The Most Valuable Thing You Carry Around May Not Be Your Wallet

from the this-is-not-legal-tender dept

The average American adult has over $1,100 in digital content on their computer, portable devices, phone and DVR, a new study says, while Gen Y carries around content worth double that. The survey, sponsored by a hard-drive maker, also points out people want more storage, perhaps so they'll never have to erase anything. How they arrived at a value for the content people have is a little murky, though I guess it's not impossible to think teenagers have bought 2200 songs from iTunes. But when does all this become too much to handle, and digital content just becomes digital clutter?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Paul_M, 2 Sep 2005 @ 5:53pm

    Value vs. worth

    Since I can't actually sell any of that digital content, how exactly does it have any monetary value?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Sep 2005 @ 6:34pm

    Another question...

    Is it really stealing if you never intended to buy the music anyways? Believe it or not, some people would just listen to the radio or nothing at all than shell out money they can't afford.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Buggaboo, 2 Sep 2005 @ 6:45pm

    Re: Value vs. worth

    Perhaps not intrinsic worth or marketable value, but there could be a replacement cost if you've also lost your software license keys.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    rbk303, 2 Sep 2005 @ 11:58pm

    No Subject Given

    digital clutter?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    DGK12, 3 Sep 2005 @ 2:00am

    Big Mess

    With many books coming with CDs containing a digital version, its not hard to see that things can become a bit messy. Copying books and music and movies, uploading digital pictures and scans, text scans and possibly personal recordings or content created on the computer. I have every one of the above. You add that to a mess of software and games (free or paid), music videos and probably television shows. I'm sure many more can be added to this list.

    What's not messy about organising all of that?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Mousky, 3 Sep 2005 @ 10:04am

    Re: Value vs. worth

    Well if you paid for it or it had some cost attributed to it, then it has some value. I suppose people better check their insurance policies and see what is covered and not covered, for example, software, digital photos, digital music, etc. The soft costs could exceed the hard costs.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Silicon-DNA, 3 Sep 2005 @ 2:14pm

    Digital Clutter

    This is exactly the reason that desktop search will become a huge moneymaker for Google!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Jimi Spier, 4 Sep 2005 @ 4:25pm

    Arrrrrrrrr

    We's be Pirates

    The value is prolly determined by the fines we'd get if the RIAA searched us..

    ::Grabs Eye Patch::

    Just kidding..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Billco, 5 Sep 2005 @ 4:05am

    Re: Arrrrrrrrr

    "prolly"?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Daniel (profile), 5 Sep 2005 @ 1:55pm

    Re: Arrrrrrrrr

    Aye-aye

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.