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iPods Becoming Entrenched In Major League Baseball
DreadfulGrape writes "ESPN.com reports on how video iPods are being used increasingly by baseball players to study opponents' game footage. In fact, Houston Astros' pitcher Jason Jennings credits the device with improving his game last summer." Jennings says,
"Eventually, more than two-thirds of the roster had piled on and turned this team into baseball's official iSquad. Every player gets his own custom set of videos loaded onto his personal iPod, sorted by date, hitter, pitcher and opponent — and updated every week or so."
I smell an opportunity for microsoft to tout their "squirt" feature on the zune to try to penetrate this segment.
Articles like these are starting to bother me. This is nothing that you couldn't do with any portable media player, yet all we hear from the media is "iPod iPod iPod iPod". It wouldn't matter to me otherwise, but I don't want to see a future where we're fighting both MS and Apple. Airplane seats are already getting iPod connectors instead of generic connectors, and soon Apple is going to release a crippled smartphone that won't run your own software, but is already being hailed in the media as a Nokia killer.
We should be worried - very worried. Either Apple starts sticking to industry standards or this has to stop.
My Sig: SEGV
http://www.ipodlinux.org/Main_Page
I would imagine that this would be great not only to allow them to study up on opposing players tactics, but also to give them something entertaining to do while they are supposed to be playing baseball.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
Queue up a thousand replies saying "Why are they using iPod? The is way better! Get a life, folks. Apple finally has marketshare of something. If the story was about Kleenex, would you complain that Scott Tissue was way better? Jeez.
This is nothing that you couldn't do with any portable media player
I agree with what much of what you say, and it's probably something that I could do with any portable media player, but, perhaps, Apple's investment in usability is what enables the 'dumb jock' to use portable video.
Before I got an iPod I had written up a set of perl scripts to manage my music on an Archos MP3 player to a level I felt was convenient. Now I use iTunes. Most folks can't write perl scripts.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Finally a useful application of iPods! What? Baseball? Oh.
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Airplane seats are already getting iPod connectors instead of generic connectors....
Maybe part of the problem is that the electronics industry still has their foot up their ass, and after 30+ years of portable media devices, there are still no standard connectors. Every device has it's own connector for charging (which is totally unnecessary today - a small connector that provided 5v and 1000 mv would be able to power almost all portable media devices).
And for the audio output, while most use the 1/8" phono plug, even this is non-standard, with some devices using the 1/16" plug, and phones all using totally different schemes for the four contact points in those plugs - meaningin you can't take a Morotola stereo headset and use it with a Treo and have both earphones work, even though they have the exact same form factor.
I don't blame the airline industries and auto industries for deciding to support only the iPod. It's kind of a "Hey asshats, if you're going to keep being retarded and uncooperative with eachother, then we will just support this guy who has 75% of the market anyway".
Because you know, it's not about the spirit of the game or whatever that's supposed to mean.
Or Rockbox. I've never used iPod Linux, as I don't have an iPod, so I don't know how good it is, but I love Rockbox on my iriver H10.
Worth checking out, at least.
Ok, let me give this a try. It differs from using a phone with a camera because the picture quality is better and you can connect the iPod to a TV screen and still watch it without the picture looking like crap. It differs from using a real camera, something major league baseball has been doing for years, in that with the real camera will usually need you to be in a specific location like a film room to view it. The iPod would allow the players to view the film on the plane when they are travelling or in the hotel room.
I don't see what good a plain old iPod will do them. They won't even be able to connect to the spy satellites.
No jokes, please
I'm using rockbox on a 4G ipod and love it. I consider the display and UI to be far superior. The one thing that lets it down though is battery life; I've tried tweaking the settings to improve it, but still get dismal usage from the batteries. I would say it's less than 30% of the play time I got with the apple firmware.
Not that great on an Ipod though. My 4rd gen Ipod keeps on crashing totally random and the battery life is horrible. I still use it from time to time, but Apple OS(or whatever it's name is) is better IMHO.
Says the Umpire: You're out! ... Spitballs have been outlawed since 1921.
Because when I want to study the nuances of a batters stance or the way a baseman catches a ball and tries to sweep the sliding runner, I want to do it on a screen smaller than an asshole.
Living With a Nerd
A joint statement has been released by several hundred MLB players in which they profusely apologize to the public, as they've only just learned how tedious baseball is to watch.
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Just having the option gives the consumer an opportunity to do lasting damage, and possibly souring the experience for them, putting off other potential buyers. Soon the iPod would get the reputation of being too hard for all but the computer-savvy, and it would become just another mp3 player.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
It's 5V and 1000mA. 1000mV is simply 1V- that's like saying you have a plug on the plane that has extra prongs for 5V and 1V applications.
Wanted to clear that up in case anyone was confused by it. We know what the parent meant, but some people replying to the parent certainly did not.
That way players can "squirt" those steroids we hear about so often.
I thought it'd be pretty obvious (why would I say both 5v and 1000 mv, which is 1v ?)
This is not News and the iPods aren't nearly as popular as ESPN makes it seem. I know for a fact that only the small amount of teams who have digital video systems (Red Sox) have the means to convert and load all the Video. These Digital Video systems are not the standard accross the league and most players get video of their at bats/ pitching sequences on DVD for road trips. However, the popularity of iPods as music/video players among MLB teams can not be argued.
These baseball players can't handle watching this type of footage from a normal computer/dvd player/portable media device?
So they need to be spoon feed this type of media through a shiney new toy....
"Hey, watch this footage"
"No"
"We'll give you an iPod and let you use it to watch the footage"
"... oh, ok. Sure."
In the end, the only thing that matters is how much fun you had.
Because they probably already have an iPod. They're just putting it to another use.
Only in baseball can you win 41% and call it a turn around.
The previous year he won 40%.
Wow, that's some turn around, ESPECIALLY since he was 16 - 8 four seasons ago.
Ignorance is not a crime; neither should it be a way of life
Congress control $ = inmates run the asylum
And wow! Talk about making money out of it!
Visions and ethics mean nothing. Accept it or be labled a communist/terrorist (you're not implying that the free market may have a downside or two, do you?)
Wait a minute...
Isn't ESPN owned by Disney...
and isn't Steve Jobs and Disney...
A coincidence. Obviously.
Saying the iPhone won't run your own software is a bit misleading. It WILL run 3rd party software, just software thats approved by Apple. That doesn't mean it won't run any 3rd party software at all. And for the overwhelming majority of consumers that will be far more than enough considering the high numbers of people with both Palm OS and Windows Mobile based smartphones who NEVER install programs of their own. I have a Treo with many installed programs but whenever I try to tell other Treo owners about this their eyes glaze over.
By the way the MARKET decides who becomes the biggest. Should it be any other way?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Normal users might not need power-tools, but I'm willing to go the extra mile and tinker with my nano. Things will be so much easier if there is an official API.
More than mere navel gazing.
What he needs to do is create a "new" model that is programable and has some different name. I'll explain why below..
But 1st..
A) he is a bit of a control freak
B) in the case of the iPod, the iTunes store connection, is both i) a key revenue stream and ii) the control of that connection is what encourged the record labels to sign up.
C) Of course you can program a Mac anyway you like
As a mass market product Apple (read: Jobs) not only wants to be in control of the product and any revenue streams coming out of it, they are also worried that third party OTS and COTS could "break" the user experience. That is to say, their support costs and their perception of a "solid reliable product" could be altered by third party OTS and COTS that starts crashing or erasing, viruses, etc. (e.g.., I downloaded a new game from freegames.com and all my songs got erased and then I sync' with my computer and my songs got erased there also..)-- that's a bit over the top, but I'm sure that is what in part keeps him up at night.
So the solution is a device that is 15% more expensive called the iDIY (Do It Yourself) or what ever better name they come up with that accepts third party OTS and COTS and happens to support iTunes store purchases (or not if that's some huge no-no for Jobs).
http://www.hawknest.com/
What Ass-Hat marked this as flame-bait ?
There's no flame bait here. It's an observation about the usefullness of using an iPod for watching video when a full sized screen is available. It makes further observation that the quality of baseball player in recent years has been surprisingly low with two exceptions. And, finally it suggestes that there is almost nothing to be learned from studying a player other than the key positions of Pitcher, First-baseman, and Short-Stop.
Whoever marked this as flame-bait needs to get out and play a little more baseball.
Cricket - isn't that the game where, once everyone who's in is out, then the side that's out goes in?
What was once true, is no longer so
It has a very technical meaning which is the use I put it to here. Software is a rather generic term.
And to be precise I didn't say OTS I said, Third Party OTS.
I first started working in software in 1983, so why don't you think I know what I means? Did you check my profile?
http://www.hawknest.com/
Want to re-program your iPod? It can be done. http://www.macworld.com/2005/05/secrets/julygeekfa ctor/index.php
Since an Astros pitcher is cited and being as I am a long-time Houstonian still longingly awaiting a world series WIN.....I would like to know what they are referring to as an improvement? I mean the Stros got their asses handed to them in the World Series in 2005 but at least they GOT to the World Series. I understand the need to have an edge against an opponent but working as a TEAM might garner a higher return on investment. When I focus on my portable media I tend to zone out of what is going on around me. I hope they are not using these things during the game.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
They're not studying _other_ players; they're looking at video of their own at-bats to determine their own subtle tendencies during times when they were hitting well and when they weren't.
-- Be alert. The world needs more lerts.
Not me. I immediately thought "well of course iPods are entrenched if you're finding them in dugouts."
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
Baseball players have been listening to Queen's "We Are the Champions before going to bat. Batting averages across America have increased .1 points to an all time high.
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
Of course the "iPod" icon is appropriate for this story, but isn't the "technology" icon a little vague?
Wouldn't a better choice be the "baseball" icon? Or at least the "sports" icon?
What a minute... What am I saying?!?
-a.d.
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We've got 'em!