Tuesday, October 18, 2005

New video iPod.... who cares?


I'm sure everyone knows about the new video ipods about to be released. Well, if you look closely, Apple is just trying to catch up with the other brands.

"Witness the evolution of the revolution. First it played songs. Then photos. Then podcasts. Now iPod plays video, changing the way you experience your music and more. " (from www.apple.com/ipod)

Ok so it plays videos, thats great. But in true Apple style it will only play those video files purchased from the new itunes video store. Apple have already turned down numerous requests to make ipods compatible with music files other than MP3, I can see the same happening here with video files.

Steve Jobs (bigshot Apple boss) said in a recent press release that never before have consumers been able to buy episodes of their favourite TV shows the moment they are broadcast. Now they can take those shows with them on their Ipods.......

Hmmmmm... this really is a new thing: paying for downloaded TV shows. I know within the internet Bit-Torrent and filesharing communities, downloading TV shows has proven to be more popular than actually watching TV. What makes him think people will start paying for files they have been able to get for free?..

However, I think the sales will prove me wrong as I am probably right in saying that most Ipod owners are usually not hacker types. In fact, many Ipod owners have legal music on their Ipods!

Ipods have outlived their life as a tech-gadget for audiophiles and connoisseurs. They are now a mass produced, mass consumed fashion accessory. Those that do the research will find that for the same money, they can do better than an Ipod (see -recent fiasco with Nano cracked screens, endless complaints about batteries dying, etc..)

Iriver players were the first to feature a colour screen capable of displaying photos. The top model also features video playback in AVI and MPEG4 formats. This means you can watch your... uhh... illegally downloaded video files, and I believe it is also possible to watch DivX files (popular format for illegally ripped movies).

There are other players available also, Ipods are not the be all and end all. They are popular because of clever marketing and a solid history in the market. Apple used to be the company that everyone else copied off (Windows 95 was a direct rip-off of Mac OS) now they seem to be copying off everyone else.

Sorry if I have offended any of you Ipod lovers out their (I know there are a lot of you!) I have worked in Noel Leeming since they were first released and have watched them go from geek chic to "the worlds smallest form of penis compensation" (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ipod). Seriously, there are better players out there (see my next post for a review of the new Toshiba Gigabeat). Just think seriouslyabout it before you buy an Ipod.

John: My iPod just broke.
Jane: What did you do to it?
John: I turned it on.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ipod&page=2

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