From Netflix to iTunes: What to expect in 2012

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by Greg Sandoval CNET

In 2012, will music subscription services put a scare into Apple's iTunes?
(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

The best stories in digital media are ending the year with some compelling cliffhangers.

And none is more gripping than this one: What's to become of Netflix? In the eyes of online movie renters, the company in 2011 jumped from hero to anti-hero quicker than "Batman: The Dark Knight." The company alienated users by raising prices and threatening to spin off DVD operations.

In digital music, can Apple maintain its grip over the sector without Steve Jobs, easily the most lucid thinker about music distribution during the past decade? The company must now break in new CEO Tim Cook just as iTunes confronts some of its toughest competitors ever.

What, meanwhile, is to become of piracy and the idea of free content? Content owners are pushing illegal file sharing closer and closer to the fringes of the Web. This year, they sued Lime Wire out of existence and convinced big Internet service providers to help crack down on illegal file sharing. Will they see the Stop Online Piracy Act, a much-hated bill among techies, make it through Congress in 2012?

Read more at http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57340400-261/from-netflix-to-itunes-what-to-expect-in-2012/
 
 
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