I don't think XBMC supports BluRay, but I still recommend it over any other media software.

For video analysis of this breaking news:

@BishopBlaize: yeah, what? Do we really need a program to sit there and MUTE the machine? Just disable the sound!

@MattChance: To my knowledge, OSX is the primary development environment for Handbrake. Why can't you use it? I think you're thinking about VLC's nonexistent Mac team, not Handbrake.

@B1663R: I believe now, actually, as of recent updates, Handbrake comes with the same library VLC uses for decrypting DVDs, and actually CAN do it all itself.

@bayern: I don't think this does what I want, which is actually synchronize the playback across multiple machines. I'd like to have several sets of speakers, each hooked up to a computer in a different room, but all on the same network, play the same music at the same time for a true multi-room audio setup.

@David Ron: I've had some problems with Handbrake's ability to decrypt some DVDs, although that seems to be a non-issue as of late.

@sagetyrtle: One of my "legacy" (I don't mean that in a bad way) coworkers uses TextPad, and since that became the corporate standard years ago, that's what they recommend.

It's difficult to compare some of these, such as DVDShrink and Handbrake. These are, imo, the best two, and perform different functions. Paired together this is the best choice.

Why would someone not use Notepad++? I'm not trying to be asinine, but I genuinely wondering. If you want something more than Notepad, I haven't found anything that comes CLOSE to N++.

VOTE: Handbrake

I'd be very interested in this if it actually synchronized the playback from multiple machines over the network. I haven't found a single app that can do this.

@pixelsnader: The only reason I asked is because there actually isn't a set standard.

@pixelsnader: OS GUI standards? Do tell.

@psychiccheese: I've become a huge fan of minimalistic design, like Chrome has. I'd love to see Firefox adapt to this preference. There'll, of course, be skins to change it up, so I don't think any of us need to worry.

@akaKJB: What I meant wasn't a literal WiFi network, but a network that operated as such. It would use the 700Mhz spectrum Verizon won, but essentially be a large access point .

@The5thElephant: I think (and hope) that the idea is to strip away a proprietary network, and instead connect everyone to the internet. Think a nation-wide WiFi hotspot. No more paying for voice, text, media, and data separately. You connect to the internet and use it however you want.

Why is there a picture of cPanel?

YES!!!

I think for all non-iPhone/iTouch devices it really is a complete alternative. Unfortunately there are still some features that tie us to iTunes, such as backing up Applications. You could make the argument, however, that you could use DoubleTwist for everything except for that.