The digital revolution has transformed the way we receive information and indulge in entertainment. We no longer have to listen to the radio, watch TV, go to the movies, or pick up books at our local bookstore. Instead, we can get virtually of the information and entertainment we need with a few clicks of our mouse.

Digital videos, e-books, and audio products are appealing for two primary reasons: they're affordable and they're instantly downloadable. Because there is no manufacturing process per se, you don't have to pay for tangible goods or packaging. Plus, those providing informational products and digital entertainment don't have the high overhead costs of a brick-and-mortar retail outlet, such as leasing a storefront and paying salaries of sales associates. As a result, digital downloads are a fraction of the price of the similar items you'd buy at a store.

Similarly, digital information and entertainment offers the ultimate convenience. Because digital products are instantly downloadable, you can easily find what you want, pay for it, and download it in a matter of minutes. You never have to traipse to the store, face online backorders, or wait for your books, music, and videos to arrive in the mail.

Because the technology to create digital videos, e-books, and audio products is widely available, you have a greater choice than ever before. Indeed, you can find excellent sources of information and entertainment that mainstream publishers might overlook. Moreover, many sources of entertainment and informational products allow you to sample the wares before you buy, by enabling you to listen to a portion of the audio or read a few pages of the ebooks.

That's not to say that, for example, bestsellers aren't available on audio. You can find audio versions of James Patterson and Michael Connelly crime novels as well as non-fiction bestsellers like "Freakonomics" and "Preacher and the Presidents."

But you can also find e-books on a wide range of topics written by experts who may never publish a bound book. For example, perhaps you love to garden and want to learn the secrets of bonsai gardening or how to do companion planting and design an organic, sustainable food system.

Because of the lead-time involved in publishing a book, e-books also allow you to get up to the minute information on timely topics. Take the current housing market, for example. If you're a homeowner who wants to sell or an investor looking to take advantage of the increase in foreclosures, you can't afford to wait a year or two for a book to be published to learn the best strategies for reaching your goal. E-books allow you to get the information you need right now.

Perhaps the best feature of downloadable products is flexibility. For example, you can download audio books without any special software, and then either listen to them, transfer them to an MP3 player, or burn them onto a CD.

Digital videos, e-books, and audio products are the wave of the future - and the future is today!