[mexicanmike @ Jun 2nd 2007 1:46AM]

Best Buy gets involved in these things because ultimately they see that there is huge money to be made!!!! Best buy has switched from being a retailer who moves boxes, products, to a retailer that would like to be known as a comapany that sells services, Buying geek sqaud and magnolia hi-fi, huge well known california service companies. Best buy also has probly entered into this because they are getting their arses handed to them when it comes to selling digital content. Walmart, target, you name em, they outsell BBY when it comes to media. Also, more than likely, if bby could free up their sales floors from all the cd's dvd's, they could bring in higher margin products and earn more per square foot. On top of that it is cheaper to maintain dowload services than to have Joe smoe, college student re-arrange and find all the cd's and dvd's suzy q wants. So by doing this best buy will be able to carry higher margin products in the area now being occupied by an almost no margin product, or just build smaller stores that require less staff and less energy, less everything. Instant gratification will cost you ladies and gents, but with hard drive and server prices dropping, why wouldnt a large reatiler rather just stream you content you will more than likely only watch once. And if you really like it, at least they can sell you a dvd from their online store.

[dandrep @ Jun 4th 2007 4:12AM]

Just a small note. Magnolia Hi-Fi was a Washington company. Started in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Wa.

[Mexicanmike @ Jun 4th 2007 7:18PM]

You are correct. I mis spoke when i said Magnolia was started in CA. I meant to show that it gained huge popularity in california, and thats how best buy gained knowldge and ultimately saw them as a target to aquire the high end, as well as mid level, home theater enthusiast. I believe that best buy also bought pacific appliances. Or something like that, a southern cal. based appliances company that specializes in high end appliances and kitchen design. I think this was a while ago and may have ultimately turned out to be a failure, because BBY never did any advertiseing or launch, but maybe we will see a comeback.