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Ars Technica Vivisects A Video iPod
phaedo00 writes "The guys over at Ars Technica have put together another one of their infamous reviews. This time they tackle the video iPod and give it a proper review, complete with vivisection and a discussion of the guts." From the article: "It wouldn't be an Ars iPod review without a dissection (or in this case, a vivisection since the patient survived) and discussion. Talking about what changes were made on the exterior of the device is fine and well, but the real interesting stuff--to me anyways--is found within. As the old adage says, 'it's what's on the inside that counts.' With that, I'm dismantling this iPod in the name of science. All went well: I was able to put to back together and it's working fine." An interesting counter-point to previous coverage.
Ever heard of this thing called a metaphor?
The iPod "survived" (literally meaning it still worked, not that it was ever a living creature), therefore they found it amusing to describe the process as a "vivisection." Get over it.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I must've skimmed over that fact in all the previous video iPod announcements, so ignore this or mark redundant if you feel so inclined. Ars seems to attribute it to decreasing the amount of space needed for the FW chipset. I'm glad Apple's still working to decrease the size, and I KNOW it's not that vital... but losing firewire seems a little sad.
Yes I know there's no rational reason for that (and they had good reasons to move on), but hey, there it is. Maybe it stems directly from my original experience with the 2G iPod (my first one) where you could just jam any old cable into the huge built in FW port on the device.
You can ride and bike or walk listening to music from an iPod but you can't do those things with video. I am not so sure this is the right format for video.
Of course this isn't factoring in things like... shipping, labor, stocking, and the cut that retailers get.... as well as R&D costs.
Apple is lucky to make 30%, more likely in the mid to low 20% on margins. Still impressive margins and ones so far supported by the market.
I suspect that 640x480 video may be for EXTERNAL video as it supports video out to TV's.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
The reviewer on Ars tested video output on a standard definition CRT.
My suspicion is that output from an iPod on a modern hi-definition TV will be somewhat worse due to the upsampling that almost all modern TVs use to play back their programming at the TV's lowest native resolution. This lowest native resolution is still higher than standard definition TV.
My two cents worth - probably an inflated value.
I'd like to point out that it is still an iPod, and a good music player. You can still use it for audio when running or on your bike, or like me when you put your bike on the front of the bus and board it you can now watch video while on the bus. Once I get back to the dorm I can hook it to my TV and stereo system. But the point is it is still a music player, just now one that can play moving pictures with sound.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
I wonder, how often does a vivisection end with the subject still alive?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Since the patient survived, it clearly was operated on when it was living.
This presumes that life cannot follow death. In the case of mammals and other higher function organisms this is generally true, however electronic devices can be completely and utterly devoid of life, and yet still attain life at a later date.
Vivisection indicates operation while the patient is living:
The act or practice of cutting into or otherwise injuring living animals, especially for the purpose of scientific research.
I believe that a correct iPod vivisection would be done while the unit is powered, and perhaps playing.
The iPod cannot be considered "living" according to the sense of the word as applied to mammals and other creatures, therefore the word "vivisection" has little or no meaning in this case as it depends on the definition of life.
-Adam
Don't get me wrong. I'm not an Apple-hater -- far from it. I use a Mac at work (designer) all day long, and you'd have to to pry my PowerBook® from my cold dead hands and all, but anyone that thinks it's earth-shattering is more than slightly behind the times. I've been watching video (divx, xvid, you name it), listening to mp3's *and* oggs for almost 2 years now on my Treo 600. It's also my cell phone, calendar, addressbook, yada-yada... I can even use it to ssh, vnc, ftp, or connect to Samba shares on my server at home and run several game console emulators on it (NES, GB, SG, etc.). The video iPod does have more disk space (although I've never had problems filling up my Treo's 2 Gig expansion card -- which card I can swap out for more space, if I ever *do* need it). Another key advantage is that my Treo 600 is also a digital camera and can even be a video camera. I use it to take short home movies of my kids when we're at the park or fair, or whatever and then export to mpegs. Not that the video iPod isn't cool and all, I'd just like to see more honesty in reporting the originality of the feature set.
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