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No Video iPod Coming?
Fuzzball963 writes "ThinkSecret is reporting that a video iPod is not going to be released on Oct.12th. Instead, the announcement will be an 80 GB update to the iPod, along with size improvements on the color models. The analysts seem to say that the video iPod is in development, but that lack of a licensing agreement between Apple and the studios has made it a no-go for now." From the article: "While a video-capable iPod remains in development, without the agreements nor infrastructure in place to deliver movies to customers through a store-like interface, Apple sees little value in releasing such an iPod at this time. Apple insiders have also said executives see consumers needing the capability to easily import the DVD movies they own to a usable format (similar to the encoding functionality provided for audio CDs with iTunes) in order for a video iPod to be truly successful. The complexity to date of accomplishing such a feat has meant only a minority of computer users have dabbled with watching full-length movies on their computer, with most of those having acquired the content through file sharing services."
Makes sense when they explain it but really if we all just wait a few days there will be no speculation =p
So, I think the lack of a Video iPod is no great loss. What Apple are missing out on is a decent iPod-style phone. According to The Register, the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone isn't shifting in any significant quantity. Perhaps if Apple and Motorola had come up with something more like the (admittedly flawed) Bang & Olufsen Serene then it would be a real seller. That's the kind of unified gadget there's a market for.. a good mobile/music player hybrid. B&O showed that it's possible. But Apple have either missed the boat on this one, or perhaps they do have something in development in-house.
Really though.. if I want to watch a film while I'm away.. I stick a DVD in my laptop. That has a nice big screen and I've never run into DRM issues with that. Yet.
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Thank god they didn't decide to go the route of Sony with a special format (such as UMD) that can only be played on a tiny machine. It's just a cash-cow for sony, and I hope that it doesn't work (I'd hate to see yet another competing video format, one that isn't even for the main television, it would be like getting movies on gameboy cartridges).
I don't see the use for such device. When do you actually want to watch music videos on such small display? When I carry a music player around, I do so in my pocket and I want it so small that it won't be in the way. I believe that a PVP (portable video player) would be a great thing though, although still not that necessary.
Full Tilt
Music videos will be Apples foot in the door for any iTMS style movie distribution. But cinematic movies are a lot longer off simply owing to the fact that the customer base (that has the required bandwidth) is still a small market.
That, and no-one wants to watch a movie on a shitty little screen.
Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to pull the trigger of a sniper rifle.
Got there just before me anyway linkage http://ipodlinux.org/Video_Player
Home-made movies?
YOU SICK PORN-FREAKS, I don't want *anyone* to watch this stuff when sitting next to me on my way to work.
Jobs has said time and time again that he thinks the idea of a video iPod is stupid and doesn't want to make one. And yet, Slashdot keeps acting like it will be a reality. He even went so far as to mock companies that were pursuing portable video.
I've actually posted a comment similar to this a year ago. Here is the Apple Special Event 04. 12:35 into the video.
If you have out of date hardware, ripping a dvd is painfully slow, like overnight slow.
Most consumers don't have dual processor g5's as far as I know.
music lover since 1969
Mod parent up. The DVD CCA will never grant Apple a license to rip CSS-encrypted movies to a hard disk. While it is technically entirely feasible to make DVD ripping as easy as CD ripping, it is not, for legal reasons, anything that a major consumer electronics manufacturer like Apple can do.
This is all just DVD DRM (aka CSS) hard at work, stifling innovation.
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The most fundamental reason is that it sucks to watch movies on a 3" or smaller screen. The beauty of sound is that the size of the generator doesn't matter (much - audiophiles will point out the lack of base, clipping/overshooting on square wave tests, etc.); this is just not true of visuals. The only way around this is if someone can put a 3" screen 3" from your eyeballs (to get the same angular coverage as a movie or TV screen) and hold it there, comfortably.
iGlasses, anyone?
If you are storing your music collection as MP3s, then 80MB is a lot. On the other hand if you store your music collection is FLAC or ALE (Apple Lossless Encoding), then the extra storage space is useful.
The question really to be asking is whether people are actually using the larger iPods in the same manner as the smaller iPods. For example are they using it for photos, personal data, movies (even if they can't be player) and other large files.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
I have no idea what will be announced at this event, but I think it's safe to assume that Thinksecret's assertion that Apple will simply announce modest updates to it's iPod, Powerbook and Power Mac product lines is highly unlikely. Apple only orchestrates these types of highly-publicized events when they are introducing a brand new or substantially different product.
I just can't see Jobs deliberately getting the media buzz going with his cryptic little invitation and then getting on stage and saying "look, here's our new 80 GB iPod and our dual-core Power Mac...oh, and one more thing...our Powerbooks have higher resolution screens".
Something new will be announced. I'd bet against a video iPod, but this event is most assuredly not for announcing product updates.
Hello The Daily Show, this will be the first TV show get regular distribution in a Podcast-type manner.
It has got to be bigger than minor upgrades to the current iPods. The invitations to this event seemed to suggest something big: "One more thing..." and if that one more thing is just a hard drive upgrade to the iPods than a lot of journalists are going to be mad that they made the trip out to california. By calling media events like this, Steve Jobs spends a lot of his social capital, the press is willing to come because they expect something awesome. If he dissapoints, he will be limited in his ability to do this in the future. I do not think he will disappoint. These upgraded iPods he may announce, yes, but there will be something bigger, it may not be an iPod, but it will be something cool. - Geddes
Jobs has said time and time again that he thinks the idea of a video iPod is stupid
Just like he and the other Apple drones spent a year or so dissing the expensive, high-end Flash players before introducing the ipod mini? I recall hearing quite a lot of apple fans parroting Apple's talking points: flash players suck, the capacity is tiny, everyone wants 60GB, and so on. On stage during the mini inro, he even spent an abnormal amount of time dissing existing Flash players. And today what is Apple's current ipod de jour? The Nano - a high-end, expensive Flash player. In fact, Apple even ditched its hard disk mini player in favour of a flash player.
Don't believe everything you hear. The only reason Apple is currently "down" on video is because it hasn't figured out to make a killing from it. Note that the desires of pod owners don't enter into it. It would be trivial to movie-enable colour ipods with a firmware update. But since Apple hasn't figured out how to *sell* movie content it sees no point giving people extra features. In the end, it's not about the ipod as an enabling device for personal media consumption and remixing but its positioning as a channel for Apple monetize.
I prefer my media devices DRM-free, thanks.
Da Blog
Ummm... they have hd+color now, and get 15 hours. Mostly by running the drive and loading a bunch of music into RAM, then shutting the drive down while they play from RAM. No reason the same trick couldn't be played with video.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
But if you're just using an iPod for storage it makes much more sense to just buy protable hard drives
Then it goes full circle... You can't play music on portable hard drives.
No one said this is either-or. I partition mine for twenty gigs of music, forty for files, and I'm able to carry around a full backup of every important project I'm working on.
Size -- other poratables are too big.
Weight -- they also also too heavy.
Content -- there is no content to put on it. Copyright issues are everywhere!
Output screens -- they are simply too small for video.
So how could that change?
If the iPod could be made to do video playback without getting bigger or heavier, there was a source for content, and you had some kind of output, you bet he'd do it.
For output, the 12" PB shows you how it could be done -- a simple mini-DVI slot would do it. Or you could use the existing iPod photo video out.
For size, well, that's where technology will help. The playback could be done probably within a year or two. Even now, the technology could certainly fit into the relatively bulky iPod form factor (for a price).
The content is probably the stickler. iTunes rips CDs, but could it rip DVDs? What about importing other movies you download? There are no online download services.. I suppose it could sync with iMovie like it syncs with iPhoto, but obviously Apple would like to have a real content download medium. No longer would you pay 60-100$ for a season of TV on DVD; instead, you could get it downloaded for 20$. That'd be worth it.
I doubt the media producers are cooperating.
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