Piracy Wins (Again)

John Brownlee on the theory that AirPlay Streaming is limited to Macs with Sandy Bridge chips to make use of Intel Insider DRM:

If true, this has got to be infuriating to Mac owners who arbitrarily don’t have an AirPlay-compatible Mac. As is often the case, AirPlay Mirroring on Mac is just another example of how DRM usually only inconveniences legitimate customers, while pirates, as always, figure out a way around the safeguard.

Apple TV Alternatives

Jordan Kahn:

[Consumer Reports] claims Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, Epix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Spotify and HBO go are reasons to go with a Roku or Boxee Box [over an Apple TV].

Everyone's different. But I don't stream anything. I buy it all and it lives in my iTunes library. The fact that everything I own is just a click away, that I can use my iPad/iPhone as a remote, and that I (or any of my many iPhone-weilding friends) can quickly pop a YouTube clip or video on my living room TV via AirPlay is indispensable for me. I have very little interest in signing up (and paying) for streaming services that only offer a fraction of the U.S. content to Canadians.