Apple → Re: [rant] You can forget about Blu Ray ever coming to the Mac n

Can't make a super thin iOSX computer with a optical drive. Though you'd think to satisfy the masses, they'd at least make an external BRDVD drive.

According to a news article I read online today people aren't asking Apple for BluRay anymore - and honestly not putting BluRay on the Mac was a deliberate decision to push people forwards - away from using optical media for software distribution and towards using iTunes and other online sources for media streaming - it also freed up internal space to allow for smaller overall machines and saves Apple a few dollars per machine on hardware (and hardware repairs).

Honestly I have used my Mac Pro's superdrive so rarely that I have had to clean the dust out of it to get discs to read correctly. That being said I'll probably buy some form of USB external drive just in case I ever need to use some legacy software that is only on optical media when I do get my next computer.

Don't need to...3rd party is there, just like Apple doesn't make printers any more. Software support...like BRD burning would be nice, but I use Toast anyway. The problem is decryption. Even if the video cards included in Apple devices support it, it isn't supported in software. But players are so cheap these days I don't think there is a demand for BRD support in the Macs themselves. For playing movies you are better off just renting from iTunes or ripping BRD to MP4 video (which is what I do). Ripped video is then supported on all Macs and iOS devices.

I was just going to ask that.

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For playing movies you are better off just renting from iTunes or ripping BRD to MP4 video (which is what I do). Ripped video is then supported on all Macs and iOS devices.

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I want to think that blu-ray is just too slow for anything computer. In a way it's a niche device only suitable for watching movies. I wonder if there are licensing issues for the blu-ray standard.

EDIT: Oh! Apparently someone thinks alike. From the article:

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...given the overwhelming trend towards downloaded media, these are certainly niche products.

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Problem with streaming is it eats bandwidth. There are a few companies [mostly game ones], that are already complaining about the impact of caps and overage fees have on their business.
Apple and PC makers should take that into consideration, and either join the fight against caps/overages, or still make a way for people to watch/play media in the traditional manner.

Also, after reading about how amazon wiped a customers kindle device [showing that we really don't own electronic media that we buy], I'd be kind of cautious about buying any electronic media.

Help us, Google. You're our only hope!