Why not rip your DVDs to hard drive? That way, you always have them.
Already have, but until Solid State Drives drop to reasonable prices (say, $.25/GB), such an option is not practical. Sure, I could throw a 7200 RPM drive in there - I actually have a 500GB one - but then I lose the performance that makes me more efficient. Not an option when I could just take the DVD, pop it in and I'm good to go.
So you think blu-ray doesn't justify the price premium. Why not buy from iTunes? Much more convenient, no discs, same price or cheaper, and you always have your media with you.
*sigh* I shouldn't have to tell people things they already know.
- Bandwidth caps. The internet providers don't want a free-for-all. They don't want people downloading large amounts of data.
- Connection speeds. Until we're like other countries and we have 50MB synchronous fiber to the home, downloading is just not practical.
- Prices. There is no excuse for an old movie like Young Guns to cost $19.99 on iTunes when the DVD is $5 in the bargain bin. Until digital download prices get more reasonable (no more than 30% of the price of the physical media), it's not going to get mass adoption - and by that I mean there will continue to be holdouts.
- Availability. Not all TV seasons are available for download even if I wanted. All of the Law and Order ones, for example.
- Movie extras. Downloads do not include extras. No trailers, no behind-the-scenes, no menus, no chapter jump, no BD-Live, nothing. Just the movie. That's fine...but then they need to drop the price accordingly (as stated above).
- INCLUDED Digital Copy. Why should I pay the same price for an iTunes-only copy when I can do the physical AND get the digital?
- Timing. I can pick up the DVD/Blu-ray the day it's released, within minutes. Or I can buy it from Amazon and wait a day. The digital download usually takes a few hours, if I'm impatient that's a few hours too long. Fickle? Maybe. But I'm just saying, it's happened.
- Experience. Buying the DVD/Blu-ray means I can play it on any device that has such a player. I have two PS3s for Blu-rays. I have a 360, a PS2, a MacBook Pro and a 5-disc DVD changer. That's 10 DVD players, two Blu-ray players, so I can play them on the big screen. Digital downloads you're limited to your own computer screen unless you pay for accessories that don't get used frequently.
- Sharing. I can lend a DVD/Blu-ray. I can't lend a digital copy. Additionally, I could give my INCLUDED digital copy to a friend if I wanted so they could have the movie without paying for it. Buying from iTunes - no.
- Quality. IT's well known that even HD downloads are not identical to Blu-ray quality in terms of audio or video. HD downloads are compressed to optimize download and therefore do not yield the full experience.
The bottom line is, there are better, more convenient, and cheaper ways to consume media or install software.
The bullets above negate this statement entirely.
For those people who still prefer DVDs, a light external SuperDrive would be an terrific option.
External drive = another piece to carry around, inconvenient, potentially damaged in movement or shipping. The airplane trays are not big enough to have a MacBook and a Superdrive.
Since the majority of people do not use their drive on a regular basis (some people, not at all), it makes no sense to build it into the laptop anymore when that space could be used for something more useful.
Then those people should buy an Air. Leave the MacBook Pro alone.