The analysis illustrates why it is not always true that digital distribution of media will have lower carbon emissions than distribution by physical means, the researchers say.
The results "illustrate why it is not always true that digital distribution of media will have lower carbon emissions than distribution by physical means when file sizes are large", determined the researchers from Stanford University, the University of Surrey and the Social Innovation Center in France.
Companies such as Netflix, Disney, Amazon.com and Apple are expanding the digital distribution of media.
Perhaps the true effect of unlimited digital distribution on individual media choices will be even more positive than he imagines.
But perennial arguments about the price that ought to be paid for content are turning uglier as digital distribution transforms the media landscape.
With the global and instantaneous reach of digital distribution, and social media's ability to quickly amplify any trend, you might expect that the top rungs of Billboard's sales charts would frequently be filled with unknown acts that have broken through with a catchy song.
Before the era of digital distribution and social media an indie film faced a virtual cliff face of obstacles in order to find an audience.
While the device itself is hardly revolutionary if anything, it feels so obvious we can hardly believe it's taken this long for something like this to hit the market the potential for radically reinventing the digital distribution of both new media and traditional artworks makes it an exciting innovation.
Still, while Bertelsmann has struggled with weak advertising and consumer spending, not to mention the migration of traditional media to digital distribution, Arvato, its services arm, has chugged along — generating a quarter of Bertelsmann's $29 billion in annual sales.
But Mr. Parker is also a self-educated polymath who decided as a teenager to liberate himself from what he called "the shackles of conventionality" and found himself at the forefront of two of technology's most important trends: the digital distribution of entertainment, and social media.
