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Video iPod Oct 12?
Petey_Alchemist writes "Apple Insider is reporting that Apple will release a video iPod on October 12th, possibly in conjunction with the announcement of Apple's fourth quarter results.
From the article 'Although details are scarce, sources who claim to have seen the new iPod describe it as being similar to Apple's 60GB iPod photo player, but several millimeters thinner.
The device reportedly sports a smaller click-wheel akin to that of the iPod nano's, making way for a larger, higher-resolution color display that extends further down the face of the device.' "
Video is not portable in any successful manner. Cell phone providers can't get people interested; portable mini-LCD DVD players spend more time on family room shelves than in-use.
I have a feeling this isn't about selling iPods. This is about proving that people will be interested in downloading video content through services like iTunes. What if it can hook up to your TV and act like a DVD player? What if iTunes starts having lots of good video content? This is just small part of a much bigger picture.
Bradley Holt
portable mini-LCD DVD players spend more time on family room shelves than in-use.
That might be true in the circles you are in, but business travellers and various other frequent-flyer types LOVE portable DVD players. Not only for passing time between flight connections, but for late evenings on the road when you don't feel like going out or trying to find something on the hotel TV.
Not to mention damn near every last grunt in Iraq. There's a lot of "down-time" involved in occupation efforts, and folks like us mailing DVD's out to them is one of their main sources of entertainment out there.
These groups of people would probably go bananas over a video iPod, if it was done right.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
The rumours about a video-out enabled Airport base-station and video download capability in iTunes are more interesting - the ability to use the iTunes as a download centre for Video On Demand streamed to your TV strikes me as a potentially bigger market than for video on the go.
However, given that many of the movie studios are linked to the same record companies 'fighting' with Apple at the moment makes you wonder where the content would come from.
Think Secret are usually correct though.
Maybe they're finally launching 'Asteroid'
It's also very interesting to note the following:
Go to www.apple.com/movies. "You don't have permission to access /movies on this server"
Go to www.apple.com/umptysquat. "Trying to find something at Apple?"
As Bill said from _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_, "Ted ... something strange is afoot at the Circle K."
However, and this is only my two cents, I don't think the technology / battery life / screen size / processor speed is quite there yet to show H.264 on a portable system in a marketable, affordable package. Give it two more years.
"Diplomacy is something you do until you find a rock." --Richard Pound
I think the studios would be more inclined to go with a tried and true distribution system, ala iTunes, than just dabbling with however many companies are trying to get into this. Apple got the record labels to sign on beforehand and thus had a load of available titles when iTunes was released. I can see him doing the same thing with the studios. Plus, having Pixar as a company and rubbing elbows with the industry can't hurt either. It just seems that the studios would feel much safer knowing Apple has a way to distribute and has such a large following already. Why risk having a myriad of formats, pricing, distribution sources, etc?
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
Actually, you are completely wrong. Releases of Apple products are NEVER preceeded by a massive marketing campaign. There are a always a few rumors, some of them more accurate than others, but Jobs loves to make the big surprise announcement. In fact, he said that it would have broken his heart if news of the nano got out before the big unveiling. With the Mac mini, there were rumors about a "headless" Mac, but the actual form was unveiled in a big announcement at MacWorld San Francisco.
The lawsuits by Apple against rumor sites are not a twisted propaganda strategy. Jobs hates the leaks because they spoil the surprise.
And has anyone noticed how .Mac account holders were pleasantly awarded with more storage space now? Hmmmm...I wonder why? Possibly to hold video files? Hmmm...
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
H.264 is totally different. It's MPEG-4 part 10. It's about as big a leap over MPEG-4 part 2 as MPEG-4 was over MPEG-2.
Considering mplayer and other open source apps support H.264, there is *no* reason for anyone to be using DivX or Xvid any more. You will get *better* quality *and* smaller file sizes by using H.264.
Free Hans!