Jeff Atwood fires a shot across-the-bow of the online content distribution model, via his take on The Sad State of Digital Software Distribution:
�Instead, I find that download options for commercial software are quite rare. Even when the download option is available, you end up paying the same price as retail or even more.�
This is a point-of view that crops up every so often, typically backed up by a small number of examples where a retail price (on sale) is less than the online option. On the face of it, that�s a pretty damning indictment of the online e-tail model, right? Surely it should be cheaper to procure a product via electronic download, rather than shrink wrapped? Of course. To a point.