Young used his time on stage during the keynote to show off a 10-disc Blu-Ray project that included almost every song he'd ever recorded, in chronological order. Sun's role? In providing Sony the Java code that allows for interactive features on Blu-ray. Young said that while he'd been working on the project for 15 years, only now was the digital audio quality up to standard. Each track had visual accompaniment from the relevant era. When a recording from the compact disc era appeared, he joked "We took a giant dump at this point." He also mentioned that he was working to create a car that didn't require stops for refueling, which also has some tangential relationship to Java, showing off an American mid-century model he's entering in the automotive X-Prize challenge.

Interestingly enough, us bloggers with our hair-trigger deadlines were given first crack at asking questions of Young (and indulging in the complimentary fruit plate), while the print reporters with their leisurely deadlines had to wait outside. As we waited for Young and his entourage to arrive, O'Reilly Media founder Tim O'Reilly showed off his Livescribe pen for recording audio in time with written notes to News.com editor-in-chief Dan Farber, who remarked sagely about the need for special Livescribe paper, "So they're selling the razors and the blades." But the two quickly went into fanboy mode when Young arrived, peppering the man with questions before anyone else could get a word in edgewise.

The car project, part of a documentary Young's working on with filmmaker Larry Johnson, a longtime collaborator, seems to be a bit of a lark. He wants to create a superefficient car that doesn't need to stop for gas or electricity, and he wants it to be heavy. While I might have gotten a C+ in college physics, it's enough to know that you can't run a Lincoln Continental on unicorns and rainbows. "It's very kooky. When you try to do something like this, people say you're nuts." Wonder why?

I mostly went on behalf of my father, who's pretty much a superfan (to the point where, besides the mutton-chop sideburns and dark glasses, he and Young seem to have identical fashion sense). My question had to do with the fact that my father had already bought Young's work on vinyl, then again on CD, and will now probably buy it all over again on Blu-ray in the fall. "I think it's the same as Microsoft selling the same applications every year with new bells and whistles." He then made this vinyl collector very happy by lambasting the quality of digital audio, and saying that he still records and edits everything in analog.

Young was at his best when he pierced through the Sun marketing hype of the morning. When O'Reilly asked how the musician felt about the "free" aspects of Sun's open-source efforts with Java, Young veered well of the "Keep on rockin' in a free world" tagline I assume Sun paid dearly for: "The free aspect... I think that's a word, that's a marketing thing." Touché.

Here we know better. Software is the ingredient that turns content into quicksilver, shifting in time and place to the device we desire, at the moment we choose. Apple has mastered this alchemy, and others like Microsoft and Amazon.com are studying the fast; but to Sony it remains a dark art.

Online video remains immensely fragmented. Should you download a video on Xbox Live? Buy it on Amazon.com's Unbox via your TiVo set-top? Rent it on iTunes, and broadcast it to your flat-screen display with an Apple TV? The choices seem endless, and endlessly confusing. But none of them, I'd note, market themselves based on a format. The format, if any, is broadband, and a set of standardized audio/video connectors. The rest is fungible.

There will no doubt be a shakeout among online-video stores. If nothing else kills off the weaker players, consumers will rapidly tire of purchasing the same movies again and again. A rack of DVDs on the shelf provides a reassuring sense of permanence. Perhaps physical media will make a comeback. Warren Lieberfarb, who helped invent the DVD at Warner Bros. and now consults for Toshiba on HD-DVD, predicts that flash-memory devices might be sold in stores preloaded with video.

Sony actually had that idea, I believe, with its MagicGate memory sticks. Another nonstandard format, tied to hardware, with buggy software. The same complaints are being made about Blu-ray, with its ever-shifting specification requiring firmware updates. Sony, drenched in blood, stands victorious in the optical-disc format battle. Too bad the war is now being waged in another theater.

WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ITS HIGH-DEFINITION DVD TITLES EXCLUSIVELY IN THE BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT BEGINNING LATER THIS YEAR Decision Made in Response to Strong Consumer Preference for Format

(January 4, 2008 - Burbank, CA) - In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.

"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

When Microsoft announced its Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360, which offers television and movie downloads, last November, it was only a matter of time until Sony felt compelled to offer a similar service for its PlayStation3. As a movie studio owner, Sony even had, arguably, an advantage. Its inability to beat Microsoft to market was baffling.

The PlayStation 3 has always been marketed as a computer for your living room — the digital hub for family entertainment. This announcement is simply Sony fulfilling on its marketing promise. What's more, the timing sets Sony up for the holidays. Sales of the PlayStation 3 have lagged compared to Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii. Sony recently dropped the price of its 60GB console by $100 to spur sales and clear out inventories. And it's also finding that its early dominance in Blu-ray, the high-definition movie-disc format built into the PS3, losing ground to HD-DVD.

This announcement, more than anything, makes PS3 look something like the wunderkind device Sony originally promised. Something that plays Blu-ray movies, games, and can download TV shows. Suddenly an overpriced console looks like the deal of a century. By tying digital downloads to the PS3, Sony hopes to generate some much-needed console sales, and in the process getting its hi-def movie player into more homes. But confusion over its strategy — and the complications of a failing, now-shuttered music-download service — slowed things down. Sony may claim to be moving faster now. But it can't hide the fact that it's far, far behind Microsoft and Apple in this race.

Paramount studio exec Rob Moore's argument that HD-DVDs are cheaper and therefore more appealing to consumers is moot. Consumers willing to drop $400 on a standalone Blu-ray player aren't going to be swayed by a few dollars. What is going to influence them is the number of movies offered in each format. The dueling HD disc types are already both hindered by a "why upgrade?" mentality. Consumers, by and large, are waiting to see which format will die before committing. Prolonging the battle may temporarily line Paramount's pockets, but ultimately, the stalemate just gives digital distribution of movies more time to catch up.

Before:

HollywoodinHiDef.com is a new Web site dedicated to leading the discussion on the latest in high-definition home entertainment and the Blu-Ray Disc format. The site is a comprehensive online resource created for consumers interested in high-definition home entertainment — from the enthusiast to those intending to create a high-definition home entertainment content library. HollywoodinHiDef.com, which is supported by Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios among other companies, provides a wide variety of news, features, exclusive interviews and information about the future of high-definition home entertainment.

After:

HollywoodinHiDef.com is a new Web site developed by Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios, among other companies, to provide an open platform for the discussion of the leading high-definition format, Blu-ray Disc. Sony, Fox, Disney and other companies providing funding and resources to the site are also among the primary supporters of Blu-ray Disc products. The site is led by veteran Hollywood journalist Scott Hettrick who is being paid to provide independent original editorial content in the form of blogs and interviews. HollywoodinHiDef.com is a comprehensive online resource created for consumers — from the enthusiast to those intending to create a high-definition home entertainment content library. The site provides a wide variety of Blu-ray news aggregated from other sites, reviews of recommended Blu-ray releases by third-party contributors and other web sites, exclusive interviews and information about the future of high-definition home entertainment on Blu-ray Disc.

The site's blogger, Scott Hettrick, has been proactively responding. He edited his first blog post that, ironically, attempted to dispel the rumors and propaganda surrounding the hi-def format war ("...there's an awful lot of propaganda and posturing out there by both the companies releasing the product and the so-called "fanboys" of the Internet.") with a disclaimer ("As we note clearly in "About Us," this site is supported on many different levels by many of the more than 170 companies that support Blu-ray, most primarily Disney, Fox and Sony, but no single organization or group.") But Hettrick's "honesty" does little to alter the "propaganda and posturing" of this advertising campaign. The deception is sure to backfire, the site shuttered as has happened in the past.

In fact, everyone involved, particularly Sony, should have known better. Sony has been caught creating a fake blog promoting the PSP last December and fake critics for its movies six years ago. And we thought Sony had learned with the PSP fiasco: "Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts..." Yes, please.

What Alessi meant, of course, was "We are so behind." Maybe there's an equipment shortage, or maybe they're just running on the Microsoft launch schedule. But for future reference, here's a list of ways to cover your ass.

• When: You want to stonewall reporters on an insightful question. Say: "We are currently investigating the matter internally." Risk: You investigate, you commit fraud while doing so, and your CEO ends up stonewalling Congress, which is not so easy.
• When: Someone leaked how much you spent on an acquisition. Say: "We do not comment on rumors or speculation." Risk: Reminding everyone that you thrive on rumors and speculation.
• When: You need to divert attention from your upcoming iPhone. Say: "Here's the new iPod nano (Product) RED!" Risk: None, you're Apple, you're golden.

Blu-ray's Hardware Woes Stacking Up [Slashdot]