#46-If Apple adapted your nuclear option they would face a lawsuit from the movie industry that would threaten the life of the company. Not going to happen.
The real story here is that somehow Apple failed in their negotiations with the studios, otherwise, they would have been first to announce downloadable movies on iTunes. This is not good news for a video iPod anytime soon.

A lot of folks don't care about the cost, they just want the convenience. Going out and buying a CD and ripping it has always been an option for iTunes users, yet millions have bought complete CD albums of their favorite artists on iTunes.
Something seems very odd about the timing of this announcement on the very day that Steve should have announced the true video iPod with legal downloadable movie content available on iTunes. Instead, OSX is completely and utterly locked out.

Downloads require IE...all OSX computers are locked out.
Better install XP on your mac intels, guys...

What is the format (H.264, WMV9 or ..)? What is bitrate and resolution?

From what I have been able to determine, the software is not mac compatible nor can the downloads be transfered to a video iPod. However, they CAN be played on a UMPC because, of course, a UMPC has a full blown operating system.
This is a legal way to obtain media content and it is interesting the studios bypassed iTunes entirely.

I was an engineering student when the first mac came out...we were impressed by frogger but there were no engineering applications available for the mac and so we stuck to our pc clones.
Now, the same situation exists, no engineering software to speak of available for OSX. There are thousands of vertical markets that OSX will never serve, they can't get the marketshare to lure developers to the platform. That's why even the apple fan boys here are more than likely using Windows at work. That is, the fan boys here that work...I suspect most Apple fan boys here on Engadget are still in middle school or high school.
Maybe Apple has a future in consumer devices, but I don't see them gaining much ground with computers. Apple had a 2.3% world marketshare in 2005 as reported by the two companies that track marketshare.

I agree with Erick...the umpc could be a big hit, first in Asia and then in the USA (the reverse of the usual pattern). Who knows what Apple will do, they are far behind in this catagory.

Does it have a DCDi Faroudja chip? Important for picture quality.

Ryan, what are the qualifications of Engadget staff? Degrees? Journalism school? Maybe R&D experience at a major electronics manufacturer? Computer hardware/software development, design, engineering? What are your qualifications to discuss appropriate prices? Manufacturing experience or management experience with an electronics manufacturer?

Just curious...

I have an iPod and I like it...will that get me back to zero star status?
:)