“True, there are many things about life on this massive wetball that I haven’t figured out yet,” Andy Ihnatko writes for MacUser.
“But I’m pleased to say that I’ve got this home movie-watching thing down cold. Most of my movies come through Netflix,” Ihnatko writes.
“And when I like a movie enough to actually buy it, I have all the tools I need to enjoy it relentlessly. Mercilessly, even. A new DVD is handed off to my iMac and the soothing ministration of HandBrake before it ever sees the inside of a DVD player. The app spits out a QuickTime file that’s as close to the original DVD’s image size and quality as makes no difference. Then it goes on a big hard drive with all of the other movies and TV shows I own,” Ihnatko writes.
“I can watch the movie in my office. I can watch it on any machine on my home network, including a box that’s plugged into my big TV in the living room. Most of these big QuickTimes will even play on my iPod without any conversion whatsoever, but I can beat the holdouts into submission with iSquint,” Ihnatko writes. “QuickTime Pro can transcode a new copy for my smartphone, or produce a soundtrack-only edition that I can listen to on my iPod nano during my morning constitutional. With just a small amount of effort, I truly have a ‘Rip Once, Play Anywhere’ solution for video.”
Ihnatko writes, “So thanks for the effort, Apple… but frankly, I’m hard-pressed to spot a gap in my regime that an iTunes Movie Store can truly spackle… online movie purchases — at least as articulated by the iTunes store — still makes no sense to me.”
Much more in the full article here.
Many good points, but Ihnatko’s “small amount of effort” still seems like a lot of work for “Average Joe.” What Apple’s iTunes Store offers above all else is convenience.
Related articles:
Analyst: two major studios seen joining Apple’s iTunes Store – October 10, 2006
Disney’s remarkable 1st week iTunes movies sales should have studios clambering aboard Apple train – September 20, 2006
Disney sells 125,000 movie downloads via Apple’s iTunes Store in first week – September 19, 2006
Apple debuts iTunes 7 – September 12, 2006
