Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

[0098386]

You don't own ANY of the Blu Ray movies you paid for! You were merely granted a license to WATCH them in private. It is illegal for you to copy them as well, even for "backup" or any other personal use.

Missing the point. With these current online systems (iTunes, Mac App Store, Steam) your access to the content you paid for is gone should you break their TOS.
If I break the EULA on a bluray (do they even have TOS?), I get to keep my content. At no point is my content taken away from me. At no point is there a threat of my content being taken away from me from the distributor.

It's like that woman in Sweden (I think?) who lost her Amazon account, but that also removed all the books from her Kindle.

Btw, has anyone been tried and sentenced for ripping a disc they bought to their computer? Out of curiosity. (it's also "illegal" to strip any DRM from anything. So blurays, DVDs, CDs, downloaded files all count)

 

[Warforged Hero]

You're right, Phil- we're not asking for it anymore; we've given up hope. Self-fulfilling prophecy much?

As for me, I'll stop being interested in Blu-ray as soon as there's something better. There isn't yet- certainly not iTunes.

This.

I've lost faith in Apple responding to any kind of feedback so I no longer bother to ask. Apple has proven--to me, at least--that its policy is to dismiss customer feedback and forge ahead in its own direction regardless.

Were you using Spaces in Snow Leopard? Too bad, it's gone in Lion.
Did you rely on the Google Maps App on your mobile device? Too bad, it's gone in iOS6.
Did you buy an iPad 3 five months ago? Hey, the iPad 4 makes that model look old.
Want blu-ray on your Mac? Too bad; there's no option--but you can buy "HD" movies from iTunes.

To Apple's credit, they did listen to complaints about the iPhone 4 antenna--but only after initially dismissing it ("You're holding it wrong").

As for blu-ray: if you own an HDTV, receiver, and surround sound, blu-ray is vastly superior to streaming. If you don't, then chances are that you don't care about blu-ray, nor should you. Those of us to whom it's important simply want our computer to play our media so we can play it outside our home theater system. We love movies; we love the ultra-sharp picture and the immersive surround sound; we love the home theater experience. For us, streaming and iTunes "HD" movies don't cut it. We recognize that not everybody shares our passion, but we would still like to have the option. We're not asking for it anymore because Apple has repeatedly proven that they aren't interested in what we want.

People aren't going to stop buying their products, so Apple doesn't need to be interested. As resentful as I am of Apple right now, I still find their products more accessible and more structurally solid than their competition so I guess they don't really need to care.

 

[janstett]

This! All these so-called videophiles espousing the the virtues of blu-ray quality...which is completely lost on a 27" screen. Gimmee a break..

I'll be charitable and say you're uninformed. Not only do computer displays have better dot pitch than the typical big screen but Apple's been pioneering high-resolution displays that have even greater resolution than HDTV.

So how exactly are the virtues of Blu-Ray "lost" on a better display?

 

[jmgregory1]

Apple is right to stay out of the optical video disc market, blu-ray or otherwise. Not just because they want to keep people tied to their distribution model (digital and streaming digital) but because the market for spinning discs, be they cd/dvd/br or hard drives, are going the way of the floppy, to be replaced with flash based products (and digital/streaming of course).

Moving parts, motors especially, in computers are not the way of the future. Yes, it's going to take time for manufacturers to switch away from doing what they're doing, but that day is coming fast.

There is no sense arguing about it - just like there was no sense arguing about the move from vinyl to tape, tape to cd, cd to dvd, dvd to blu ray. It's the progression of technology to keep eliminating the negative aspects of the previous generation and improve upon other aspects moving forward.

Apple has been one company willing to force change to happen and yes, it pisses off a lot of you who are holding on to what they have, what they know. I can't tell you how much money I lost in each subsequent change from vinyl to tape to cd. I recorded my record collection onto cassette, back in my early days of college, but at some point just ended up tossing all my cassettes as I started buying cd's - when music titles started switching to cd's. I'm glad I could then copy my cd's into digital files over the years, but I haven't purchased a music cd in years and have moved completely to digital downloads.

 

[Astro7x]

This whole news story is sort of a moot point. There is no optical drive in the Air, MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display and iMac, so you really need to buy an external drive anyway from now on if you want Bluray. Nobody is forcing you to buy the Apple branded Superdrive, go buy one with Bluray support if you need it.

Mac Pros of course support installing a second drive, so you can put your bluray drive in there if you'd like too... I am not holding out until Late 2013 to see what they do with the Mac Pro.

 

[albusseverus]

Pleased to see the length of this thread. After the initial "physical media is OLD" nonsense, cooler heads have prevailed. Long may it shove BD into Apple's face.

BTW - Hollywood has finally woken up to streaming, most gloriously because the customer can't get BD quality, and never owns/keeps anything, not bits, not physical. Netflix can disappear anytime Hollywood wants, and we're stuck with the quality they serve up, at the price they serve up (think pay per view, people).


I'd dearly love Apple to support BD playback, whether or not it bothers to fit BD drives. OS X already supports BD, just not playback.

It's true, anyone interested in BD has found their own solutions. Doesn't mean they don't ask, just that they haven't received - and got on with their lives.

Facts remain:

• BD is the best available format
• Available in Sony computers since 2005.
• Apple just not interested in BD, not least because of the 'bag of hurt'/just getting discs to play issues
• But that doesn't stop other developers providing solutions, without Apple's resources or special access to OS X
• If anybody really stopped asking, it was because they worked around Apple.
• Foolish is the technology company that encourages their customers to work-around them, instead of buying from them.

Time for those of us interested in quality to go to apple.com/feedback and ask for BD, especially on those beautiful Retina displays…

My iMac DVD drive doesn't get much use anymore. Not because I don't want an optical drive, just that BD is the format now and Apple failed to move with the times. My external BD drive gets all the love, and I curse Apple for it taking up 1 valuable USB connection on my iMac.

I've longed for thinner iMacs, but there's still no reason not to put a BD drive in them.

Imagine if Jobs had stated that the reason the original iMac didn't have a floppy drive was because Apple kept fitting 5 1/4" floppy drives and nobody was using them.

Everyone would have laughed at him. Well, we're laughing at Phil, and he can afford that much less than Jobs ever could.

Foolish is…

 

[Carouser]

I love long-winded posts which confuse "cooler heads" with "anyone who agrees with me" and "facts" with "some of the facts, mixed with opinion, with context applied selectively to suit my position".

 

[gnurf]

I've lost faith in Apple responding to any kind of feedback so I no longer bother to ask. Apple has proven--to me, at least--that its policy is to dismiss customer feedback and forge ahead in its own direction regardless.

They do listen to developers. I get responses to feedback, and fairly often they've changed things for the better. But the way they handled the new sandboxing in the MAS just doesn't sit well with most developers, and they never solved that in a satisfactory way. It's their way or smeg off.

On the consumer side you accept what they have to offer or get lost. I'm no Blu-ray fan myself, really, but I think it's ridiculous that they didn't shift to that as the standard drive at least. Third-party options for playback exist, so they wouldn't really have to worry about anything. Unless they actively removed HDCP support in their screens, of course. I dunno if that's at the core of the reasons they have for not going with it, though.

 

[danielowenuk]

You don't own ANY of the Blu Ray movies you paid for! You were merely granted a license to WATCH them in private. It is illegal for you to copy them as well, even for "backup" or any other personal use. You basically paid for a lifetime "subscription" up front

Subscription models are hardly price gouging. They allow me to watch content at a fraction of the $25 average price of a single Blu Ray disc. And without the hassles.

I take issue with that statement, you are completely negating the fact that you can sell a blu-ray after you have watched it, ownership is complicated. Your "lifetime subscription" analogy is wrong.

 

[jmgregory1]

Pleased to see the length of this thread. After the initial "physical media is OLD" nonsense, cooler heads have prevailed. Long may it shove BD into Apple's face.

BTW - Hollywood has finally woken up to streaming, most gloriously because the customer can't get BD quality, and never owns/keeps anything, not bits, not physical. Netflix can disappear anytime Hollywood wants, and we're stuck with the quality they serve up, at the price they serve up (think pay per view, people).


I'd dearly love Apple to support BD playback, whether or not it bothers to fit BD drives. OS X already supports BD, just not playback.

It's true, anyone interested in BD has found their own solutions. Doesn't mean they don't ask, just that they haven't received - and got on with their lives.

Facts remain:

• BD is the best available format
• Available in Sony computers since 2005.
• Apple just not interested in BD, not least because of the 'bag of hurt'/just getting discs to play issues
• But that doesn't stop other developers providing solutions, without Apple's resources or special access to OS X
• If anybody really stopped asking, it was because they worked around Apple.
• Foolish is the technology company that encourages their customers to work-around them, instead of buying from them.

Time for those of us interested in quality to go to apple.com/feedback and ask for BD, especially on those beautiful Retina displays…

My iMac DVD drive doesn't get much use anymore. Not because I don't want an optical drive, just that BD is the format now and Apple failed to move with the times. My external BD drive gets all the love, and I curse Apple for it taking up 1 valuable USB connection on my iMac.

I've longed for thinner iMacs, but there's still no reason not to put a BD drive in them.

Imagine if Jobs had stated that the reason the original iMac didn't have a floppy drive was because Apple kept fitting 5 1/4" floppy drives and nobody was using them.

Everyone would have laughed at him. Well, we're laughing at Phil, and he can afford that much less than Jobs ever could.

Foolish is…

Maybe I'm reading your note incorrectly, but isn't Apple doing exactly what you talk about? They're moving forward. You might be right that BD are the pinnacle for quality of viewing, but that's not the only thing that drives consumers to buy. Heck, this exact same argument was used when tapes replaced records, cd's replaced tapes, digital music downloads replaced cd's. Tapes were not better than records in terms of quality of sound. Cd's were definitely better than tapes, but they aren't as good as good vinyl.

Digital distribution, streaming especially, is growing because people are willing to make the tradeoff in quality for ease of purchase and viewing. Yes, there are issues with quality, but Saturday night at 10pm, when you want to watch a movie and don't feel like getting into the car to drive to the (now closed) Blockbuster to get a BD rental, a lot of people are choosing to stream or download the movie instead.

BD won't die completely, just like vinyl hasn't died, but it is not the way forward for mass distribution of movies.

 

[cdarlington1]

I can't wrap my head around reading 1000+ posts but I do prefer Blu-Ray to any digital HD format at the moment. Really no comparison in terms of picture and sound quality. I own roughly 1200 Blu-Ray movies. Will go the download digital route once the quality is there. If there's banding in the blacks I don't want to watch it.

 

[roadbloc]

You don't own ANY of the Blu Ray movies you paid for! You were merely granted a license to WATCH them in private. It is illegal for you to copy them as well, even for "backup" or any other personal use. You basically paid for a lifetime "subscription" up front

Utter rubbish. Where was the mile long license agreement I agreed to when I purchased all of my CDs, DVDs and Blurays? I own that copy of the movie and I can do what I please with it as long it doesn't impede the fact that I purchased a copy that is intended personal use only. I can happily copy all of my physical format media to my computer without breaking any law. It is when I start handing out illicit copies or making money from viewings that I'm breaking the law.

Buying digital content is however is unfortunately different. Most times I'm unable to sell, copy or even play my content on alternative devices due to restrictions placed and the threat of me losing my content. To hell with that, I'll stick with my physical copies for the majority of my stuff. I'm able to take a DVD or Bluray round to a friends house and guarantee they'll have a device that will play it. I cannot say the same for iTunes which runs horribly on most computers anyway.

 

[cdarlington1]

What this guy said… +1

Yup

 

[GorgonPhone]

I don't have a bluray player in my house at all. Bluray movies are overpriced and inconvenient. I much prefer netflix streaming. The image quality is sharp enough for me.

yeah few are brave enough o admit this but umm.. blue ray is dead.. it has a dumb name and it came along tooo late in the disc based media game.. they will be still used in industry but consumer use will stay low then go away

 

[iBug2]

Facts remain:

• BD is the best available format
• Available in Sony computers since 2005.
• Apple just not interested in BD, not least because of the 'bag of hurt'/just getting discs to play issues
• But that doesn't stop other developers providing solutions, without Apple's resources or special access to OS X
• If anybody really stopped asking, it was because they worked around Apple.
• Foolish is the technology company that encourages their customers to work-around them, instead of buying from them.

That is what microsoft did, no microsoft branded blu ray player on windows either. It is all 3rd party. And none for free.

 

[samcraig]

You might not have pronounced BD "dead" today - but in turn I never said YOU took glee in its death. I said some people.

And lastly, in reference to your last paragraph - I don't think anyone is scared of the future. I think people have stated quite clearly that they don't need the optical drive specifically - but rather support in the OS.

And here's where we differ to. Until there's an actual replacement (.h265) or internet speeds allow much higher throughput - it's very pre-mature for a lot of people to believe and/or "phase out" what is the best experience in home video/audio. It's not a fear of the future. It's the fact that most people are living in the present. I look forward to the day when physical media isn't needed and there's a viable replacement. But guess what - that's years away. And as THAT time gets closer, I'm all for transitioning.

I've converted my 800+ dvd collection to streaming. Love all the benefits you list. But I haven't converted one blu-ray. Because I value quality.

p.s. on a side note - I'll just add that the minor inconvenience and minute or two between putting a disk in and watching a movie is well worth the quality. Someone who needs to shave 1-2 minutes at most (in my opinion) when they are about to sit back and relax and enjoy a 2 hour movie (to me) is a bit nutty.

"Glee"? Facts are facts. Physical media is dying, streaming is growing at a fantastic rate. I don't take any particular pleasure in the death of physical media in general. I personally got rid of hundreds of DVDs and Blu Rays in 2009 and haven't been happier since. But that's because I now enjoy watching what I want, when I want, without storing and maintaining a large physical disc library and waiting for players to boot, discs to spin up, corporate logos, splash screens, previews, and menus before every movie I watch.



I find it more odd that you feel so protective of a media format. Yes, Apple fans like quality products. But we don't insist on new, high-tech cassette players, 8-track tape players, or VHS players in our Apple products. And we don't insist on optical players anymore. Most of us are ready to move on. I think Apple timed it right. They kept giving us optical players until we were no longer using them. (I haven't used the optical drives in my last 3 MacBook Pros.) Yes, I realize some people still use them. But that dwindling minority can't dictate the market. Nor can they stop the inevitable. Why are some so afraid of the future?

 

[malnar]

Apple is right to stay out of the optical video disc market, blu-ray or otherwise. Not just because they want to keep people tied to their distribution model (digital and streaming digital) but because the market for spinning discs, be they cd/dvd/br or hard drives, are going the way of the floppy, to be replaced with flash based products (and digital/streaming of course).

Well, sort of. Yes, about Apple wanting to keep people tied to their own system, but I think they're jumping the gun on removing drives from their computers. - And making fun of those who have software (or music) on discs by saying they're "stuck in the past" is just a low move. Sounds like desperate cajoling to me, not the talk of a company bravely forging ahead.

And, like others, I'm not bothering to complain about the lack of Bluray drives. I just bought an external BD reader and use it to rip discs for my iMac. I'm not "stuck in the past." I'm "living in the present" and I'll "deal with the future" later when it presents itself in a way that makes it much easier than it does today (and better quality than iTunes streaming).

 

[globalhemp]

iDVD

Because customers have given-up on asking Apple to adopt BluRay.

On another front, customers are asking for iDVD!

 

[chagla]

do they still include dvd burner drives?

if so, it would be strange because on one hand they say optical drives are a thing of the past when justifying exclusion of blu-ray drives. on the other hand they continue to include dvd drives. so what gives?

but the real reason is what many already mentioned here. iths the content revenue.

 

[HelveticaRoman]

Each to their own, surely. Consumerism is based on CHOICE, not the lack of it.

 

[Death-T]

No more Blu-Rays? Digital the future for owning movies? Ew. No thanks.

 

[nerdwaller]

Mmhmm..

"Apple customers are no longer asking for Blu-ray drives in their Macs these days"

That's because the overlords at Apple think they can tell people what they do/don't want.

 

[gentleman00]

If you want to watch BDs, wouldn't it be better to watch them on a large screen HDTV as opposed to a 27 inch Mac anyway?

 

[melendezest]

"Apple customers are no longer asking for Blu-ray drives in their Macs these days"

That's because the overlords at Apple think they can tell people what they do/don't want.

The Apple overlords do tell people what they can buy from Apple.

Unfortunately, their choices don't align with most of us here, myself included:

I don't care for the removal of the optical drive, but I just want to be able to rip and watch blu rays (with an external drive) on my iMac without BS workarounds.

And I don't like the death of the 17" MBP.

But alas, Apple gives, and Apple takes away...

----------

If you want to watch BDs, wouldn't it be better to watch them on a large screen HDTV as opposed to a 27 inch Mac anyway?

Yes, absolutely. But the problem is that I cannot rip them into iTunes for use on other idevices or my 27" iMac, without 3rd party software and a LOT of time to go through the process.

For example, I sometimes watch movies on my iMac wearing headphones, while everyone else in my family sleeps. And I have ripped some BDs so I can use the Apple TV at will. But the process of getting them into the iMac sucked.

 

[Xiroteus]

If you want to watch BDs, wouldn't it be better to watch them on a large screen HDTV as opposed to a 27 inch Mac anyway?

Normally, personally I watch everything on a 17.3" laptop, no large television at the moment. In the long run most people that are into blu-ray (me personally) would have a nicer set up for viewing such content.