Have we given up on Apple bringing Blu-ray to Macs?

Saturday July 28th, 2012

By Adam TURNER

Mountain Lion once again failed to add Blu-ray movie playback to Macs, but this time no-one seems to care.

Four years ago I asked the question When will my Mac play Blu-ray? Back in the age of Leopard it was obviously a question worth asking, as it's still one of the most popular posts ever on Hydrapinion. Steve Jobs famously labelled Blu-ray a "bag of hurt", but I'm convinced his motives were less to do with technical issues and more to do with the fact that Cupertino wants the Apple faithful to source all their entertainment from the iTunes store.

Four years later and Blu-ray on Macs seems to be a non-issue. I didn't heard anyone question whether Mountain Lion would deliver Blu-ray movie playback, nor did I hear anyone express disappointment when it didn't arrive. So what should we make of this? Urban digital hipsters will tell you that Jobs saw the future and Blu-ray is dead, but I disagree. Your average person on the street is still more comfortable with optical discs than with movie downloads and I don't think this will change for at least another five years. Meanwhile videophiles know that iTunes movie downloads don't yet match the picture quality of Blu-ray, because there's more to a good picture than simply resolution. People with an eye for quality have given up on using their Mac as a Blu-ray player and made alternative arrangements -- whether it be a standalone Blu-ray player, a PlayStation 3 or even a Windows media centre.

The lack of questions about Mountain Lion and Blu-ray doesn't mean Blu-ray is dead, it simply means that Mac users have come to terms with the fact that it's never coming. Blu-ray still has its place, but those who care about it have made other arrangements. Those who don't are probably satisfied with digital downloads, but shouldn't assume that everyone else feels the same.

The Mac faithful will see Apple's rebuke of Blu-ray as another example of Steve Jobs' clairvoyant ability to predict the future and give the people what they really need, but they're wrong. It was a simple business decision -- yet another example of Apple's benevolent dictatorship focusing on what's best for Apple rather than what's best for the people. Mac users didn't miss out on Blu-ray because it was a bag of hurt, they missed out because blocking Blu-ray made Apple a bag of money.


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6 comments

Comment from: pt [Visitor]
and supporting blu ray means it makes a boat load of money for sony and big media? what a silly argument... Apple is staying away from it as they really think optical drives are not the future...
28/07/12 @ 19:23
Comment from: Alex [Visitor] Email
It's simply a question of iTunes vs Blu ray. They see blu ray as a threat and for good reason: I won't pay $15 for a downloaded movie from ANY source when I can pay just about the same price (or even LESS in some cases) for a blu ray disc, and rip it myself at a substantial improvement in quality over itunes? Not only that, but I didn't even mention DRM which is another issue...
29/07/12 @ 15:54
Comment from: steve salisbury [Visitor]
Hi Adam,I still believe that through one reason or the other bluray has never quite hit its straps,nor is it likely to.Blurays biggest problem was always itself.What is its enemy though is the humble dvd disc. Its been out now for around ten years, and after having spoke to many friends and family about this topic. they reckon the ordinary dvd picture quality is plenty good enough.Go and have a look around at your local dvd rental shops.They generally stock approximately fifteen new release dvd discs to three or 4 blu ray copies.I personally think digital downloads through greater competition and consumer awareness, will become mature quicker than you think.But its mortal enemy now and in the short to medium term future are not digital downloads, but rather the good old fashioned digital versatile disc.
29/07/12 @ 22:15
Comment from: Darrin [Visitor]
To answer the headline: yes, we've given up. At this point, nobody expects BluRay on the Mac. Ever. It's not so much the BluRay format, but plastic discs in general. They're too expensive to produce and distribute when much more efficient means of distribution exist NOW.

The last time I bought music on a CD was over two years ago. After I ripped the disc and added it to my digital media collection, I was left with this redundant hunk of plastic. I asked myself why I needed it. The answer is I don't.

Don't forget the power draining, space sucking, weight adding optical drives that are necessary to read the aforementioned redundant hunks of plastic. My laptop bag is heavy enough already. No thanks.

Sometimes to embrace the present you need to abandon the obsolete. Don't criticize those who lead the charge into the future; applaud them.
31/07/12 @ 03:09
Comment from: Barry Kootchin [Visitor]
Blu-ray discs play fine through my Mac-Mini 2.5 Ghz Intel Core i5, using an external LG Blu-ray drive.
Connected to my amplifier and projector through HDMI I am getting a DTS audio output as well.
Software is Mac Blu-ray Player.
All works fine folks.
17/10/12 @ 04:04
Comment from: easonjoy01 [Visitor]
Mac Bluray Player from UFUSoft is the first universal media player for Mac&PC in the world. It can not only play blu-ray HD movies on Mac or PC, but also support any formats of movie, video, audio, music and photo you have ever seen. Particularly, you are able to add subtitles to movie or video, and share the movie's information with your best friends. Furthermore, it has very easy and convenient interface and layout as well as the hardware acceleration technique that can reduce power consumption effectively.
31/10/12 @ 00:10