of going digital for media industries such as publishing, broadcasting, cinema and music, and considers the key role that individuals will play in determining the course of the digital revolution.
List of contents
1 WHAT DIGITAL REVOLUTION? Analogue and digital information, Speaking the language of computers, Commercialising electronic media What is interactivity? Designing and implementing interactivity, Capturing hearts and minds Do we need interactivity? 2 MULTIMEDIA 3 THE COMPACT DISC ARRIVES 4 MYTH AND REALITY ON THE SUPERHIGHWAY 5 ONLINE NETWORKS 6 WEB COMMERCE 7 WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
About the author
Tony Feldman, one of Europe’s leading digital media consultants, is a founding director of the highly respected media and convergence analysts Informed Sources International. A prolific writer, his recent books include Multimedia (1994) and Electronic Media Markets (1992, with Julian Dickens). He also edits the authoritative European newsletter Interactive Media International.
Summary
Addresses the fundamental questions about digital media and its potential use in our everyday lives. The world of 'off-line' media, CD-ROMs and broadcast media are examined as well as the dramatic explosion of 'on-line' services.
