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Video iPod May Arrive in September
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:26 PM
from the then-they-go-to-the-computer-bridal-chamber dept.
from the then-they-go-to-the-computer-bridal-chamber dept.
Fuzzball963 writes "MSNBC is reporting that Apple is in talks with major record labels to license and sell video content on the iTunes music store. The videos would sell for $1.99 and be playable on a video iPod, which Apple has reported may come out sometime in September." Update: 07/18 18:54 GMT by T : Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Just to add to the previous Apple post, here's a free link to today's Wall Street Journal article upon which the MSNBC article was based."
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Before everyone starts bitching about the screen (Score:5, Insightful)
That way you can carry half a dozen, dozen movies with you on trips, to your friends houses, wherever, and view them on TV.
Think of it as your portable movie library.
(considering that that's what iPods already are for music purposes.)
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:5, Insightful)
That way you can carry half a dozen, dozen movies with you on trips, to your friends houses, wherever, and view them on TV.
I can already do that, though, provided a computer with DVI-output (eg: any new Mac), and a TV with HDMI-input (eg: pretty much any new TV worth owning) is available for use at the house I'm going to.
Just rip the DVD's to the iPod with Mac the Ripper, as I would with any other hard drive, and open them using the DVD Player on the Mac at the house I go to.
Think of it as your portable movie library.
(considering that that's what iPods already are for music purposes.)
No, iPods are for listening to music on the go. Are you actually suggesting that their main function is to allow you to take your music to a friends house and play on their stereo?
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:4, Interesting)
adding video to iPod (which does one thing and does it well, except now it can do two things -- photos) makes it perhaps too complicated.
however, what i am suggesting is that Apple would now have a tool to dominate the online video market the way they do music.
think about it. we're all waiting for movies for download. who's gonna do it and how? Apple is the only company that can even try. All they need are the contracts, bandwidth, and video iPods.
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:3, Interesting)
No grandparent poster is right. No one wants to use a computer to serve video from an iPod to a TV. Too many components. These small cables [apple.com] are much easier.
On the other side I doubt this is what apple wants people to use the iPod for. P2PNet [p2pnet.net] has a good post listing why this isn't what you think. Apple knows a video iPod would get hacked to play nearly anything (though any mpeg4 video like xvid/divx is probably too cpu intensive to work) to play on it. This functionality will be for crap qual
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:4, Interesting)
They can be so much more than music on the go. I perform using mine. I can DJ 2,000 songs, in addition I record songs using garageband on my G5 iMac, a FOSTEX 8 track digital recorder and a mixing board. I then play them back over the PA while I sing and play the guitar. It works like a charm! I will probably use a laptop sometime in the future. But for now the ipod works great! Before I do a show I edit the play lists for each set. The great thing is when I DJ, I don't have to carry all my CD's and I'm no longer burning cd back ups all the time. CD's tend to get scratched too easy.
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:5, Insightful)
Your method requires not only a Mac, but a relatively new Mac, a high definition TV, and a short enough distance between the two to hook up a rather expensive cable.
Any bets on how many target users actually have a setup like that? It's not practical...
Are you actually suggesting that their main function is to allow you to take your music to a friends house and play on their stereo?
Although I'm not the parent poster, I can attest that many users purchase iPods to plug into their stereos at work. It happens here constantly, and I highly doubt we're the only ones. The point of an iPod is to have ridiculous amounts of music with you in your pocket that you can access anywhere. How would this not translate well with movies? What is the fundamental difference between hooking it up to earphones or to speakers?
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:4, Insightful)
Most people I meet laugh at the idea of watching video from something as small as a mobile phone, but it is already quite enjoyable, and after being shown a video they are always eager to accept being wrong. (As an anecdote I've had some of my friends sit around my phone looking at the video of Satisfaction, and noone complained about the screen size being small)
I can only imagine that if Apple puts some effort into their video iPod, they'll be able to have the same resolution as a regular TV.
The idea that we need to watch video on large screens (tv/cinema) is what I think is mostly convention, a small screen (at a closer distance to your eyes) occupies the same percentage of your retina as a big one at a distance.
To me, such criticism is just like people said "who would ever want to walk and listen to music at the same time?".
Small screens are usable already. And of course, should you prefer the relaxation of looking at something in the distance, you can always hook the iPod to the TV, just as the parent poster suggested.
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:5, Funny)
Stop right there. I know it's cliche, but you must be new here.
Parent
nail on the head man (Score:4, Informative)
Small screen? Sure its small. But as said elsewhere in this thread, plug it into your tv. Bam. portable movies.
Sync it with your new Apple DVR system and... oh wait. not yet.
go apple
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:5, Insightful)
the files are DRMd, not the output. suppose they pump it throug the analog RCA (red, white, yellow).
sure you could rip the movie, but you'd have to wait 1.5 hours for each movie, and it wouldn't make much sense. just as you can rip the audio off the iPod, i don't think there would be much worry over it.
Parent
Re:Before everyone starts bitching about the scree (Score:3, Interesting)
firmware update or new device? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:firmware update or new device? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:firmware update or new device? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/ipod [apple.com]
Parent
hacked version (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:hacked version (Score:3, Funny)
"play ANY video I want"
Translation: pr0nVideo just isn't the same as music tho... (Score:5, Insightful)
From the FA (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:From the FA (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Video just isn't the same as music tho... (Score:3, Insightful)
Video _right_there_ (Score:5, Interesting)
Contrast that with a video iPod:
iPod audio is right there - in pocket, instant on/off.
iPod video will likewise be right there - in-hand and running practically instantly
Spending 10 minutes on a bus? Waiting for an airplane? 5 minutes early for a meeting? Unexpectedly waiting an hour for someone? No time to watch that movie, but have 15 minutes a day to kill?
One second flat from bored to watching something interesting. Enough storage to actually store several interesting things.
Yeah, the screen will be small - but it's right there, unlike your laptop which has to be hauled out of your backpack, or your >15" TV which is in your living room and definitely not on the bus or in the elevator with you.
Parent
Re:Video just isn't the same as music tho... (Score:3, Interesting)
Reason #1131 to move to Japan!
Instead of a 1-hour drive to work, you can have a 1-hour train ride to work, and will be able to watch entire television shows or significant portions of movies during transit. It gives you an excuse to own a video-capable player.
However, considering that shoulder bags are an acceptable accoutrement for men over there, perhaps you'd be happier with the new Archos PMP with the 7" screen...
Jasin NataelSweet! (Score:5, Funny)
Would I even need a new iPod? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Would I even need a new iPod? (Score:3, Insightful)
$3 a music video? That sounds more reasonable.
Link to facts? (Score:3, Interesting)
They have? Apple being such an open company and all with their future products.
This Explains It! (Score:5, Funny)
ETA of conspiracy theory explaining why the video iPod is the real reason that Apple switched to Intel: Any second now.
Cost of video vs. cost of audio (Score:4, Insightful)
Somehow, I don't see that it's only twice the cost to make a video unless the price of the song is hyper-inflated (which, of course, could never be the case
Just like how the DVD is ~$17 on release day at Wal-Mart but the soundtrack is $16.
Re:Cost of video vs. cost of audio (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Gates must be a bit chagrined. (Score:5, Funny)
Too little too late? I thought you said it was a good size!
-Brodie and Gates.
Why stop with music videos? (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple could easily pitch the success of their iTunes music store the the major motion picture companies and probably work out a reasonable DRM that's flexible enough for consumers to handle.
Personally, I don't care if some other company is first out the door and gets it right like Apple did with the iPod and iTunes, but I just hope that other company isn't Microsoft given a lot of the recent /. articles about Longhorn having DRM for monitors and EF by Intel.
Protable video devices (Score:3, Insightful)
The joys of recanting (Score:3, Informative)
Fast forward and any technology statement can and will be proven wrong by technology advances, customer demand, or the latter despite the lack of the former followed by several years of beta testing that people will call 1G.
Regardless, I'm still looking forward to what Apple can bring to the less than booming world of portable video players. And does anyone know when Microsoft is supposed to release a contender to this possible product?
This is just perfect! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This is just perfect! (Score:5, Funny)
At first, I thought you were talking about "Home videos OF instant torture." Your Aunt must be a really interesting person. :)
Parent
I'd buy them on one condition (Score:4, Interesting)
This confirms that "As Seen on TV" was just BS (Score:3, Interesting)
uh huh? (Score:3, Informative)
Mr. Jobs addressed the issue of video on iPods when asked by Mike Wendland of the Detroit Free Press whether or not Apple was looking to add features to the iPod. "We want it to make toast," replied Mr. Jobs. "We're toying with refrigeration, too."
While intended to get a laugh, which it did, Mr. Jobs also offered a more substantive answer as to why Apple had heretofore not added too many features to the iPod. "One of the things we say around Apple, and I paraphrase Bill Clinton from the 1992 presidential race, is 'It's about the music, stupid.'"
Mr. Jobs says that there is a big difference between the way people listen to music and other activities like watching videos. Specifically, he said, you can listen to music in the background, while movies require that you actually watch them. "You can't watch a video and drive a car," he said. "We're focused on music."
Sources: one [engadget.com]
two [macobserver.com]
Looking forward (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:One Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah! Just like I can't listen to DRM-less MP3s on my iPod now! Oh, wait...
And customers are so "pissed off" that Apple just passed the 500 million song mark at the iTMS.
Give me a break.
And how does QuickTime or DRM take up "way more space than it needs too[sic]"?
I would expect Apple to use H.264, which stands up to any other codec in the quality per bitrate fight. Assuming they are actually doing a vPod, and that they can get a cheap custom processor for H.264 decoding, etc.
It'd be nice if they supported XViD, but if they don't support Ogg Snigfa or whatever the video codec is called, I don't think anyone will care. "Anyone" meaning "anyone who would be a paying customer" for a vPod. :-)
Parent
Re:One Problem (Score:3, Funny)
<paranoia>(Or, will Apple balk at this, considering how easy that would make it to circumvent the inevitable DRM on the movies?)</paranoia>
Re:One Problem (Score:5, Informative)
And of course, if the pixel density is high enough, there's not much difference between watching a 4-inch screen at 2ft distance versus watching a 52-inch screen at 15ft.
Parent
Yep (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Yep (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Not that I, uh, know much about it but I think Kazaa and such have the monopoly on that specific content.
On a side note, imagine the contest like Apple just did with their 500th million song...
And the winner is John Smith, who downloaded 'Sweet Cheeks and Sticky Buns IV'!
Re:Yeah, but... (Score:4, Funny)
There's a joke insulting your manhood and including the words "life size" in there somewhere, but I think I'll leave it.
Parent
Depends on your quality requirements. (Score:3, Informative)
So, now your 60Gb iPod holds 30 Gb of music and 30-60 movies or a bunch more TV programs.
(I'm not debating whether or not it's an idea that's really worth much. I like m
Missing the point... (Score:3, Interesting)
You get the idea. There's a ton of dead time in which such a thing could be useful, in addition to the fact that you can STILL use it to play music the rest of the time.
As to battery life, that's an unknown assumption. But really, all it needs to