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Video iPod May Arrive in September
Fuzzball963 writes "MSNBC is reporting that Apple is in talks with major record labels to license and sell video content on the iTunes music store. The videos would sell for $1.99 and be playable on a video iPod, which Apple has reported may come out sometime in September." Update: 07/18 18:54 GMT by T : Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Just to add to the previous Apple post, here's a free link to today's Wall Street Journal article upon which the MSNBC article was based."
I'd get one if and only if it has Xvid or Divx support. Quicktime's nice and all but most content worth watching are for Xvid or Divx.
Before everyone starts bitching about the screen, I'd like to mention that the strength of such a video iPod would be in its ability to output signal to a TV.
That way you can carry half a dozen, dozen movies with you on trips, to your friends houses, wherever, and view them on TV.
Think of it as your portable movie library.
(considering that that's what iPods already are for music purposes.)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
For a few reasons, I have a hard time believing that video on an iPod (or any other device) will be nearly as popular as music. The main thing is that people have lots of time to _listen_ while they work/drive/exercise/stroll/relax/sleep, but very little time when they can dedicate their most important sense to recreation. DVD's sell well, it's true, but while in my own case I might listen to a CD 20 or 30 times (and sometimes way more), I only watch a movie a few times (and maybe up to 10 times). This is primarily because of the bandwidth of time and attention, not for lack of interest.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
I'm thinking the design of the video iPod might be slightly different than the audio version. At least that's what I'm hoping for, because you're right -- it will be horrific if it's the little stamp sized screen they have now. Maybe if they had something similar to the PSP's screen...
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
I wonder if iTunes will have a built-in video player so I won't need a video iPod. At $3 a movie that's not a bad deal as long as it's at least 600kbps MPEG-4.
I don't think this will be successful. People like to listen to music while they do other things. Video is immersive. You sit down and you watch it and you don't do anything else. Furthermore, there's no way to play a video on an iPod without the hard drive running constantly, and that will burn out the hard drive in no time and use up the battery in half that.
So, if a music video is $1.99 and the song is $0.99...then I don't get it. Does it really cost that much to make a song or does it really cost very little to make a video?
:).
Somehow, I don't see that it's only twice the cost to make a video unless the price of the song is hyper-inflated (which, of course, could never be the case
Just like how the DVD is ~$17 on release day at Wal-Mart but the soundtrack is $16.
:wq
Doubtful. Current ipod's are still B&W. I guess it would work for the ipod photo, but I doubt the LCD is good enough. I also doubt that Apple would just release a firmware update, when they can sell a bigger better newer product.
Apple could easily pitch the success of their iTunes music store the the major motion picture companies and probably work out a reasonable DRM that's flexible enough for consumers to handle.
Personally, I don't care if some other company is first out the door and gets it right like Apple did with the iPod and iTunes, but I just hope that other company isn't Microsoft given a lot of the recent /. articles about Longhorn having DRM for monitors and EF by Intel.
There's been a few comments on /. lately about how portable video devices won't take off because noone wants to watch video on a small screen. But I've been thinking about this, and the regular iPod line has been inspiring high-end custom electronics manufacturers to integrate the iPod into nice home audio systems. The more I think about it, the purpose of the Video iPod wouldn't necessarily be to watch video wherever you go, although that would be an extra bonus, but to bring video wherever you want to, and easily watch it on whatever decent-size display you want. I'm sure it wouldn't have DVI or component out, so it wouldn't be a source for super-awesome hi-def video, but it would be great for home movies, music videos, funny videos downloaded from the Internet, and a lot of other things.
but wait though.
the files are DRMd, not the output. suppose they pump it throug the analog RCA (red, white, yellow).
sure you could rip the movie, but you'd have to wait 1.5 hours for each movie, and it wouldn't make much sense. just as you can rip the audio off the iPod, i don't think there would be much worry over it.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Pay $1.99 for a promotional waste product now!
Before everyone starts bitching about the screen, I'd like to mention that the strength of such a video iPod would be in its ability to output signal to a TV.
That way you can carry half a dozen, dozen movies with you on trips, to your friends houses, wherever, and view them on TV.
I can already do that, though, provided a computer with DVI-output (eg: any new Mac), and a TV with HDMI-input (eg: pretty much any new TV worth owning) is available for use at the house I'm going to.
Just rip the DVD's to the iPod with Mac the Ripper, as I would with any other hard drive, and open them using the DVD Player on the Mac at the house I go to.
Think of it as your portable movie library.
(considering that that's what iPods already are for music purposes.)
No, iPods are for listening to music on the go. Are you actually suggesting that their main function is to allow you to take your music to a friends house and play on their stereo?
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
As far as the screen goes, I would assume Apple would redesign the iPod's form factor and use a larger screen, fitting the mainboard and hard drive behind it like other portable video player manufacturers have done.
.mp4 movies) and not allow the more open formats like XviD.
Also, video output to TV would certainly be included. Imagine being able to cart around movies with you and plug them into anyone's TV. This would be a big seller.
My only fear would be that Apple would only allow certain formats (ie. DRM'ed
Actually, If you try out a modern phone, it has a resolution of about 240x320, which is approximately one quarter of the resolution of a normal tv. I have watched quite a lot of content on it, and it works surprisingly well.
Most people I meet laugh at the idea of watching video from something as small as a mobile phone, but it is already quite enjoyable, and after being shown a video they are always eager to accept being wrong. (As an anecdote I've had some of my friends sit around my phone looking at the video of Satisfaction, and noone complained about the screen size being small)
I can only imagine that if Apple puts some effort into their video iPod, they'll be able to have the same resolution as a regular TV.
The idea that we need to watch video on large screens (tv/cinema) is what I think is mostly convention, a small screen (at a closer distance to your eyes) occupies the same percentage of your retina as a big one at a distance.
To me, such criticism is just like people said "who would ever want to walk and listen to music at the same time?".
Small screens are usable already. And of course, should you prefer the relaxation of looking at something in the distance, you can always hook the iPod to the TV, just as the parent poster suggested.
I can already do that, though, provided a computer with DVI-output (eg: any new Mac), and a TV with HDMI-input (eg: pretty much any new TV worth owning) is available for use at the house I'm going to.
Just rip the DVD's to the iPod with Mac the Ripper, as I would with any other hard drive, and open them using the DVD Player on the Mac at the house I go to.
Well we're all proud of you, now tell that to the average consumer and watch him scratch his head. Also, feel free to buy me a new computer and TV "worth owning" so that I may bask in your technical grandure!
Are you actually suggesting that their main function is to allow you to take your music to a friends house and play on their stereo?
Yes, the iPod's main function is to be a portable music library. Twist the words all you want, it won't make them true.
With all the trash on TV these days I would guess that if people would pay $2-5 per episode of a TV show with NO commercials then subscription based video might take off. Apple already has the subscription service for music. Why not extend it to TV shows or movies? There are three shows I watch and three my girlfriend watches. I would pay $12-30 per week for commercial free shows legally acquired. That would allow me to get rid of DirecTV. DirecTV is MPEG-4 now for some channels so the quality would be comparable. Most people don't see a quality difference between digital cable, satellite and DVDs. I think this is a great direction for Apple to be heading into. Would I buy one? Sure I would if the video content were interesting and at the right price.
Nothing is impossible. It just hasn't been figured out yet.
Hasn't history taught us that in the long run battery life is tertiary (or lower) to color and features?
I mean, can you even buy a B&W PDA or cellphone anymore?
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Yeah! Just like I can't listen to DRM-less MP3s on my iPod now! Oh, wait...
And customers are so "pissed off" that Apple just passed the 500 million song mark at the iTMS.
Give me a break.
And how does QuickTime or DRM take up "way more space than it needs too[sic]"?
I would expect Apple to use H.264, which stands up to any other codec in the quality per bitrate fight. Assuming they are actually doing a vPod, and that they can get a cheap custom processor for H.264 decoding, etc.
It'd be nice if they supported XViD, but if they don't support Ogg Snigfa or whatever the video codec is called, I don't think anyone will care. "Anyone" meaning "anyone who would be a paying customer" for a vPod. :-)
I can already do that, though, provided a computer with DVI-output (eg: any new Mac), and a TV with HDMI-input (eg: pretty much any new TV worth owning) is available for use at the house I'm going to.
... but how about the ability to plug an RCA or S-Video jack directly from your very portable iPod into a TV and calling it a day?
Your method requires not only a Mac, but a relatively new Mac, a high definition TV, and a short enough distance between the two to hook up a rather expensive cable.
Any bets on how many target users actually have a setup like that? It's not practical...
Are you actually suggesting that their main function is to allow you to take your music to a friends house and play on their stereo?
Although I'm not the parent poster, I can attest that many users purchase iPods to plug into their stereos at work. It happens here constantly, and I highly doubt we're the only ones. The point of an iPod is to have ridiculous amounts of music with you in your pocket that you can access anywhere. How would this not translate well with movies? What is the fundamental difference between hooking it up to earphones or to speakers?
I find it odd why everyone jumps to the conclusion that iTunes is only an outlet to supply content for iPods. What is to prevent Apple from coming out with an "Airport Express Video" product that lets you stream video you purchased from iTunes to your TV? This seems a lot more likely. Maybe even a rental system to bypass or teamup with Netflix.
Reading on this board, it seems to me that everybody's thinking that the iPod will be the primary means of digesting movies sold through iTunes. It strikes me that this is totally geared towards mac mini's (struck me the day after it's release, actually)... The way I see it, the iPod's integration into all of this (other than TV Out for the video, much like the iPod photo already has) is for previewing chapters and scene selections. IE - build in some video and a bit of bluetooth and control your mac mini from your sofa using your fnacy shmancy iPod remote.
I think the term you're looking for is actually 'iPr0n'.
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."