Things change. Trends, markets, consumer behaviors.

Sometimes things change before our eyes, and we still don't seem to acknowledge them.

So even as the very nature of media is evolving, changing, and becoming something entirely new - there is still this sense that things are the same.

They aren't.

Take sneakers.

I remember as a kid having a pair of Converse. Pretty cool. Liked them a lot. But in realm of sneakers... that was pretty much it as i recall. Black or white, take your pick. Why would anyone want anything else.

Had i told my parents that my dream was to open a 'sneaker store' they would have laughed. Black or white?

Flash forward. Footlocker. Finish Line. Sports Authority. Niketown. Sneaker Stores !!!

But what came first, the many styles and brands - or peoples need for more choice, or marketers who were able to convince us we needed a billion kinds of sneakers? Hard to say... these things evolve.

Which brings me to - content.

Today, the idea that there is going to be high quality content for Astronomy seems kind of far fetched. TV networks are MASS media. Big crowds gather to watch BIG shows. So narrow niches like Astronomy, or Opera, Or Slow Foods, or any of the millions of focused personal passions seem unlikely to be able to support a media outlet.

Sneakers.

Audiences evolve. Editorial voices emerge. Distribution technology mature. And the economics underlying all of this are re-engineered to support the changing tastes of content consumers and creators.

Chris Anderson's telling of the Long Tail is part observation, part prediction, and, interestingly, part engineering. Because by putting out in the universe the idea that content can have a long shelf live (and a long economic shelf life) he empowers a generation of content creators to think about their work in a less disposable way.

Amazon then buys Custom Flix (a 'burn no demand' dvd publishing company) hence putting in place the long tail resources to turn their hungry content search engine into a demand satisfying engine.

Is Amazon "Footlocker" for content? Sure, why not.

If so - who's making the sneakers?

Why not us?