I think it would be neat to see a new type of media-format. I don't mean another HD-DVD or Blu-Ray format, nor do I mean an alternative to MP3 or Ogg Vorbis. The same technology could probably be used, but the way that we enjoy it would be different. I want organic, random media. I want media that is different every time I listen to or watch it. Let me explain music first, and then video.

Music

The music format would consist of a number of 'tracks' in the music file, much like an audio engineer would see in his mixing program, or an old eight-track recorder. At particular places, there would be 'routes' the music could take. Let's envision, for the sake of simplicity, a three-track music file with drums, bass and a guitar. At the very beginning of the song, there would be a routing marker and the song would randomly start with either the drum track, the bass track, the guitar track, or any combination of the three. It would be up to the artist what the tracks would sound like based on the environment that the track found itself in.

If the song is starting with only drums, perhaps it would start with a drum solo, or a crescendo. The next routing path could bring in background bass and continue from there. If the song started with the bass track, the artist might want to bring in the drums and guitar together at the next pathway for a more abrupt introduction. The song could reference itself also: midway through, it might have the option to randomly jump back to the one-third marker, or jump towards the end. You could listen to a song that builds and evolves over seven minutes, or one that starts off rocking and ends in three minutes. It would be different almost every time.

Video

Video could be handled much the same way that music would be. Looping and referencing would be very limited I imagine, but not impossible. It would be interesting to see what creative minds could come up with in that regard. The video file would have 'tracks' just like the music file. Imagine you're watching an action movie in which the protagonist needs to hope into a vehicle and there is a gun-fight-get-away scene. One track could have the protagonist hopping into a car and shooting behind him, ducking away from bullets crashing through his windows. Another track could have him grabbing a motorcycle and zipping through the streets, along sidewalks and down alleys. He might even be able to hop into a boat and cruise across a lake or something - the details of the scenes are left to the directors and such.

These kinds of tracks in video would probably need to be less important to the story, but would be able to provide a different experience each time when watching. Imagine a group of people that have just watched a newly released DVD: "Wow! During the get-away, the pope was on a Kawasaki bike and jumped the East River!", "Wow! When I watched it, he ran on foot through a bazaar and was airlifted out by blackhawk helicopters!". There could even be more subtle differences, like differences in actors costumes and clothes. Maybe the drinks they order are different, or the furniture in their office is different. You could really make many 'faces' to a single story. You could have the movie for years and still not have seen all possible tracks in the video file. When I get new movies, I usually watch them once right away, maybe a second time within the next week, and then I don't pick them up again until I have a particular craving for it, or a movie-night pops up.

New Interaction

The idea of tracks could also take advantage of the 'interactivity' of DVD players. Like the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books, there could be decision making junctions in which the DVD menu functions serve as 'choice makers'. It would be hard to implement effectively, but done well it could really be entertaining. I don't think it would be advantageous to mimic gameplay in these interactive videos. Too much choice, or 'percieved' choice would be detrimental. In most games, the story is linear. At times, the player is given the illusion of choice, but eventually has to unlock some necessary door, or talk to some vital person. Too much choice would detract from the actual video or movie that was being watched. The interactivity level of such a medium would be left to the artists of course.

I find it somewhat hard to believe that this sort of thing doesn't already exist, or that it hasn't already debuted and failed. The closest thing I can think of that mimics this idea, is the originator of the idea in me anyway: Choose Your Own Adventure books. Perhaps though there is more to why this hasn't unfolded yet: perhaps people don't want to choose how a movie pans out, or perhaps they thrive on sameness in a music file. Not all movie genres and not all music types would be suitable of course, but there are genres in both mediums that could take advantage of this new type of media. If there is something out there like this already, please let me know.