[Lynk Former]

Actually there is a reason why there is a large gap between release dates and it's not just because it takes time to create an English dub for these animes... it's part of their contracts to release them later.

As for the downloading issue, I don't think there would be a lot less downloading to be honest. Anime is a very progressive thing in that a lot of people embrace downloading it and don't see anything wrong with doing things that way at all. In recent years I've noticed several companies trying to look into ways as to how they can get into digital distribution which will allow them to make money but also attracting this large crowd of people who don't really want to spend all of their money on anime.

Think of it as videogame magazines VS videogame websites... printed magazines are dying. They won't die out completely, but print magazines are always trying to find new ways to 1UP what you can get online in some way, but ultimately, the Internet changed the playing field for the videogame magazine industry to a point where a lot of them have died out and only a few remain.

This is kind of how I see the anime industry, it's not something I like personally, but it seems to me that it's the natural evolution of things for it to be this way. US companies are trying to make the most of what they have, but they know they have a lot to compete with.

I know I seem a little grim about this, but Geneon USA dying has made me that way.