Title: Emergent quality standards for digital entertainment experience goods: the case of consumer audio

Authors: Jerald Hughes

Addresses: Department of Computer Information Systems, College of Business Administration, University of Texas – Pan American, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA

Abstract: Information goods are transitioning from analog to digital media, and from purely physical distribution to multiple modes of digital distribution, including both physical and pure information products. For digital entertainment experience goods such as music, one result is that the establishment of quality standards has been taken out of the hands of industry producers, emerging independently instead of the actions of digital multimedia users. To explore this phenomenon, this paper will examine the historical case of consumer audio information goods, in order to demonstrate the forces at work and identify some critical issues of implementation for producers and service providers.

Keywords: services; quality standards; information goods; digital music; consumer audio; audio quality; experience goods; digital entertainment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2009.032176

International Journal of Services and Standards, 2009 Vol.5 No.4, pp.333 - 353

Published online: 14 Mar 2010 *

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