Filed under: iPod Family, Video
Get your iPod preloaded with video
After converting a couple of DVDs into iPod-ready files, I've realized that it isn't exactly a speedy process. How nice would it be to say, "Ok, I'll take a new iPod with Revenge of the Sith, episodes 1-5 of Family Guy and the extended pilot of Arrested Development already installed?" TVMyPod lets you do just that.Here's the deal: You purchase a new iPod as well as a few DVDs (come on, the holidays are coming, you were going to buy DVDs anyway). The worker bees at TVMyPod then convert and load those videos onto the iPod, pack it all back up (DVDs included) and ship the whole thing out to you. When it arrives, the video is ready to go. They suggest a order date of November 25th to guarantee Christmas delivery.
Sounds like a cool way to give a gift. Did I mention that I'd like one of these?
[Via MacDailyNews]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brian said 2:41PM on 11-21-2005
Sounds like a video version of http://www.loadpod.com/ . Has anyone ever heard of someone who actually used a service like this?
That said, I wish I had thought of this. Imagine the media collection you could have!
Reply
mcwazza said 2:47PM on 11-21-2005
Won't you just lose all the files when you update the iPod with your own personal computer? Or am I missing something?
Reply
David C. said 3:16PM on 11-21-2005
now that's just lazy
Reply
Eric said 3:44PM on 11-21-2005
Exactly as mcwazza said... Last time I checked, when you plug your iPod into your computer it will ask you to sync with "Your library" ... Most people would not know how to say "No", then copy the videos off, then import them into iTunes, then say "yes" and put them back on the iPod.
These services have always existed but were for CDs -> iPod before of course... I always thought of them as scams because they get to create gigantic (*and illegal*) digital libraries of everyone else's music while getting paid to do it!
You'll never convince me that they aren't keeping a copy of every CD/DVD you are giving them!
Eric
Reply
Samuel McConnell said 4:14PM on 11-21-2005
Oh, besides the fact that it's illegal, due to the DMCA. Basing your company on an illegal activity is not a great business continuity strategy.
Reply
Navypoo said 4:17PM on 11-21-2005
Oh, one little aspect that's not mentioned... This is totally illegal. Even if you *own* the original DVDs, ripping discs requires you to crack DSS. And cracking DSS is illegal under the DMCA.
Reply
Kai Cherry said 4:34PM on 11-21-2005
If you set the iPod to *not* automatically manage your files, you can plug it into multiple computers without gettting the wipe warning.
Reply
Kai Cherry said 4:36PM on 11-21-2005
If you play a dvd and capture the output...you aren't "cracking" (hooboy) CSS...now are you?
Reply
david said 2:01AM on 11-22-2005
Yes, it's illegal. Doing anything to circumvent the copy protection, including the analog hole, is illegal.
Never mind that the DMCA violates the fair use provisions of Title 17 ( aka - copyright law ). But the law is the law.
support the EFF if you have a problem with lawmakers telling y ou how you can use the content you legally purchased.
http://www.eff.org/
Reply
Bill Palmer said 10:22PM on 11-22-2005
Looks like you all have managed to correctly surmise that this new DVD loading service is illegal by virtue of the fact that circumventing DRM is a violation of the DMCA, and that they'll be shut down just as soon as a movie studio gets word of them.
But since you brought up LoadPod, I thought I'd take the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions about our industry. I can't speak for any of the "mom's basement" one-city knockoffs that have sprung up in an attempt to copycat us, but when it comes to the real LoadPod:
1) I always get a kick of out the bizarre assertion that we put together an entire nationwide company just to we could stockpile someone's collection of Boy George CDs. Aside from the fact that it would be illegal, we'd be spending untold sums of money on terabyte upon terabyte of storage drives just to hold all the music we were stealing. We'd be losing money...and we'd be doing so just so we could stockpile millions of mostly crappy songs. The whole notion is laughably absurd. The kicker, of course, is that if we really were that unscrupulous, why wouldn't we just use a pirate network to steal all the music, instead of going through the whole trouble of setting up an entire nationwide company and only ending up with other people's music at random?
2) Anytime someone in the peanut gallery makes a statement along the lines of "You'll never convince me that they aren't keeping a copy of every CD you are giving them," I always figure the person making the comment is precisely the type of individual that WOULD be stupid enough to set up an entire nationwide company just so they could keep copies of customers' crappy music. Small enough mind that they think the purpose of being in business is not to make money, but instead simply to get ahold of someone's copy of ABBA's Greatest Hits. There's certainly nothing that anyone like me can say or do to change the mind of a person like that, but that's not our problem. We do feel it's important, though, that the rest of you laugh at such clowns and make fun of them ad nauseum.
3) We load the music onto the customer's iPod as data files so that when we return it to the customer, we can load the music into iTunes on the customer's iPod and then re-sync the whole thing, leaving them just the same as if they had used their own computer and done it themselves (auto-sync fully intact). We would NEVER leave the customer with an iPod that they couldn't auto-sync unless they specifically asked us to do so (some people don't own a computer, like to live dangerously, etc). Again, I can' t vouch for how some of these little knockoff services might be doing things (especially those silly mail-in services), but when it comes to the real LoadPod, we know exactly what we're doing.
Reply