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Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Jagged Little Pill (Acoustic)

    • 6 out of 10
    • Alanis Morissette
    • Ten years after the original release, comes the traditional celebratory acoustic re-recording. The album has held up remarkably well. While it is not as meaningful to me as it was when I was sixteen,
  • War of the Worlds

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jeff Wayne
    • With the new movie adaptation of H.G Wells' classic Sci Fi invasion tale, War of the Worlds, currently on theater screens everywhere, there's new interest in Jeff Wayne's rock opera version, and it is
  • Machine Gun Etiquette

    • 8 out of 10
    • The Damned
    • Punk rock is mostly associated with three chords and a bad attitude, but the Damned were one of the few bands of the era bent on bringing musicianship and a good sense of humor to the scene. And while
  • Never Let Me Down [ECD]

    • 4 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
  • Plans

    • 8 out of 10
    • Death Cab for Cutie
    • With the introduction of Plans, Death Cab for Cutie became a new addition to many user's Artist list after the single "Soul Meets Body" became a hit on iTunes. Offering a fresh alternativ

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Editorial

Blu-ray vs iTunes is all Baloney

In an effort to create artificial tension for their readership or to cater to the RDFs of Apple and Microsoft, some are arguing that Blu-ray will now have to fight an uphill battle against Internet downloads. That’s all pure baloney.

First, it’s going to be many years before Internet downloads can compete with Blu-ray discs in terms of bit rate and video quality. What’s worse, we’re facing a unique problem these days in that some Internet providers may be working behind the scenes to make life difficult for their competitors. Unless net neutrality laws get some teeth soon, the days of free and open access to any video any time may be numbered.

So, until the day comes when I have a 100 Mbps cable modem or FiOS connection and the federal government has guaranteed me that I can download an HD movie from Big Time Competitor A on Big Time Competitor B’s network in a few minutes with no behind the scenes dirty tricks, I think I’ll pass on the Blu-ray is dead scenario.

Next, I suspect most people have older DVD players that don’t do much in terms of upconverting. They’e going to need a new player anyway. For those older players, the output is 480i and the HDTV it’s connected to does its best to convert that to native resolution. As time goes by, there’s going to be less and less emphasis on that circuitry to save costs, and so a good upconverting DVD player will be required. What’s a good up-converting DVD player? A Blu-ray.

I’ve personally seen the difference between an old but serviceable Sony DVD player delivering 480i and a Blu-ray player with modern electronics delivering 480p via HDMI from a DVD. There is a small but noticeable improvement for the same DVD.

Finally, while some people always have their preferences and try to get in on the latest trends, the fact is it’s very hard to get all the people to do just what you want them to do all the time. A lot of people have a nice DVD collection, and they’re going to keep right on enjoying those movies. If, every once in a while, a Blu-ray movie arrives via Netflix or they see an old favorite that just has to be upgraded to HD, they’ll do it.

And don’t forget, we’re still not very good at getting that content off our computers and into our HDTVs. HDTVs with an Ethernet jack are coming, but it’s going to take a long time for manufacturers and content providers to make that interface as good as Apple can make it. In the meantime, video box wars and customer "box fatigue" are at an all time high. Adults and their kids know how to operate DVD and Blu-ray players; they’re not considered hard to use.

There’s an old adage: "Under the most strictly controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, and humidity, the organism will do as it damn well pleases."

And so will millions of consumers who don’t want to mess around with the Internet, wait for a movie to fill a buffer, mess with complicated video boxes, have a creidt card number on file in the sky, worry about net-neutrality dirty tricks, and backing up purchased movies at 2 GB per shot. They just want to plop a disc in the machine, grab some popcorn and enjoy. You can bet Hollywood will keep them happy with lots of selections at Wal-Mart for a long time.

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