Apple alters iPod trademark to include video

Well, this will certainly add some fuel to the fire on those video iPod rumours — Apple has updated its trademark for the iPod from "portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, and audio files" to read "portable and handheld digital electronic devices for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, and reviewing text, data, audio, image, and video files." You know, September is only a month away and all, so we're sure there's some fanboys out there rushing to get in line at the nearest Apple Store as we speak.

[Hassan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

I'm not sure that video ipod will be here by september since Apple needs to clear out legal issues between them and sompanies like sony picture, BMG and Warner Bro. Apple will not present their video player unless the IMovie store is ready to be used.

[bryan elkus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

i can not wait... This way i can share my films more easily. bring it on apple.

[dobber @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

It could be that they intend the iPod to be able to store and play movies, not necessarily on the screen, but by connecting it up to a TV or projector. What this would do to the life of the drive I'm not sure though. An iPod drive playing continuously wouldn't last too long.

It could be great for parties too. Just take along your ipod and a load of visuals and connect both music and video up or have something like the iTunes visualizer built into the iPod and have it play in time with the music direct to a screen. Who knows.

[Hassan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

dobber: Where do you get all that bullshit of yours, you don't seem to know the handlheld market. A ipod playing video is inevitable. Creative and iRiver allready has their video players out and Apple is next in the line. The next hot thing is video so an ipod playing video on the screen will be out in the next months.

[Luke @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Back when I brought my Zen PMC my mac fanboy mates were taking the p*ss arguing that video on a portable player was pointless. I expect soon for them to be loving the idea

[The Canadian Geek @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

I just noticed the store is being updated!

[PeteC @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Everyone assumes that if it plays movies they have to be selling full length movies from iTunes. They could easily just offer musci videos to start with and no doubt you'd also be able to encode your own movies to their format to play on the device but I don't see why they'd necessarily have to start selling feature films at the same time the ipod goes on sale.

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Video iPod, or perhaps an 'eyePod'... hey why not. iTMS is already offering music videos on their service, why shouldn't you be able to carry them around with you on your 'pod?

[Kal @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

No video ipod yet. Now Apple just introduced the Mighty Mouse.

[nick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Whats so special about a video ipod? I mean archos has had these type of players for 3 years. Yet some how apple's immitation can be called inovation and everybody loves it. Plus since its an apple product you know its gonna cost at least $500. People forget about the video ipod and get an archos gmini or av420 and bittorrent.

[Eric @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

You do realize this is the second time this morning that you've used the word "fanboy," right? Check out the XM post.

[Kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

iPod Porn!

[ChillyWilly @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Personally, I'm not all that excited about a video playing iPod. Sure, it would be cool eventually, but the screen size just seems too limited. Almost like the screen was made for playing music and podcasts, not videos....

... unless, they came out with something PSP sized, which I already use to watch TV shows and other video clips.

I'm going to pass and instead save up for a color model that has better battery life and more storage.

[Bryson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

"I'm going to pass and instead save up for a color model that has better battery life and more storage."

Thanks for letting us know your plans. I was beginning to wonder what you were going to do.

[Gordy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Let's hope iMovies aren't as prevalent as podcasts. Or, that the videos available will be commercial in nature.

Man...this could get interesting...

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

It might be good, if it's cheaper than the alternatives that are already out. But, since it's Apple, I'd say that's extremely unlikely.

[BK @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

I can't believe we haven't gotten a good leaked pic. or more concrete details by now, as we have in the past. I guess all those lawsuits by Apple really helped to clamp those loose lips.

[D17 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

nick: Nobody's calling the video iPod "innovative," at least not in the traditional sense. The reason why there's so much excitement is because the iPod has dominated the MP3 player market and has truly become an icon in our society. Yet, that a player so well-conceived and so well-made would be one of the last to support video playback is baffling to some, and Steve Jobs and Apple have asserted for years that there is no (significant) market for portable video players. This sudden reversal of opinion, if this is truly what the news means, plus the idea of having the best audio player become the best multimedia player, is what is causing the excitement. It's like if China were to suddenly announce that it would drop communism: Capitalism has been a fixture of Western societies for centuries, and China adopted a de facto capitalist economy years ago, but a change in attitude in this major power is vindication for us critics and observers, just like the video iPod will prove to be. Innovation has nothing to do with it.

By the way, I happen to agree that adding video playback capability to the existing iPod design is a bad idea (and may have something to do with why Apple has delayed the video iPod for so long). The smartest thing to do would be to use a high resolution LCD that takes up the whole front of the device and move the controls to the side. There was actually a prototype or model of this sort of design revealed on the Web by a design firm many months ago, but that so far has been a dead end.

[Callum @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

I can see the next version of iLife carrying some DVD Ripping (DRM it to hell, if you must) iTunes to iPod encoding transfering system.

iLife '06 with iPod Video- I can't see it happening in september. hmm.

[Josh Leo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Either way, the ipod is popular and this will give a perfect way for video bloggers to show and distribute their content...I mean there are already programs transcoding videoblogs to directly play on the PSP...apple's popularity will just add more competition to the world of portable video

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

"Back when I brought my Zen PMC my mac fanboy mates were taking the p*ss arguing that video on a portable player was pointless. I expect soon for them to be loving the idea"

Never fear, if an iPod is released that supports video, it will *still* be just as pointless.

If this results in 100 gig+ iPods that I can store more music on, though, I say more power to 'em.

[Josh Wolf @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Callum, I highly doubt we'll ever see any sort of DVD-ripping software from Apple; even if the video that results is DRM'd to hell, just ripping the video files from the DVD itself is a felony under the DMCA. I highly doubt Apple would release a program that makes you a felon in just three simple steps...

[Angie @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Speaking of video capable mp3 players, it seems like creative has made one (Zen Vision) and it looks coool....the demo on their website makes me want one really bad (but Im too poor right now :( )wonder why Apple didnt beat them to it?...

[K4pht @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Actually, Angie, there are many portable media players and some folks in Korea and people in Tokyo have got their Harajukus with ripoff video iPods. Check out pmpevent.com (korean) for info on the viliv p1, a promising "video ipod" with click wheel and all.

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 1:24AM]

Videora iPod Converter + DVD Decrypter

Why don't you all rip DVD's with DVD Decrypter to your hard-drive and then convert the VOB files with Videora iPod Converter.

This is how I put DVD's onto my iPod Video (30gb).

I am having trouble with making TV Shows that I downloaded with LimeWire appear under "TV Shows" in the Videos section of iTunes

Please if anyone can help I am running the latest version of iTunes on Windows XP!!!