The Long Tail

This week we read an article and watched a video on the long tail.
It took me a little while to really understand exactly what they were talking about. I think the DVD example Chris Anderson made in his TED video really helped the most. As the price of your technology drops, more people can afford it and it gets more popular. I remember my family held off on getting a DVD player for at least a year after they came out. Even then, we paid a few hundred dollars. Now? I could go out and buy one for 20 bucks. But I doubt you could find a home right now without one in it.
I definitely agree with Mr Anderson's theory. I can see it happening with everything we use. Computers, cameras, cell phones, and eReaders are all drastically dropping their prices, but the companies aren't suffering- quite the opposite. If you only sell 100 computers at $1000 a piece (100,000), you're making less than if you sold 500 computers at $500 (250,000.)