http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/ Engadget HD Comments for Sun Microsystems announces support for BDLive.com, aims to promote development of interactivity http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/May 6th 2008 1:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/
Most disks will ignore it entirely, or feature some crappy games with online scores, or bundle up a generic portal or store so you can download trailers or buy merchandise. Whoopee.

In theory, it could have *great* potential. Imagine that you got points with every purchase that you could redeem for downloads. e.g. 1000 points per registered disk. Maybe it could track your collection and even allow you to participate in buy 5 get one 1 free style deals. People would be rewarded for their purchases and for going online. You could use the points to download and watch TV shows, or perhaps even movies. Hell, a Blu Ray player could in theory even allow you to rent and download movies.

But for now and the forseeable future it is a waste of time. I doubt many people would even bother to hook up their sets to the internet. The feature has to overcome the meh factor and tossing people a few trailers, crappy games or things that should have been on the disk to start with is not going to do it.]]>May 7th 2008 4:41AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/
I love all the DVD extra features... and I love how they're included on every DVD.

Like "alternate angle" -- remember how when DVD first came out, the ability to see some scenes from a different angle was touted as a ground-breaking extra? And now, every title has it and I use it on all of them!

And I can't count how many times I go through a movie listening to the director's commentary. I love to pay extra for such "extra features" that I really care about! Oh, mr. director, please tell me why you chose the color of that rock in the background! Oh, mr. director, I love to hear you laugh at your own jokes!

I wish they'd offer two versions of films:
1) Movie Only. Max price when new: $10.
2) Movie plus extras and interactivity and whatever else. Max price: who the hell cares, somebody will pay it.

...I am exaggerating a bit...but I completely agree with mda20. So many "extras" are all just hype and either end up never being put onto disks, or end up being sold on tons of disks, but never really used by the consumer. I think interactivity is going to be one of those. Sure, it might seem real neat to make your own cut of 300 or whatever...for about 5 minutes. Most people really are only interested in watching the movie.]]>May 7th 2008 5:03AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rocker Neil Young plans to release his entire music archive on Blu-ray discs, a sign that the discs' capabilities are building appeal among musicians as well as movie studios.

Blu-ray discs hold much more data than DVDs, are easily updated over the Internet and offer better picture and sound quality.

Young revealed his plans Tuesday at a Sun Microsystems Inc. conference in San Francisco. Santa Clara-based Sun makes the Java technology that gives Blu-ray discs their interactive menus and ability to accept updates over an Internet connection.

The first installment of Young's archive will cover the years 1963 to 1972 and will be released as a 10-disc set this fall on Reprise/Warner Bros. Records.

Young said the archives will be released chronologically and include some previously unreleased songs, videos, handwritten manuscripts and other memorabilia, in addition to the high-resolution audio that Blu-ray technology is known for.

Fans can download more content like songs, photos and tour information directly to the Blu-ray discs as the content becomes available.

Blu-ray's rival format HD DVD effectively died with maker Toshiba Corp.'s announcement in February that it will no longer produce HD DVD players.

Most of the Blu-ray discs manufactured so far have been used for high-definition movies.

Musical artists such as AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen and Destiny's Child released concert videos on Blu-ray discs, but Young's support of the technology for his ambitious archive project demonstrates more fully the capabilities of Blu-ray as a music medium.

Earlier technology didn't offer the ability to browse archive material while listening to songs in high-resolution audio, Young noted.

"Previous technology required unacceptable quality compromises," he said in a statement. "I am glad we waited and got it right."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7PU369D66DFPT3h6RDkR9s61AnQD90GAE0G0]]>May 6th 2008 9:00PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/
Tren Reznor is not only breaking the old distribution model, he's even breaking the newest, like Radiohead's pay-what-you-want: Nine Inch Nails' latest album—The Slip—is 100% free, no payment required in any case, not even when you download the whooping 1.2GB version—which includes high definition WAVE 24/96 files (better-than-CD-quality 24bit 96kHz audio.) You can also choose from high-quality MP3s, FLAC lossless and M4A lossless.

Here's a link to download the album free: http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup
]]>May 6th 2008 9:04PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/
As far as the Neil Young stuff, his generation doesn't have Blu-Ray. That's the average family that is happy with standard DVD. It's a nice gesture, nice use of the technology but who still buys audio CD's, especially formatted on a technology that the average family hasn't adopted?

No offense intended towards Neil Young.

]]>May 7th 2008 11:29AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/05/06/sun-microsystems-announces-support-for-bdlive-com-aims-to-promo/]]>May 7th 2008 7:51PM