My DVD player seems to be slowly dying as it tries to play back various DVD discs.

I am sort of thinking of maybe getting a Blu-Ray player as opposed to getting a new DVD player. While at Wal-Mart today buying other things I was just checking out the various devices that were available. A DVD player would run around $30 to $50, while a Blu-Ray player starts around $70. One thing I couldn't figure out is why a Blu-Ray player has Wi-Fi capabilities. Is there a reason for this?

Any things, features, pit-falls in using a Blu-Ray player?