iTunes hints at Blu-ray on the Mac

Posted on 30 Apr 2009 at 12:32

Apple may be preparing to add support for Blu-ray discs in a forthcoming update to iTunes.

The company has distributed a beta of iTunes 8.2 to developers as part of the testing process for the new iPhone OS 3.0. The reference to Blu-ray appears in the About iTunes credit panel: “CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and music and video-related data from Gracenote”.

That suggests that Apple has at least licensed, if not included, the Gracenote Video Platform. Similar to the Gracenote technology that iTunes has long used to fetch CD information from the internet, the video platform is capable of identifying physical DVDs and Blu-ray disc and provide corresponding data such as cover art, cast and credits.

Quite why you would need that in iTunes is not clear. One possibility is that Apple is applying the data to iTunes Store movie purchases and rentals, but that begs the question of why the credit has not appeared before.

Another possibility seem exceedingly unlikely—allowing iTunes users to rip and store movies within the application.

The most likely scenario is that iTunes will supplant the DVD Player application for playback of physical media. Whether Blu-ray support will be added at the same time, or whether its mention is merely an integral of the Gracenote licence, may depend on whether Apple chief executive still considers the high-definition format to be a “bag of hurt”.

[photo: DSCF2422s by everyone’s idle; some rights reserved]

Author: Simon Aughton

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