Switched On: When you wish upon iPod
posted October 12th 2005 5:25PM
As Switched On approaches its first anniversary later this month, it's an opportune time to visit that greatest of
digital pack rats Google and look back at my first Engadget
column. Written on the heels of Apple releasing the iPod photo (and, let me tell you, there isn't a lot of space to
write on most heels), I argued that Apple was on a slippery slope toward a video iPod despite the company's many
protests to the contrary. As I rhetorically noted in October 2004: "Apple need not even stray far from its music mantra
in order to justify adding video to the iPod. Like other players with color screens, the iPod photo supports album art.
But iTunes supports music videos; why shouldn't the iPod?" Perhaps one reason why not was that there was no way to make
money offering them, but Apple is now changing that with iTunes 6.
In any case, the persistent have finally been rewarded. Or at least some have. Apple's offering is not a "video iPod"
in the generic "portable media player" vein that that product was often discussed. It's a video-enabled iPod that
evolves the specific product that owns the digital audio player market. Like the original iPod and iPod nano, it breaks
ground in terms of form factor, coming in at a fraction of the size of video competitors, but compromises on the screen
size. Its 2.5-inch display is sharp and saturated, but relatively small compared to other hard disk-based portable
video competitors. "Han shot first" protesters who want to commiserate in Greedo's altered aggression with friends
enjoying a ripped Star Wars DVD should look elsewhere.
On the other hand, like its predecessors, the video iPod is about more than just the hardware; it integrates
software and content. And here we see a dramatic difference between the audio and video content landscapes. Apple made
a huge splash when it introduced the iTunes Music Store by lining up all the major music labels. In contrast, its video
selection is an eclectic smorgasboard of homebrew iMovies, amateur hour (video podcasts) with great potential,
previously promotional music videos, still-promotional (for now) movie trailers, and the very tip of the TV iceberg
available without commercials in a pay-per-episode model.
Apples rational pay-for-ownership model works well in the music world, and timing may be right to introduce it in the
television episode world. Some folks are too busy to watch optically preserved reruns until their brains liquefy, but
consumers have flocked to boxed DVD sets of classic - and not so classic - TV shows. Plus, the iTunes stores
freshness in terms of current episodes enables the end to that seemingly endless quest for that show you forgot to
record. Including two childrens series is also a good move in light of kids tolerance for TV repetition.
For the networks and studios, of course, selling low-resolution episodes a la carte will be pure gravy, and music
labels may be so thrilled about getting to monetize music videos that they may cut Apple some slack on the flat-rate
pricing debate. Indeed, if consumers start to purchase music videos, music labels will receive de facto pricing
premiums for newer content by hot acts that they promote through such media. Still, Apple will probably make more money
off viralicious song gifting than from TV shows than video for the foreseeable future. This will be huge on holidays
like Valentines Day as the song dedication moves into the 21st Century.
Those who were looking for a video-optimized product like Creatives Zen Vision or Archoss AV line probably wont be
swayed by the new iPod. And while the PlayStation Portable makes it easy to buy movies, its current lack of bundled
software and low storage capacity puts it at a disadvantage for other forms of content. In any case, those wanting more
storage than the iPod nano provides will find an even more compelling music player that includes a bigger, better color
screen that does more justice to photos, plays a nice game of Breakout (Whatever happened to the guys who came up with
that anyway?), has enough capacity to hold all but the largest music collections, and packages it in an even slimmer
profile. The video iPod will be here next week, but whats more important for Apple and most consumers is that the
company has its strongest digital audio lineup in its history.
Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis at NPD Techworld, a division of market research and analysis provider The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On, however, are his own. Feedback is welcome at fliptheswitch@gmail.com.
I bought the 60GB video model sight unseen and placed my order about 30 min ago. Sounds crazy, I know. Given that I have refused to consider iPods ever since their inception (yes, I date way back to the Rio who were the first to fight the RIAA), this is a big step. I still see a place for my flash player (Creative MuVO TX), but the click wheel and one-the-fly rating of songs convinced me . Most iPod haters will no doubt shake their heads, but I don't care. With discount for education, this is a sweet deal - 60GB, video, and 20+ hrs battery. We will see, but I think the specs at face value pulled me over!
There are a few MAJOR things wrong with the new Ipod Video:
1. Small screen. C'mon people, don't you see what Apple is doing there, it's call market share. Obviously, they won't introduce a widescreen Ipod, because if they did, then they would lose all the money they would otherwise make with this crappy Ipod. So, they'll make millions with this one, and then release a widescreen version, so the people who waited go out and buy and the people who have money to burn go out and buy it to replace their current small size Ipod Video.
2. No support for Divx, or Xvid. Obviously, this makes sense as well. Apple has never been a company for the consumer, it's always been about Apple and how they can make more money. You know they can't allow Divx and Xvid support because those kind of formats are readily available on any bittorrent site, or P2P networks. What does this mean for Apple, well it means that nobody will pay 1.99 for a tv show when they can download it for FREE, like it should be. So instead, they only allow MPEG support which is a medium that not too many videos are encoded in, therefore only hardcore people will convert to Mpeg4.
3. No fast forward. Gee, wonder why they couldn't put this simple feature in. Let me guess. When you download a video from iVids or whatever site they create next, it will most likely have some ADS in it. You won't be able to fast forward through the AD, and therefore Apple will make more money because it can almost guarantee the AD being seen, all at the expense of the consumer. Watch out for FREE videos from Apple, with ADS in them, as this will be another revenue stream for Apple.
Conclusion: Sony PSP will reign king of video media when the new Datel 4 GB HDD + Battery Pack comes out. The PSP has a bigger screen, better resolution, better interface and fast forwarding. And now, AVI support through homebrew, YAY.
Labeling the Video Ipod Ipod with video support was the smartest move as naysayers can't whine about how the ipod lacks the feature set for a good pvp. Its still an ipod but with a bonus. Apple is a marketing genius. If there was a Super Bowl for marketing Apple would be the Yankees minus the bloated payroll.
This is pretty cool - using quicktime pro you can convert any video so it will play in ur ipod.
so all those torrents can play on it.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/creatingvideo.html
I think its a smart move by apple. They could not launch a pure video wide screen version of the ipod without creating a new ipod category. By including video capabilities in a mainstream ipod, they expose the video capabilities to people buying the ipod only for music playback. This is a nice way to try out the video part of iTunes before they launch a separate iPod made for watching video. Well done.
If you want to use the iPod primarly for video, better wait a bit. Or buy an Archos.
>#1
>"...this makes sense as well. Apple has never been a company for the consumer, it's always been about Apple and how they can make more money."
A company for making money?!!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!
*GASP!*
I was wholly unaware of that! It's as if I were just struck by a bombshell of mistrust! I thought that Stevie was just some nice guy who wanted to give people products to see how happy they are. This has shattered my faith in the electronics industry as a whole... Next you're gonna tell me that Apple has people who own a small percentages (or "shares") of their company who will sell their "shares" if Apple does something that will affect the value of those "shares"!
WTF do you THINK?!?!?!? Apple isn't some charity, they want to make money! Does that make them bad? NO! It's their awesome products that we should judge them on, not their commitment to the bottom line, and BTW Apple is a lot more inovative than most companies in its position would be!
TV shows can now be played on an ipod: I couldn't care less. What interests me is the prospect of the video PodCast. I could spring for mobile music videos too.
The question is - do I get one now or do I wait until Apple perfects this tech in the Gen6 model?
Before adding video to their Ipods, Apple could have spent a few weeks putting in a few features for true Audiophiles, such as cross fading, equalizers, and gapless music playback.
Oh, and that other important feature of sound. The Ipod has the worst sound quality in the market, and it's supposed to be a true music player.
You think the guy with the iRiver H20 is gonna buy a color photo Ipod, c'mon.
You think the guy with the PSP is gonna buy a video Ipod, c'mon.
#1, the tv shows they offer on itunes are ad free. secondly, you can convert to a playable ipod format through quicktime 7 pro like #2 stated. Thirdly, You can fast forward and go backwards via the scrollwheel. Fourthly, shouldnt you be in school right now?
>#1
>"...this makes sense as well. Apple has never been a company for the consumer, it's always been about Apple and how they can make more money."
A company for making money?!!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!
*GASP!*
I was wholly unaware of that! It's as if I were just struck by a bombshell of mistrust! I thought that Stevie was just some nice guy who wanted to give people products to see how happy they are. This has shattered my faith in the electronics industry as a whole... Next you're gonna tell me that Apple has people who own a small percentages (or "shares") of their company who will sell their "shares" if Apple does something that will affect the value of those "shares"!
WTF do you THINK?!?!?!? Apple isn't some charity, they want to make money! Does that make them bad? NO! It's their awesome products that we should judge them on, not their commitment to the bottom line, and BTW Apple is a lot more inovative than most companies in its position would be!
*
It's their awesome products that we should judge them on, not their commitment to the bottom line, and BTW Apple is a lot more inovative than most companies in its position would be!
*
HA. Awesome products? Gimme a break. They offer a good form factor, but besides that, the product is garbage. Give the Ipod to any other company and they'll squeeze out 150% from it. They'll offer WMA support, they'll make it widescreen, and improve the sound quality.
And yeah, we all know Apple is out to make money, but they can make money without royalling screwing the consumer, but then again the only people that buy Ipods are either ignorant of technology, or rich preppies who'll buy every iteration of the device.
You are the same as the tools I know at work that go around showing off your new Ipod, and spend thousands of dollars downloading from ITunes. They keep in a special case so it doesn't get scratched up, and always make sure to use the sh*tty white headphones so everyone else knows they own an Ipod. Lol.
Here is one thing that confuses me. There is another site that swears that this devices is going to change the way we watch videos (cancel that subscription to NetFlix) but I'm not sold. What kind of "TV Out" connections are on the iPod? Composite? S-Video? Component? DVI? HDMI? If its anything other than the last 3, I don't think there will be too many people using this to replace their DVD player or even HTPC. There is a place for this but I doubt its ready for the big time quite as-is. Oh I'll probably still get one but just to hold me over on my flights
Hehe, I liked that little Breakout pun in there!
Han did shoot first.
its destined to fail for maaaaaany reasons. some that havent been mentioned... it has a 2 hour battery life when watching videos, you're paying $1.99 for an advertisement (and tv shows are priced the same?), e t c.
essentially, it isnt made for watching (pirated) movies... so why bother?*
*im blatantly going to buy it
Do people like "Apple Goofed Up" have nothing better to do then be bitter about new products that they will not buy?!?!?
God, you sir are an idiot. You think you have something profound to say? If people like this product they will buy it. If they don't they won't.
Stop being so bitter, get a life, there are more important things to do then come up list to bad mouth product that:
1. You haven't seen or touched
2. You will not buy
3. Comes from a company that you do not like.
Really get a life... Please jealousy is ugly and you sir, is showing it's ugly face.
DON'T BUY ONE, IF YOU HATE IT SO MUCH. NO ONE IS ASKING YOU TO BUY ONE.
>9
I don't like the implication that I buy my music from the iTunes music store, I use soulseek. I'm a prep yes (blue argyle and all), but I knows what I likes, and what's of good quality or not. Apple is "Garbage"? I'm sorry, but that hillarious! Look at the G5 iMac! Think Creative could design something that good? Get rid of the heat dissapation issues of sticking a full size computer and a full size LCD monitor together? Use real fullsize RAM and processor? If I called up Dell and gave them that idea, they'd stick an Intel Pentium 4m in there, and some laptop RAM! Apple invests genuine interest in the quality of their products, customer service, and overall user experience. Dell's last innovation was to change their towers from white to black.
By selling these episodes immediately after broadcast, the networks are undercutting one of the grounds for claiming fair use in the recording of television shows.
One of the big factors courts look at is the effect on the market of the otherwise infringing activity to see if it qualifies as fair use.
Now, the media companies can say, the DVR that allows people to skip commercials and to "time shift" shows immediately is killing our sales in the iTunes store.
The sale of DVDs at the end was a different market and wouldn't lend itself to this kind of argument.
I guess I'm the only one who misses the wired remote
#1, your obviously the proud owner of a (videogame system with an identity crisis) PSP. As for me, I would rather watch TV on a TV, call me crazy. Though a portable video player would be cool for some stuff, like music videos, it won't be replacing my DLP set any time soon. Of course, if you want to play an old PS2 port or Lumins in between UMD movies whilst tethered to an AC adapter, power to ya.
#1, there's no fast forward because CPU isn't powerful enough to support it. You see, the format of compressed video they're using is not continuous -- there isn't a complete frame for each of those 30 frames per second. Instead, there are keyframes that have all the data, and in between only the differences from frame to frame are included. And so at any one given frame, there may not be any data. And so past key frames must be obtained, and the intervening data assembled and interpolated to generate the complete frame. That's not tough to do on a computer. But we're talking about a handheld device here, not a 2GHz G5. A little education goes a long way.
As far as the codecs supported, there already exist tools to encode video to the formats iPod video supports. Once encoded, you drag & drop the files into iTunes, and from there you can put them on your iPod. Voila, free content. This time it's a failure to think outside what we've been told on your part.
Now as to the small screen -- yep, it has a small screen. Darn. Want a bigger one, get a PSP. Of course, can you connect a PSP to your TV set for video out, like you can the iPod? Does the PSP fit in a pocket like the iPod does? Does the PSP have a 30 or 60GB hard disk for storage like the iPod does? Yes, the iPod has a small screen. But that's only because it's not a full-on video iPod. It's still very, very capable.
i love the arguments on here. my thoughts are if u were looking for an ipod originally, well now u get video, extra bonus. if u are looking for a portable video player, you will look elsewhere for obvious limitations of the new ipod. If u want music with you and don't need your whole collection as size is a concern you might go with a nano or if another player catches your eye, you might try that..
There are tons of companies out there putting out product, thats the great things about being a consumer, you can put your money where you want and competition for your dollar makes products better. thats the great thing, we the consumer usually win. Everyone has their own reasons for liking or disliking a product.
I bought a nano cause i don't need months of music at a time and like flash memory for running. I upgraded from a mpio because i needed to keep a calender with me as well and didn't want a palm.
Every product has it's tradeoffs but i'm glad to see apple keeps improving on their products as it will force others to do the same. Apple shook up the market with nano with it's controversial deal with samsung for the price of it's flash memory. Now the prices on other flash players are forced to drop their prices. Companies are trying to get together to buy memory in bulk to bring the price of their products down, can't complain there. It's also forcing some companies out of business, while some companies make good products it may not be a good thing, but it will force a lot of the poor quality players out of the market. With the absence of these companies newer ones will bring out new players with more features bringing new competition.
this release is an AUDIO PLAYER with VIDEO CAPABILITIES.
that's why they called it the iPod and not the iPod Video. that will most likely be the next generation, when the begin to offer higher resolution video downloads and movies are finally available to download through ITMS.
how do people not get this? they're not marketing it primarily as a video player.
$299 & $399 Video IPOD or XBOX360 !
HMM I just cant decide which one i ........... WAIT A MINUTE !
XBOX ALL THE WAY !! I'll wait for the inevitable Ipod sale
i wish they retained the remote control port at the top so i could use my inline remote. thats my only gripe. i bought a black one anyways.
#9 "HA. Awesome products? Gimme a break. They offer a good form factor, but besides that, the product is garbage. Give the Ipod to any other company and they'll squeeze out 150% from it. They'll offer WMA support, they'll make it widescreen, and improve the sound quality."
Yeah, they'll offer WMA support instead of support for Apple's format. Notice that the only player that can play iTMS files (the most popular downloading service in the world) is the iPod? If you don't like Apple, or the iPod, good for you. But I've had several different mp3 players, and I haven't found one I like more than my 3rd Gen 20GB iPod. If I had the money I'd buy one of these new video iPods in a heartbeat.
LOL!
Watching you idiots get mad at my comments is too funny. I'm not attacking you, heck I'm not attacking Apple or Ipod. In fact, I love Apple. I think they make great computers, and have excellent design.
I just get upset when they try to pass garbage electronics off as state of the art and feature loaded.
We all know what Apple's routine is. Introduce same product as last year but with 1 more feature. Gee, what is the difference between the first Ipod and this one, let's see:
1. Color
2. Photo
3. Video
The original Ipod was released in 2001. That's almost 5 years ago, seeing as how it'll be 2006 soon. 5 YEARS and 3 major functions.
Go ahead you guys, and stand by your Ipods. Waste your money on whatever Apple squeezes out of it's anus. Next year, who knows, you may even get the "fast forwarding" feature.
Also, Ipod don't have fast forwarding because of CPU. That's laughable. My iRiver plays Avi and does fast forwarding, it's not a "G5" supercomputer as someone previously stated.
Also, I use my PSP because I travel for my job, and it is the perfect portable machine for playing video games, videos, and old school games.
Well my PSP and 2Gb Memory Stick along with an easily available selection of UMD movies (selling hundreds of thousands worldwide) has been happily in my bag every day since January.
#9:
"WTF do you THINK?!?!?!? Apple isn't some charity, they want to make money! Does that make them bad? NO! It's their awesome products that we should judge them on, not their commitment to the bottom line, and BTW Apple is a lot more inovative than most companies in its position would be!"
Do you remember Apple's 1984 commercial? Yeah? Well whats apple doing today with its ipod?
"Do you remember Apple's 1984 commercial?"
You interpret a commercial from 20 years ago as meaning that Apple wants to be a charity for you? That they want to deliver what you dream above but nobody else can deliver? Whatever.
"Well whats apple doing today with its ipod?"
Driving several industries forward into new markets (flash memory, HD miniaturization, digital marketplaces for music, video, and podcasts). What's MS or anyone else doing? Walking away from negotiations which are too difficult because they have no leverage and nothing that ignites popular feeling.
"plays a nice game of Breakout (Whatever happened to the guys who came up with that anyway?)"
He owns Apple and announced a new iPod today :P
(Steve was the guy that, atleast, coded it to Atari back in the day when he worked there)
Reasonably speaking, it's a nice first-go for Apple. Nothing too fancy. Still..
This ain't no Zen Vision. DivX/XviD support? TiVo-to-Go? CF slot? VGA screen? FM radio? Removable battery? Large screen? Microphone? Formats? Vision wins, hands-down. When CNet (iPod lovers) reviewed the Vision, they talked about how good it sounded. And it supports fast-forwarding, even of MPEG4.
I admit, vPod wins on price-point, but I have no doubt that Creative will competitively price the Vision or increase its capacity. And for screen size, I would rather watch a movie on a larger screen (I'd sacrifice a little protablity for a PVP).
I also noticed that the looks more like the iPod Nano, with the flat edge on the front (rather than the curved edged of previous generation iPods). Be prepared for a lot of complaints about nicks and scratches. It's inevitable.
"Sony PSP will reign king of video media when the new Datel 4 GB HDD + Battery Pack comes out."
LOL... you really have NO idea what you are talking about! Do you realize the Datel pack costs almost $263 US Dollars? That's already $14 dollars MORE than the cost of a PSP alone. These won't sell like the hotcakes you predicted. Next time go "do the math" before posting...
I'm not buying now... .two reasons:
1) Screen MUST BE BIGGER!
2) I wanna see how scratched up this thing can get. It looks even flimsier then the nano. My 3G 10GB iPod has lasted me 2 years.
The nano lasted my friends 2 weeks.
So yeah, I'm gonna wait it out... for now.
Wait a tick, there is no "fast forwarding"? pleas e tell me that is a joke. If that's true, then that makes me feel better about getting the Nano.
One of the SADDEST days for a Mac pioneer and long-time customer. The video iPod marks the seeming "death" of FireWire sync connection (which started with the iPod Nano).
When I saw the Nano, I wanted it, until I saw that it won't sync with FireWire. Thinking that this is because it had to be so slim and therefore lose the FireWire circuitry, I left it as that.
Now the new video iPod, which is far bigger in dimensions, also does NOT have FireWire. Many of the Mac users are still having good performing Macs with only USB 1.1, and FireWire 400. I use my iPod 3rd-gen to sync with FireWire, primarily as a hard disk for work, and only serving a secondary purpose as a music player.
This is a sad day indeed. Apple has forsaken its real long-time customers. There are MANY USB 2/1.1 video and audio players out there. Apple stood out because it had both USB and FireWire sync capability. Now it is just a pretty casing.
Guess I may have to go right back to purchasing FireWire hard disks, when my FireWire-capable iPod 3G dies.
You gotta love the usual haters. Just sit back and watch Apple gain more marketshare. Blah, blah, blah ... according to all the haters, the ipod was doomed for failure years ago. Keep hating.
Let's get a collection going for #37. He needs to get a $15 USB 2.0 card or PC card for his outdated Mac. Please, help a geek.
Well all I can say here, since I really have no interest in this "video ipod" (proud owner of ipod photo and PSP) is now maybe this will get Sony off of their bums, and come up with a design similar to this for PSP. Hopefully this will create a price war.
Warning: Gadget Saturation Reached!
Why do I suddenly feel the urge to cast away all these rechargeable gizmos and curl up by the fireplace with a good book and truly expand my horizons...
When are they going to start making this thing more like a pda? They still got some of that newton code?
Addressing a bit of confusion:
- There's no "real time" fast forwarding. But, you can scroll through a progress bar to whatever point of the video you want.
- DivX/XviD is a bitch to support because there's 50 flavours of it, and nobody encodes things the same way. I have a DVD player that supports DivX, and half the stuff I have won't play on it. AVC/H.624 is a set *standard*, like MP3 or AAC.
They should have came out with this when they pushed the Photo out. Honestly, how many times do you really need to show that photo without a camera, computer, or the actual photo...
Same thing here with all the people who likes to watch music videos... Gimme a break, do you really have that urge to watch music videos? TV shows and movies are harder since the battery life for them are so crappy...
Gimme more battery life for thickness.
Ok, so all I want to know is, when can I get Star Trek on this thing? Seriously.
this is not the vPod or iPod Video. It's an iPod. it only happens to play video. that is not its main function.
43) they did give more battery life with a much smaller thickness.
#31, I think the Woz did alot more actual coding work for Atari then Jobs did.
OK people you seem to not realize that the video
in the new ipod is only a Bonus feature and not really the main focus of apple at the moment therefore its really not intended or created(designed)to be seen as a true Portable Video player thats why they didnt make it 16:9 ratio the screen longer. because right now Apples Focus when it comes to ipod is mainly still music
if video/t.v shows on itunes sell well maybe then apple will create a better appropriate video player.For the time being its only sorta a test right now for apple
Hmmm.....yet another product my friends will buy love at first and then hate after they realize the limitations.
The Ipods aren't bad products per say, but they are not worth the money Apple is charging for them. They seem to be charging more for the IPod brand and the style of the player than charging for the amount of technology you get for your money.
If each version of the player was even just $50 cheaper it may seem worth it but Apple's poor battery life(the actual battery life when used, not the one they claim on their site...most companies over claim on this), fragile construction(easily scratched and in some cases broken), and limited feature set(lack of other popular codecs, no line-in recording, no FM radio, no voice recording, etc.) make it seem very overpriced at te price point they sell their units at.
It's not a bad product but this is another case of over-priced and underpowered.
Apple better realize this before someone else who does have a more featured product at a better price is able to pull off the type of great marketing that made the IPod line successful. Current two wanting to do this are Sony and Creative Labs. Both have the money to do it, especially Sony, but they have yet to get the proper marketing that will make their product the new "trend" or "craze" or "must have".
"Conclusion: Sony PSP will reign king of video media when the new Datel 4 GB HDD .... AVI support through homebrew, YAY."
To poster #1 (AppleGoofedUp): what makes you think people wont hack the new iPod?? comparing something hacked, to something unreleased really undermines your points lol. Also, I have a PSP and like it, but it isn't a device for making a new business model. OK, they are selling UMDs which have done very well. But, I really think the future for business of this sort is in online distributed content.
I'm not sure what makes you think they need ads in it either lol. Think about music. Radio needs ads for certain reasons (look at their business models and you will see why). TV needs ads for certain reasons. It does not follow at all that online distributed TV needs ads (and it doesnt make any sense why it would HAVE to, maybe they choose to like some websites CHOOSE to put up ads and others do not).
Also your other post has the same sort of um ... confusing logic. You say it can't fast forward? what lol ? cpus? dude, you have no idea about half of what you're talking about (at least that's how you come off). In my opinion I think people should look at the price point on this, isn't it a good deal for a hd MUSIC player?
#26
What other features do you need? Don't give me the regular FM radio, gapless, WMA, and recording B.S. People buy mp3 players so they don't have to listen to the radio. I dare you to ask a regular iPod user what gapless playback is or if they need WMA support. And if you really need to record things, you can always buy the recorder. So, what great innovations do you have for the next iPod?