I am. I know a few hundred college kids that aren't.
iPad DVD player
- Thread starter supermac96
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poloponies
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What the OP actually said was that "someone really needs to" create a DVD solution. The reality is that nobody really needs to. Such singular "needs" do not drive the market. I've owned an iPad for a year and never once saw a "need" for a DVD player option. Ripping may be a slight inconvenience, but once it's ripped it'll be in a portable format forever. Dragging DVDs around in 2011 is the antithesis of media portability (you'll notice that of the numerous attempts to "improve" on the iPad, no manufacturer has seen a huge opportunity to sneak in a DVD player).
poloponies
Suspended
And none of them have a functioning notebook or desktop computer either? My son just graduated from college and in his freshman year his MacBook was the DVD player in his dorm. When he moved to an apartment he and his roommates used the Playstation or XBox (or the $30 player I bought for them) to watch DVDs. The market for an iPad-compatible DVD player is about the same size as the market for an iPad-compatible vinyl record player.
My students all have high powered desktop PC in their studios. Some have notebooks for home/apartment. More and more buy iPads as that second "PC" so they'll have something to take home with them for distraction. Sure, a larger screen is always preferable, meaning if one is available there is NO need to watch movies on the ipad. Anyone with a need to rip a DVD to a file they can play on the iPad, though is a potential market for an easy DVD dock to park their ipad in. Why? It's easier if it works. Then someone will come up with an app that rips the movie right to the iPad while you watch if you want. No need for the PC, which is back in their campus studio.
Doesn't surprise me that so many here think it is a foolish idea. Perfect profile of the typical iPad owner: Lack of imagination.
poloponies
Suspended
As I said above, apparently all the tablet manufacturers lack imagination because Asus, Samsung, Motorola and RIM have apparently omitted that feature as well.
Repo
macrumors 6502a
It would most likely be implemented as an add-on, not a built-in feature. The power requirements would be more demanding, so a case with the drive and extra battery would be more feasible.
Spare us the sarcasm.
Yeah...it sure takes a lot of imagination to advocate something from the LAST CENTURY.
Time marches on...so should you.
Repo
macrumors 6502a
There's a more profound statement buried somewhere in this.
Jimmy James
macrumors 603
Most everything an iPad can do is achievable on other equipment. So why have an iPad at all?
The point is versatility. I'll sometimes watch shows in bed or on the couch streamed from my computer. Sure, I could just bring the laptop over. It's not the same.
I get a fair bit of my media from the library. It's legal and it's free. I wish I could stream DVD's the same way I do with converted videos.
Some guy had a portable CD player strapped to his waist the other day in the gym...So retro....as is this thread. 
By the way, I am not against external DVD players/burners. I keep one here at home, permanently set to Region 2 so I can play and rip my Region 2 (UK) DVDs to my Region 1 computer....I know there is still a need for such players. There's just no reason to attach them to my iPad.
By the way, I am not against external DVD players/burners. I keep one here at home, permanently set to Region 2 so I can play and rip my Region 2 (UK) DVDs to my Region 1 computer....I know there is still a need for such players. There's just no reason to attach them to my iPad.
supermac96
macrumors 6502a
exactly my point
poloponies
Suspended
In a battle of ounces, adding 50% of the weight back in is nonsensical.
Have you weighed the cases available for the ipad? Most double it's weight when on. No one has claimed scandal about that.
poloponies
Suspended
Yes, and if you put a 5lb sack of flour on it, it gets even heavier. You're starting to get pretty ridiculous now. An optional case is up to the individual consumer. Apple can still market the iPad for its light weight. That's what matters. There are undoubtedly a number of features which have been excluded to shave off a few ounces. Throwing a DVD in is silly.
Amen.
Do they not realize the industry...and technology...is moving in the OPPOSITE direction???
ezekielrage_99
macrumors 68040
That is it in a nutshell...
I hardly see where the issue is, the option they are given is put the DVD onto the iPad digitally which after using a portable DVD I can't see why anyone would want to go down this road again.
So lugging around a dvd add-on seems a tad on the superfluously redundant side IMHO. Although there's another awesome device with a DVD drive it's called a Macbook/Pro.
Though being able to use the iPad as a monitor (e.g. xbox, bluray) could be semi useful I guess by using the HDMI as an input
supermac96
macrumors 6502a
ok it wouldn't be something that I would use a lot but if i was a bout to go an a trip and got a couple movies from netflix, it would be nice to not have to rip and sync them especially if it was a couple of discs from a television program. I don't think i would use a lot but im just saying i could be helpful sometimes. i own like 2 dvds so i dont think i am living in the past or anything. I know they are fairly old technology and that mostly it makes a lot more sense to have them stored on the ipad. im just saying once in a while it could be helpful. anyone agree with that?
poloponies
Suspended
Your scenario is exactly what ripping and synch-ing is about (although I wouldn't advocate ripping something you didn't purchase). You can rip and convert 2 or 3 dvds in an evening. You're weighing the slight inconvenience of that with an extra half-pound of weight for something you'd likely use "sometimes"?
This has very limited appeal to the vast majority of iPad owners. There are hundreds of niche "wants" for added iPad features but Apple can only include so much at its price point and weight targets.
supermac96
macrumors 6502a
i understand apple wouldn't release it and i don't think they would either but couldn't another company release it as an accesory?
blueroom
macrumors 603
Yep, like I've been saying for ages, physical media is dying.
poloponies
Suspended
If it was feasible and there was a perceived market for it you'd see it already. Even Netflix is planning its transition from physical media to digital delivery. The devices that make sense are the ones like the Seagate Satellite that will carry hundreds of ripped movies with you for instant wireless streaming.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/pr...satelite-_-b&gclid=CO2Xxa77lakCFQbCKgodYVHWsw
There was a guy walking around my gym recently with a big old portable CD player (in one of those cases that held the player and about a dozen CDs) strapped to his waist. He sure got his share of looks.
I can remember doing the same pre-iPod, and getting very good at switching out CDs on the treadmill...I also remember well how all the manufacturers kept trying to outdo each other on the "anti-shock" protection, but it never worked that well in a gym environment.
So happy to have left all that behind...I was pretty early into the iPod game and never looked back.
Physical media is all but dead, at least for activities requiring mobility.
Again, time marches on.
TheWheelMan
macrumors 6502a
I bet DVD player sales are steadily dropping with digital solutions and BluRay (which I love). I think saying there is a need for a portable player for iPads is a real stretch when fewer people are watching DVDs on regular DVD players.