Apple still says ‘No Video iPod’
Stan “I like to rain on your parade” Ng, director of iPod marketing worldwide, told
The Australian that there are
no plans for a video iPod in the near future. This is a break from Apple’s ‘we don’t discuss future products with
anyone, especially not you, punk,’ stance, so I take it they are pretty serious about it.
Mr Ng said, “There is no legal way today of taking a DVD and making it viewable on a portable device. There are issues
with video, and no infrastructure for acquiring that content. For a player with a 3 1/2-inch screen, you have to wonder
if it would be worthwhile. You can’t watch video while you’re jogging or mountain biking.”
His Steveness has said loudly and often that he doesn’t think that anyone is interested in watching video on a tiny
screen. Creative Labs, and several other gadget makers, disagree and are aggressively
marketing their portable media centers.
I’m with Apple here, until they iron out the copyright issues here video on an iPod like device doesn’t make sense, not
to mention the very small screens make it a drag to watch letter boxed content.
Am I wrong? Are you anxiously awaiting a video iPod?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack Beckman said 12:47AM on 7-09-2005
No interest in a video iPod whatsoever. Portable music works for me. Portable movies - not on that tiny screen! Even a slightly larger screen is worthless. I have a portable TV with a 2" screen. It's not something I can watch for more than a few minutes.
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barb dybwad said 4:41PM on 10-07-2005
Couple of things:
1) People tend to overlook the fact that, if the iPod had an S-video out, you wouldn't have to watch the video on that tiny screen. You could just hook it up to any TV (if it's an older TV that doesn't have an S-video connector, you can still use an RF inverter) and away you go. We are looking at 80GB iPods coming down the pike, and storage per square inch is only going to increase to the point where it makes more sense to carry around your movie/video collection on a portable device than to cart around a wallet full of DVDs.
The copyright issues we're facing with video now are no different from what we went through, and are still going through, with audio. The motion picture industry is simply at the beginning stages of their freak out about it, whereas the RIAA is much farther along. It's only a matter of time.
The thing is, these big corporations are treating the ridiculous ease of duplication, storage and transmission of digital content vis a vis analog content as a *negative* feature. Anyone who can put two brain cells together can quickly surmise that it's not a negative thing at all - in fact, it's a revolutionary thing that promises untold benefits to society. It merely happens to be *negative* when viewed through the lens of the current, analog, antiquarian business models of the established order. There's only so much big business can do to delay the inevitable proliferation of digital content, and the decentralization of control over whose messages get to hold sway in society. Broadcast media is losing value while interactive media steadily gains value.
Okay, so that was the long version - the short version is, it's only a matter of time til we see a video iPod.
2) Has everyone forgotten that Steve Jobs said something to the effect of "Apple will release a flash-based MP3 player over my cold dead body" not that long ago?? :)
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Grailquester said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
I don't think the video iPod is going to be around for quite some time, if at all. Mainly because:
1. Copyright issues. Not insurmountable (look at iTunes Music Store), however, pretty large (Apple had to put effort into creating the AAC audio encoding format to *help* ensure copyright protection to record companies and artists). In order to do that with video they'd basically need to put R&D into the same, not to mention create copyright breaking code. Remember, 99.999% of all digital media (such as a DVD/VCD) is encoded with copy-protection, so in order to transpose or move that media from one platform to another (for 99% of "pop culture" who would have this thing - remember, lowest common denominator here), they'd have to break copyright, copy the DVD/media and then re-copy-protect it. A lot of troublesomeness there, I would imagine.
2. Apple's pretty good at innovating, finding new niches and marketing to them. Given their penchant for innovation, design and coming up with cool new toys and gizmos, I would think that if the iPod Movie Player were something they were *really* interested in doing, they'd have either created one already or would be (well-publicized) on the way. Especially with the momentum they have going, the hype would only help.
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nole said 9:29PM on 7-07-2005
(1) wouldn't be interested in seeing movies on an ipod screen. the epson screen would be nice.
(2) and yes the fact that there is no legal way to simple copy dvd into a device is problem for mainstream.
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Jack said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Two words for everyone. Sony Watchman. While the Sony Walkman allowed people to listen to music while outdoors, the Watchman never was popular in any way. The main people I know who use them are sports nuts and the occassional late-shift worker. But that's it.
Transfer that to the iPod. The iPod took the concept of the Walkman to the next level. It expanded on the idea and adapted modern technology to an existing need. Video iPod? Sure all the h@x0rz people think the idea is cool, but I have yet to meet anyone who owns any portable video device. Creative Labs should not be a benchmark. They seem to pump out any combination of anything that might seem neat... Then drop the product a year or so later. Pure schlock from them.
The next big step is simple adding PVR/DVR abilities to the existing Mac line. And the Mac Mini is screaming for that. People watch video sitting on their butts. People listen to music moving around for the most part. A Video iPod is not wanted or needed.
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Oliver said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
- I can watch mpeg4/3gp video on my mobile phone.
- I have uploaded an entire Simpsons episode to my phone.
- I have never watched more than 5 minutes of the episode because the experience is appalling.
Simple, really.
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danb said 9:21AM on 6-24-2005
Surely it is the next logical step in the ipod saga?
With the 80GB ipod not to far round the corner, and most 'normal' ipodders stuggling to fill their 20GB drives it would seem that video is precisely what the ipod needs.
while i agree that watching anything more than two minutes of video on a portable device is hell the real benefits would be the ability to output to your tv. Imagine walking round with 15+ high quality movies in your back pocket and being able to play them when ever you bump into a tv. While the ipod photo is nice, its feels like a bit of a transition gadget; before they hit us with the real deal, and the video out was just teasing us.
I agree it may be a while until we see and iMovies online store to rival iTunes but give it time.
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Sam Dunn said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
I wouldn't be happy to see tiny screen. It's not good enough for me to read !@#$ subtitle. Portable DVD player is fair enough to see subtitle in about right size to make read-able.
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nat said 1:47PM on 9-05-2005
I'm not an expert in business and all that but from my point of view it's not hard to get the impression that the music/video industries (less so for music) are old fashioned and just dumb! , apparently blind to the fact that either the update their business model to take advantage of new technology in a way that suits consumers (rather than pushing for ugly laws to prop up their current business model) or people will do what they want anyway and from there it gets messy.
I think the ipod as a portable personal media center (with the ability to interface with any home entertainment system) could be quite a hit. And as far as the associated engineering challenge, apple already have the hard stuff worked out, from updating iMovie, Quicktime, iChat et al to HD video and the whole iTMS enterprise and apparently quite cosy relationship going on between Apple and sony (iTunes Movie Store?) and the fact that they already have a 60GB ipod out with a color screen... I think you get my drift.
The iPod photo can already interface with a TV and show JPEGs... why not at least MPEGs?
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