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Macworld 08: It's ALL In The Air

I’m flying out for Macworld tomorrow morning and am definitely looking forward to seeing what new products Apple has to offer.

Unfortunately, I won’t have access to the keynote because either I applied for my media credential too late or a newspaper readership of 70,000, a book on OS X Leopard and a few hundred thousand online readers doesn’t qualify for even an overflow room. (If anyone can help me with that, justin at carpeaqua dot com).

I’ve been racking my brain to decipher what Apple’s cryptic Something In The Air banners at the Moscone Center. Most people seem to think it centers around WiMax or wireless iPod syncing, but what if it went deeper.

The general consensus in the Mac circle points towards Steve Jobs unveiling a sub-notebook during his Keynote Tuesday. The rumor mill has churned out several speculation pieces on the device, including Apple’s decision to remove the optical drive from the device in the name of saving space.

The optical drive has long been the primary method of installing software such as iWork, iLife and new versions of Mac OS X. Major vendors like Microsoft and Adobe distribute the latest versions of their wares via optical media as well.

Boxed software has seen its heyday and is now reserved for only the largest of vendors. A majority of the software purchased for the Mac is distributed online these days. While I could walk into an Apple Store and pick up a copy of OmniGraffle, I can just as easily download it and purchase a license using my browser.

Apple presently distributes software updates via the Internet, but what if the Air referred to a larger software release system. Imagine no longer having to go to Apple to purchase the copy of the next version of Mac OS X or iLife 09. Instead, you make the purchase online and the software is downloaded and installed automatically on your Mac.

Apple wouldn’t be the first to create such a large scale content distribution system. Valve Software, the creators of the Half-Life franchise of games, developed and maintains Steam which allows gamers to purchase major studio games and have them automatically downloaded to their Windows PC.

Steam works by the user downloaded a client application to their desktop and then using it to interface with the online store, much like iTunes and digital music. A user selects the game they want, enters their credit card information and is served the content through their broadband connection.

Software distribution is by no means the main use of the optical drive these days. People will argue that they use it to listen to their CDs or watch DVDs on their computer. Apple could counter by stating that downloading new content via iTunes is the way of the future and declaring the death of optical media in all forms. iTunes allows you to purchase download your music, movies and television shows. You can then either watch it on your Mac, much like you would a CD or DVD, or you can sync it to your Apple TV.

Is this a far-fetched? Not at all. WiFi is becoming more and more ubiquitous and Apple has never been shy of pioneering. Apple was chided in 1998 when it removed the floppy drive from the original iMac. Back then we couldn’t imagine a world without those plastic discs. Today, I can’t even buy a pack at my local computer store.

What if 10 years later, they do it again and declare the death of optical media entirely? Would you really be that surprised?

If you haven’t heard, there is a writer’s strike going on which leaves my TiVo sorely lacking for fresh content. I’ve been replacing my nightly TV viewing with catching up on movies that have been lingering in my Netflix queue for a few months.

I’m on a three movie plan, and found myself in the rare instance of having no movies at home Tuesday night. I scanned the TiVo channel guide for something of interest, and found nothing and thus decided the best route would be to try out the Xbox 360’s Video Marketplace.

The video marketplace allows users to purchase high definition TV shows or movies. The 360’s marketplace works differently than Apple’s store. When you rent a movie, you are purchasing the right to watch it in the next 14 days. At the point you hit play for the first time, you have 24 hours to finish the movie.

I don’t like the 24-hour turnaround time since it can usually take me a two days to finish a film, but in this case, I was bored and desperate.

I rented Shoot ‘Em Up in high definition for 480 MS points ($6). The price irked me since I could rent it cheaper at Blockbuster, but it’s probably not cheap to transfer 3.9GB of HD content.

Before the movie was actually playable was about 2 hours, which was frustrating. I was hoping I could begin watching the movie within 30 minutes of beginning my download.

Once I actually was able to watch the movie, however, the quality was great. Downloaded movies appear in your Dashboard just like game videos and other data you copy to the 360.

With Apple rumored to be jumping into the rental business, I am not sure I will use the 360 service again. Browsing their store using my 360’s DVD remote is cumbersome and the $6 rental price left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

That said, I’m not sure if I would drop Netflix for either Apple or Microsoft’s service.