So: It's A Video iPod. Sweet!
by - October 13th, 2005
Okey-doke...so it is indeed a video-studly iPod. Inneresting. I don't have mine yet -- and I haven't even had my Apple briefing -- so I can't say yet whether or not this is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. If its video features have been implemented as sensibly and reasonably as the iPod's audio features, then a Good Thing is a distinct possibility. Still, I refuse to drop the gun and come out of the house with my hands in the air until I know everything's all right.
See, where a video iPod is concerned I've always been worried about that Purple Cloud of Insanity. It hovers in the super-stratosphere and every time it drifts down to sea level, it causes Humanity to do stupid and bizarre things. Ricky Martin was once a pop superstar. In any major city, there are no shortage of places where you can hand a total stranger $100 and they'll cheerfully stick pieces of metal through your nipples, expecting you to thank them for the service. Know the Cloud; fear the Cloud.
My fear is that the Purple Cloud will work its way into Apple's ventilation system and then all of a sudden, a hitherto reasonable product manager will find him or herself sending an email to all personnel, stressing that is just makes no sense to allow iPod users to install their own video content. Not when Apple can force them to pay up every time they want to see something new, for crying out loud! Remember, this is the company that once put their logo on a video game console and a windsurfer; Apple is no stranger to the Purple Cloud. And in the Bay Area and the Valley, the Purple Cloud is so firmly entrenched that it's received its third influx of venture capital and sixth change in management.
Over the past week or two I've been waffling mightily about the chances for a video iPod. I knew it was coming, but I would have bet money that the iTunes Video Store would have preceded it by at least a few months. The Music Store opened with a quarter-million titles. A mere fraction of its current stock, to be sure, but it was more than enough to light some butts on fire. Compare and contrast this with the Video Store. From my perspective, it contains music videos (which I can't be bothered to watch...even the ones by bands I like), a couple of Disney Channel shows (my juvenile tastes run more towards the Cartoon Network, thank you), "Desperate Housewives" (which I hate), and "Lost."
I love "Lost" -- and friends, does it now make sense that the most important prop of Season Two is an Apple II? -- but I'm avoiding it. It's the same problem I faced ten years ago with "Babylon 5": too many friends whose taste are highly trustworthy are emphatically recommending it, and the two episodes I've seen are way too good. If I stop watching it before I get hooked, I won't need to clear another hour from my weekly schedule.
My hopes are high that "The West Wing" will start tanking again after the election, thus freeing up a slot for "Lost". But until then, there's just nothing in Apple's premiere slate of video content that interests me in the slightest. Can Apple afford to make enough deals -- each one a true landmark -- and broaden Video Store content enough to appeal to such a bizarre and diverse tribe of mammals as the iPod Customer Base?
All of that might be totally irrelevant. If iTunes and the iPod don't care where a QuickTime file comes from so long as it's within the video and audio formats called out in the product specs, Apple has a winner in this latest-generation iPod. I've got a hard drive full of QuickTime movies and TV shows that I've ripped from DVDs and recorded with EyeTV, and the prospect of moving them onto an iPod with a simple clicky-clicky is making my fingers twitch.
And I'm optimistic. One of the smartest things the company ever did was to put a sticker on the screen of every new iPod, politely asking the user not to steal music. It demonstrated a subtle but brilliant understanding of both the digital music market and what a digital music player would need to do in order to make history.
The Understanding comes down to this: You can't prevent music piracy from happening. If you work in the music industry, please read that line again. No amount of technology or lawyers or lawmaking will prevent dishonest people from acquiring music illegally. You can pretend that it will, but in truth, all you're going to do is prevent honest people from exercising their rights as consumers. You can also pretend that consumers will be happy to keep re-purchasing and repurchasing and repurchasing content that they already own, just because they're all terribly offended that the company can't afford to keep your breakroom stocked with complimentary snacks and beverages.
I mean, feel free. But when the Purple Cloud ultimately dissipates, you'll realize that all of your potential customers gave their money to a company and a product with a firmer grasp on reality instead.
All of this worrying is irrelevant for another reason, though: there really is no "Video iPod." There are just...iPods. Essentially, every iPod purchaser gets the video features for free, which, I am now bitterly forced to admit, was the only scenario under which I've said that a pay-for-all-content video feature was even remotely permissible. It's offensive to give a company $300 for a device when that outlay of cash is just the down payment on a lifelong money hole.
That's absolutely not the case here. Even in the worst-case scenario, iPod owners are free to ignore that the video capability exists, and simply enjoy the fact that they can view far greater acreages of photos and track info at once. Sweet.
Over the past two hours, I have mercilessly interrogated all of my friends in the Guild of Macintosh Punditry, and determined that none of them have had any experience with these new iPods that go beyond a few minutes of fondle-time at the rollout event. So obviously, everyone's still eager to take an iPod out of the barn and see what it can do. I'm just glad that Apple staged the rollout in such a way that even now, hours after the thing's been released, I can still get just one more column of video iPod speculation into play. Surely this will leave me in a positive frame of mind when the time comes to review it in print and on TV.
Clever people, those Apple folks.
digs the Mac, and has been writing about the Mac for longer than most of us could tell the difference between a bite of Apple Sauce from a byte of Apple code. You can read his monthly column at Macworld magazine, and his blog at the Colossal Waste of Bandwidth.
Andy's latest book is The Mac OS X Tiger Book (US$16.49 - Amazon).
You can send your comments directly to Andy, or you can also post your comments below.
Most Recent Columns From Andy Ihnatko
- You Can't Spell 'Speculate' without 'Peas' - February 22nd
- So: It's A Video iPod. Sweet! - October 13th
- How to Stuff a Wild iPod - October 13th
Andy Ihnatko's Archives
Observer Comments
Thu Oct 13, 2005 1:28 pm Subject: I understand you *can* watch your own stuff
The form factor on this is still wrong. The screen is too small. The replay on a tv is too grainy given the very small resolution. Wasn't H264/Pixlet supposed to allow higher quality very small files?
In other words Apple is not there yet with this. it needs a separate model to be the Video iPod rather than an iPod that plays video. something like the size of the Nokia 770 with it's 640x480 resolution, with a hard drive and enough batter life.
FYI, sites such as http://www.Cinematology.com are launching soon and banking on being able to play NON-iTunes video on the new video iPod. They will offer AVC/H.264 MP4 video downloads that are DRM-Free, to boot!
Doesn't it make sense that you should be able to rip, mix and burn video content just as well as audio content?
I bought the DVD - I should be able to watch it on my iPod. Similarly, I bought the videos, so I should be able to burn a custom sequence of them to DVD, right?
Apple believes in media portability for audio, and they should do the same thing for video.
Quote(my juvenile tastes run more towards the Cartoon Network, thank you),
Imgine if they hooked up with CN and started selling series by the episode. I'd pay $1.99 for particular shows. Ed, Edd, N' Eddy has had a couple of good ones. There's a couple of hysterical Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy that I wouldn't mind having (Billys Shop of horrors comes to mind). There's a lot of shows that have one or two great episodes. Then of course imagine if they started selling Adult Swim series by the show. I've already got Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex on my wish list. Cowboy Beebop and several others are almost there already. Hey, they are already hooked up with Disney. I'd love it if they started selling Dave the Barbarian, there's no place else you can get it, and there were a few of those that were great.
This might be a good way to ease into the Video sales market. $1.99 for 11 minutes of animation (or 22 if it's a long one). I'd pay it for particular cartoons. Might be easier than jumping into the deep end of the pool with movies and right now I'm not even slightly interested in any of the things they have, including Lost.
I would buy and watch the new "The Batman" cartoon in an instant. Plus, iTunes 6 takes video other than the native resolution of the iPod. Steve also mentioned that the iPod converts video on the fly. I wonder if larger res video gets converted for the iPod's screen, but left intact for the TV connect. Here's hopping…
Soon we'll be paying to download Diane Sawyer thanking us for "counting on ABC news".
Why not just get a portable DVD player with a far bigger and better screen for watching those movies, record "Lost" on a VCR and leave the iPod to what it does best, which is to play music.
The 320 by 240 resolution is pretty bad quality.
"Why not just get a portable DVD player with a far bigger and better screen for watching those movies, record "Lost" on a VCR and leave the iPod to what it does best, which is to play music. "
Because portable DVD players are alot bigger than pocket-sized, clunkier, more fragile, and require a person to haul around actual DVDs? Because your scenario means that a person couldn't watch Lost on-the-go, which sort of defeats the entire purpose?
What better test of the concept than to sign up the 2 most popular shows on the planet? No better way to reach critical mass quickly: if the other networks/ content providers see that ABC/ Disney make money hand over fist, and in the blink of an eye, then they will be wetting themselves to get on board. Remember, it costs them next to nothing to put the content up there, and nothing at all in terms of hard goods. It's all gravy.
I think the market will be biggest for the "day after" downloads, rather than waiting 6 months for the DVDs to come out.
We shall see.
By the way, the "video iPod" is just the beginning, and the tip of an iceberg. That iMac remote will supposedly work with things to come...
The Video iPod is a perfect device to load up all those little "movies" you take with your digital camera..... 30 seconds of junior spitting up, 20 seconds of the kidlet's school play or recital. Then you pull it out and say, "hey, check this out..." and start showing off the kids or the garden or the new boat....
When a product is licensed for a new distribution channel, the creators have to be included in the royalties. This is a whole new concept, the individual episode sale system. I wonder how the director, writer(s), and actors in each episode are going to be compensated? These shows aren't entirely ABC's (Disney's) to decide what to do with.
Normally, when a series is sold into syndication, creators and others who have creative/ownership stake in the product agree to a one-time payment, although sometimes they're still paid for each airing. When shows are sold in DVD compilations, there is also a plan worked out (again, usually a flat fee, but sometimes a percentage.) But now we're talking about individual downloads. And I haven't heard anything from the industry side of things.
Very curious to see how this shakes out.
dak
If I want to watch Independent World Television or Amy Goodman on www.democracynow.org I assume that would still be free, correct? Free content would still be free content under the new scheme, right? I hope it is not like satellite "radio" where you have to pay for a signal. Before I buy I will definately be asking those questions. Otherwise... I want it.
Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:43 am Subject: Re: Don't think just DVD and TV shows
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
The Video iPod is a perfect device to load up all those little "movies" you take with your digital camera..... 30 seconds of junior spitting up, 20 seconds of the kidlet's school play or recital. Then you pull it out and say, "hey, check this out..." and start showing off the kids or the garden or the new boat....
Oh, #$!!@*&
and I thought still pictures of peoples kids were boring.
Quotegeoduck wrote:QuoteAnonymous wrote:
The Video iPod is a perfect device to load up all those little "movies" you take with your digital camera..... 30 seconds of junior spitting up, 20 seconds of the kidlet's school play or recital. Then you pull it out and say, "hey, check this out..." and start showing off the kids or the garden or the new boat....
Oh, #$!!@*&
and I thought still pictures of peoples kids were boring.
You have a point... but new parents and grandparents are probably responsible for a lot of camera and video camera sales. A portable video viewer is the next logical step.
Even if it does make you bored.
It will clearly support non-DRM video:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/creatingvideo.html
At the bottom of the page is this notes:
*************************
By following the steps in this tutorial, QuickTime 7 Pro will automatically create an .m4v file containing H.264 video and AAC audio that is optimized for iPod. iPod can play the following video formats:
* H.264 video
File formats: .m4v, .mp4 and .mov
Video: Up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio
* MPEG-4 video
File formats: .m4v, .mp4 and .mov
Video: Up to 2.5 Mbps, 480 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile
Audio: AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 KHz, stereo audio
*************************
So it will do 320x240 video up to 786kbs. 480x480 MPEG4 video up 2.5mbs. 480x480 is half DVD resolution (same resuolution used by DirecTV and some cable providers for non-HD content).
So it's a start. No word on what happens to 16:9 encoded media. Although some tools will let you "letterbox" 16:9 media into a 4:3 320x480 image. I assume that at 3rd party DVD to IPOD tool will soon emerge! (The tools already exist. Somebody will "wizardize" them).
Don't even have an iPod yet, but *when* it is the only way to get Pinky..."Are you thinking what I'am thinking" and the Brain..."Same thing we always do, Pinky, try to take over the world"...thats when an iPod goes on the Christmas list. Course, what I have wanted from the get go was the ability to make good quality stereo recordings.... PLEASE!
<http://automator.us/downloads.html#1012>
Export for iPod v1.0
This action uses the QuickTime Player application to export an "iPod-ready" version of the movie files passed from the previous action. The name of an exported file is based on the name of its source file. This action requires QuickTime Pro 7.0.3 or higher and accepts ".mov" and ".dv" files as source. Options exist for exporting the files to the same directory as the source files and for replacing any existing files with the same name. Additionally, source files can be deleted after export. Includes project files.
Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:08 pm Subject: Ahh, the good ol' days
This article reminds me of the good ol' days of printed tech news, when every article published was guaranteed to be hopelessly outdated by the time it reached anyone's eyes. It's been so long. So, so long. *sniff*
All kidding aside (I actually do appreciate reading articles that weren't written, edited and published over the course of an hour or so), the "missing pieces" are all quite well-known now. For those who don't know:
• You can load up your own movies.
• You can NOT load up any QuickTime movie.
• The movies need to be regular mp4s, using either H.264 or regular MPEG4 video.
• Supported resolutions are only up to 320x240 for H.264, or up to 480x480 for MPEG4 (I assume aspect ratio adjustments would be done in that case, but I don't know).
So don't think you'll be able to take your DVDs with you on the go. It would require a lengthy (and possibly illegal) conversion, and the video quality you'd get would be similar to an SVCD. That is to say, better than VHS, and significantly worse than DVD. Definitely worse than anyone in their right mind would want to encode for anything other than web streaming. Bummer.
Personally, I think the quality of the videos on the iTMS is perfectly watchable, but I simply expect (and demand) better from commercial content. If they were SD (640x480), I probably would have already bought all of Lost (which I've never even seen and am not otherwise interested in).
I just received my new iPod video, custom engraved, black 60gb...waited for a while, tracked it thru fedex, from shanghai, to alaska, to vancouver, but finally its here, and its more amazing then i imagined, and i have actually got the process of converting my dvds onto the iPod and its a thing of beauty my friends...once you got mac, u never go back...zack, canada
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