Quote Originally Posted by Razorette3D View Post
For those that didn't hear already, MakerBot has announce their digital store - https://digitalstore.makerbot.com/

They allow you to purchase items or entire collections, for download and print.

Do you guys think this will end up being an Amazon or iTunes of digital designs? It only seems like we will eventually see stores open up that sell digital designs ready for printing, rather than only having FREE designs available on sites like Thingiverse.
It will come down I think to who pays the best for the designs. No one is going to want to upload a design only to have that company print it and make money off it, so there needs to be a royalty system in place, or a system where they buy the rights to your design. What I see at the moment is an absolute boom of people jumping on the bandwagon in a desperate race to become the next 3D printing "one stop shop".

From filament suppliers coming out of every little hole in the wood work, to a plethora of forums about 3D printing, to people trying to replicate Thingiverse in their own rip-off site..To the poor Joe who just opened up his first Retail outlet for 3D printing,.. who is most likely going to go broke paying rent because the profits on these machines is so thin thanks to international competition... it's becoming another .Com boom almost. While it's awesome to have the amount of people using and talking about 3D printing, there is also the danger of saturating the market (with everything).

I mean, how many kickstarters are there now for 3D printers? I have honestly lost count. Some are doing well, some not so well.. but that's just kickstarter. Then there is the companies that are making them outright now and selling them, of which there are just too many to name..