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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.' "
Let's just hope this screen resists scratches much better than the nano. At least you do not have to look at the nano to enjoy listening to it...
There's kind of a way to do that now...if you put a bunch of frames in and scroll...but, well...this would be a lot more convenient.
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
Would a larger screen on an iPod-sized device really make it any easier to watch video on it? No matter how you design things, it's a tiny tiny display.
Say you make it taller than it is wide and rotate it ninety degrees to view video. Then you're 2" tall, but still only about 2.7" wide, giving you a whopping 3.3" diagonal, up from 2.5" on the current iPod.
Video out support is good, but you're pushing that tiny hard drive pretty hard whether you're driving the iPod's screen or not. Apple would have to do some very impressive tricks with the battery life to make a video iPod practical.
From everything I've been reading, video support on the current iPod is just a firmware upgrade away. But I'm not convinced it's something users are going to be able to use well, even if it is just restricted to music videos.
Hopefully AppleInsider's barking up the wrong tree.
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.
I watched 2 movies on my iPaq on a flight from LA to Paris. It was actually very nice. I have only 1 GB of storage, but that fits 2 divx movies perfectly.
I doubt that Apple will support divx, using H.264 instead. My question, who has compared these formats in a 500 MB size limit? Will Apple give you a utility to convert your DVDs? (probably not). Also, the question of battery life is important. An SD card doesn't spin inside. That hard drive on the iPod is going to burn a lot of battery power, and get hot to the touch.
The video iPod is inevitable. My questions are mainly to how we will fill them without an Apple Movie Store. I would expect the release of this iPod to coincide with the release of a movie store.
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'
The invitation picture piques my interest, though. I don't think it'll be a video iPod, but I think movies are involved bdsed on the red curtain.
The "AirPort Express" device is probably not for the iPod, but rather like the Express, a video-out system for Macs, allowing you to play your movies to your TV without having them near each other... Hasn't this constantly been the intention of Apple - the "digital hub" without all the wires?
I wonder if/hope it will support a remote control, so you can control your on-computer content in the other room from the TV.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Not portable? I'm inclined to agree, but then why are PSP movie sales through the roof? It seems that a market already exists.
If Apple can match the PSP's screen quality and beat its ease of use (by making movies downloadable, perhaps) they might have something.
Yeah, what's up with that? How is it Music Television when there are just shows on there?
Yeah, and I tried to buy a telegraph from AT&T the other day, but they said they don't do that anymore!
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Apple, like many companies, has its financial quarters offset from calendar quarters for tax purposes. Apple's third quarter ended June 25th.
This space unintentionally left unblank.
personally, i think it's going to be the rebranding of the itms from 'itunes music store' to the new media store.
they'll sell movies, etc. no new device for watching on tv yet. no new video ipod yet. you need a base of people who use the service that really WANT a remote way to move their media around first. how many people (outside the slashdot community) would even HAVE movies to put on an vipod now?
These groups of people would probably go bananas over a video iPod, if it was done right.
It was,, but it doesn't say Apple on it. Hence, no bananas.
But why would an MP3 Player company release new computers?
No reason to lie.
Apple will release a viPod shuffle which will support automagic shuffling of your videos and, to make smaller it easier to use, no screen.
No words yet on the release date of emacsPod.
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
"....and possibly we'll see a new high-end Nano (6 or 8G?), with some price adjustments across the board."
No way. Apple would not release a higher capacity Nano only weeks after releasing the existing versions. It would piss everyone with a 2 or 4 gig version off so bad they'd be ripping the metal off the front of their local Apple Stores demanding free upgrades!
"...you don't know Apple too well. They will always come out with an update of your product less than a month after you purchased it"
Isn't invention great. And you fail to mention the real reason it makes so many people feeling a little jealous... it's the fact that Apple has been doing this for many years. They will upgrade their line when they feel it's right, while keeping the price of the relative product the same. They've been doing this on the computer side for a very long time.
Seeing an upgrade to your product (upgrades are good, trust me, my original 5 GB iPod wouldn't cut it today, sorry) that is exactly the same price as the one you just bought a month ago is what get's ya. But, Apple knows the balance tips towards keeping the prices constantly in certain ranges while not being afraid of investigating upgrades due to new technology. We as consumers tend to like that much more than don't like the jealousy thing... you picked the time to buy, and the purchase should have been an accepted agreement. Meaning, it was worth it to you to pay what you did for that device at that time, so go with that, or you will never own an xxxxxx.
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
"and think secret is saying the exact opposite: no vIpod, it's powermac and powerbook updates."
And ThinkSecret seems to think there's a large margin on the iPod Nano, which there is not.
ThinkSecret seems to think that an iPod Video model would rob sales of the iPod Nano despite the fact that the Video model would be at the high price range ($500+) of all iPods, whereas the Nano is not.
This event is a media special event. It makes no sense to invite the media if it is merely an annoucement and last hurrah of the PowerBooks and PowerMacs before the Intel switch.
Most likely, the event will start with a speed bump/dual core announcement for the PowerBooks and PowerMacs. The "one last thing" - and the main event of the presentation - would be the iPod Video, along with the iMovie/iVideo/iWhatever Video store debut. You gotta think about it like the last presentation; the rather mundane Motorola ROKR shown off (well, actually, iTunes 5.0 first), and then the major announcement of the iPod Nano saved for last.
We must all remember that we are in the final stretches before the holiday season. Apple needs to remind consumers that Apple is still hot this holiday season, and thus an iPod Video would serve this well.
Then again, same goes for a G5 powered and HD capable Mac Mini, while they are at it. But I doubt that is meant to be for now.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
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!
There is, however, a conversion when loading mp3 to an iPod?
Nope, not really. iPods play mp3 files with the built in hardware, but the filesystem on the iPod gives it a weird hash for a name and organizes it in a weird file structure. Perhaps you were recalling something about the Sony music players that spent several hours converting mp3's to their proprietary format when it loaded them onto the player.
It concerned me that their end game is to tie you to their retail service much the same way that MS has done by slightly altering their implementations of standards.
My opinion given the prices/profits they have posted for the iTMS is that their goal is twofold, first they sell music as an incentive for people to buy their devices. Second, they sell music to prevent MS from dominating the space with their proprietary format and making macs second class citizens for music, which would hurt their core market.
Thanks for the reply.
You're quite welcome.
Well, let's just see which one Apple sues and then we'll know who's right!
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I was thinking almost the same thing: "Why can't my iPod stream coffee from the coffeeshop?" I mean, I wouldn't have to wait in line or anything...
-- I speak only for myself
Don't they host most such events in theaters? I mean, they need someplace big with lots of seats and a stage for such announcements. Isn't a theater (and not the movie kind) the obvious place to host such a thing?
I think a previous post I've made still applies to this situation, and I'll reiterate the key points: Every time Apple hints they are about to make an announcement, the media always tells the public that it is undoubtedly going to be a video iPod.. And every single time they have been wrong. Does this mean that this announcement is not a video iPod? No. I merely point out that screaming "OMG TEH VIDEO IPOD IS HERE!" every time apple prepares for an announcement is stupid.