Walt Disney Studios has started to rent movies on the internet. And it isn’t the only option online: books and music are also available. Just turn on your computer.

The creation of YouTube, 6 years ago changed an important cultural habit: since then people have been watching videos not only on TVs, but also on computers. Do you want to watch a classical movie, one that is usually difficult to find in a video store? Not a problem. Just look for it on YouTube.

In the beginning, this wasn’t accepted by big corporations, mainly those used to producing – and earning a lot of money with movies. To the misfortune of video store owners, the situation has changed again. This week, The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Pixar and DreamWorks Studios started to rent movies at YouTube.com/movies. This means that it’s possible, without leaving your home, to watch movies like Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean and Toy Story anytime you want. Additionally, movie extras, including interviews with the filmmaker, for instance, will soon be available. Disney’s productions aren’t the only renting on the internet: most of the biggest Hollywood studios already do the same thing.

It’s interesting to think about how the internet has modified cultural and artistic practices. A related case involves books and literature. A few years ago people were not used to reading on computers and the paper books remained on the shelves. Tablets, such as iPad and Kindle, have helped many to adopt e-books. Yes, Dickens, Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare are now partners of Apple, and your favorite book can be inside a computer, not on the shelves anymore.

Amazon has been selling e-books during the last years and recently reached a new baseline: the company sells more digital than paper books. Even the sales of textbooks, which weren’t largely accepted by readers in the new format in the beginning, now are increasing.  According to research done by  the American agency Student Monitor, 5 % of textbooks sold in the last three months in the US are digital. It’s twice more than registered last year. Books, movies, music… the digital life is changing our cultural world.