News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

September 4, 2007

video

Akamai announces global delivery of HD video; iTunes HD in the wings?

Posted Sep. 4, ’07, 9:44 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Video

ituneshd.jpgFile this under “Not Really Sure How We Missed It, But…” Internet bandwidth provider Akamai announced that it can now distribute high definition content on a global scale. To be fair, stuff like this is often just PR hyperbole, but it’s worth noting because Akamai does a fair amount of work for Apple, both for things like their movie trailer site as well as the immense traffic of the iTunes Store.

From there, it’s a hop-skip-and-not-even-a-jump to wondrous daydreams about high-def content on the iTunes Store. Sure, it’s still in the realm of speculation right now, but with a special event looming just twenty-four hours away, can we resist a little guesswork? We’ve been wondering about the lack of HD content on the iTunes Store ever since the release of the Apple TV at January’s Macworld Expo. Why, we asked at the time, would you include an HDMI video connection if you weren’t planning on using it for HD content? Makes no sense.

If this does turn out to be the way things are going, it could present a serious challenge to the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray, and it could very well leap digital distribution of video into the next phase of its existence. Which is really just a very pompous way of me saying “oooooooooh, shiny.”


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