How did Blu-ray[tm] ever win over HD-DVD during the so-called format wars? How could HD-DVD possibly be even worse or might it have had nothing to do with technical implementation or what consumers want? Take the following characteristics of Blu-ray:

• Slow loading times
• Unique menu system, confusing finding your way around on each new disk
• No resume possible on most disks
• Firmware updates, download, but on USB stick, lots of clicking on the remote and a reboot later
• Incompatible on-disk software and player firmware

The best part is that all of the above are design features, not bugs. But they do bug me. Admittedly, they look and sounds great, but after yet another weekend of anticipation to watching a rented (for real hard-earned cash) movie, which couldn’t be played, even after the latest firmware upgrade, I wonder why I even bother. I’m sure there must be alternatives.