Apple's announcement yesterday that it would be offering movie downloads on iTunes has opened the door to so many tech issues it's difficult to known where to begin. So before we all celebrate freedom from hard discs, let's review.

First, iTunes will begin offering movie downloads the same day the movies are released on DVD. This is a first for a download service and real business advantage for Apple. You can read all about it; my last Google search generated 390 news articles. From an environmental perspective, it's a real boon. Fewer pieces of plastic released into the world, less clutter, and a nice boost for a company that is always at the forefront of industrial design. Apple TV will now fill a real purpose: storing and streaming movies.

But it's also a bit of a dilemma for consumers. Film files are larger, so they take time to download. They are difficult to stream wirelessly, and they need a lot of storage space. More hard drive space will be needed and renting a place to park all the data on a central server is critical. Losing a document is one thing, but losing a movie collection is quite another.