Video iPod Oct 12? 471
Petey_Alchemist writes "Apple Insider is reporting that Apple will release a video iPod on October 12th, possibly in conjunction with the announcement of Apple's fourth quarter results.
From the article 'Although details are scarce, sources who claim to have seen the new iPod describe it as being similar to Apple's 60GB iPod photo player, but several millimeters thinner.
The device reportedly sports a smaller click-wheel akin to that of the iPod nano's, making way for a larger, higher-resolution color display that extends further down the face of the device.' "
it's all just rumor... (Score:4, Informative)
in a week we'll all know!
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:3, Informative)
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=AAPL [yahoo.com]
Fiscal Year Ends: 25-Sep
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:2, Informative)
actually the quarterly report is the day before (Score:3, Informative)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Insightful)
The "AirPort Express" device is probably not for the iPod, but rather like the Express, a video-out system for Macs, allowing you to play your movies to your TV without having them near each other... Hasn't this constantly been the intention of Apple - the "digital hub" without all the wires?
I wonder if/hope it will support a remote control, so you can control your on-computer content in the other room from the TV.
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Insightful)
personally, i think it's going to be the rebranding of the itms from 'itunes music store' to the new media store.
they'll sell movies, etc. no new device for watching on tv yet. no new video ipod yet. you need a base of people who use the service that really WANT a remote way to move their media around first. how many people (outside the slashdot community) would even HAVE movies to put on an vipod now?
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think a previous post I've made still applies to this situation, and I'll reiterate the key points: Every time Apple hints they are about to make an announcement, the media always tells the public that it is undoubtedly going to be a video iPod.. And every single time they have been wrong. Does this mean that this announcement is not a video iPod? No. I merely point out that screaming "OMG TEH VIDEO IPOD IS HERE!" every time apple prepares for an announcement is stupid.
Widescreen iBooks (Score:2, Informative)
Thinksecret is contradicting itself... (Score:3, Insightful)
Quote:
No PowerBook revision?
Sources are also reporting that the pending Power Mac revision will be the last Mac upgrade of the calendar year. Contrary to other reports, Apple's PowerBook line, last revised in February with only incremental upgrades, will likely not see an upgrade before Macworld Expo San Francisco in January 2006, at the earliest.
Apple sues Insider... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Insightful)
And ThinkSecret seems to think there's a large margin on the iPod Nano, which there is not.
ThinkSecret seems to think that an iPod Video model would rob sales of the iPod Nano despite the fact that the Video model would be at the high price range ($500+) of all iPods, whereas the Nano is not.
This event is a media special event. It makes no sense to invite the media if it is merely an annoucement and last hurrah of the PowerBooks and PowerMacs before the Intel switch.
Most likely, the event will start with a speed bump/dual core announcement for the PowerBooks and PowerMacs. The "one last thing" - and the main event of the presentation - would be the iPod Video, along with the iMovie/iVideo/iWhatever Video store debut. You gotta think about it like the last presentation; the rather mundane Motorola ROKR shown off (well, actually, iTunes 5.0 first), and then the major announcement of the iPod Nano saved for last.
We must all remember that we are in the final stretches before the holiday season. Apple needs to remind consumers that Apple is still hot this holiday season, and thus an iPod Video would serve this well.
Then again, same goes for a G5 powered and HD capable Mac Mini, while they are at it. But I doubt that is meant to be for now.
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My sources tell me (Score:5, Insightful)
No way. Apple would not release a higher capacity Nano only weeks after releasing the existing versions. It would piss everyone with a 2 or 4 gig version off so bad they'd be ripping the metal off the front of their local Apple Stores demanding free upgrades!
Re:Obviously.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't invention great. And you fail to mention the real reason it makes so many people feeling a little jealous... it's the fact that Apple has been doing this for many years. They will upgrade their line when they feel it's right, while keeping the price of the relative product the same. They've been doing this on the computer side for a very long time.
Seeing an upgrade to your product (upgrades are good, trust me, my original 5 GB iPod wouldn't cut it today, sorry) that is exactly the same price as the one you just bought a month ago is what get's ya. But, Apple knows the balance tips towards keeping the prices constantly in certain ranges while not being afraid of investigating upgrades due to new technology. We as consumers tend to like that much more than don't like the jealousy thing... you picked the time to buy, and the purchase should have been an accepted agreement. Meaning, it was worth it to you to pay what you did for that device at that time, so go with that, or you will never own an xxxxxx.
Utility != Capacity (Score:4, Interesting)
You probably buy your computer based on megahertz speeds, right?
"Utility" encompasses more than the amount of storage in a device. It can also, in the case of something like the nano, include the device's being small enough to carry with you more easily. Or it might include a color screen for pictures (or TEEENY videos).
My big brother's 1980 stereo could do a lot of stuff that my iPod can't. It had a turntable and a cassette deck, and would let me record from the radio, which it also had inside. It had RCA in jacks that I could use with a CD player. I'm pretty sure I can get a stereo of that vintage for well under the price of a nano at a garage sale. The difference is not pure vanity.
(Now, say the same thing about people buying full-sized SUVs instead of minivans, and I can give you a real good case on that one... There the difference appears to be pure shallow vanity for the vast majority of buyers.)
Re:it's all just rumor... (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I bought a Nano for jogging. It's very light and much less likely to have vibration related issues than a hard drive based mp3 player. I had almost bought a shuffle for the same reason instead, but luckily waited until the Nano came out. I generally jog in sweat pants, with an old t-shirt and a heavily worn cap on, so fashion is not exactly high on my list.
The screen! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The screen! (Score:5, Funny)
As soon as my Invisible Shield [theinvisibleshield.com] shows up though, I'll be able to keep it in the same pocket as my grit, rough diamonds and emery boards.
Re:The screen! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The screen! (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering they are made of the same material, I'd imagine that it is just as scratch prone. The difference according to apple is people didn't complain about it with the larger iPod. I would guess, that in addition to only coming in white, the nano gets put into tighter quarters (jeans pockets and whatnot).
Maybe someday TDK [slashdot.org] will save us that trouble. Unless ther
Where's the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
Music videos? Does MTV even play them anymore? Who watches videos?
My impression is that Apple is trying to make the market viable, yet the iPod's popularity rode on years of MP3 success from Napster-on. Who trades videos over P2P or buys video DVDs from Borders, Wal-Mart or Amazon?
Is it a workaround from the RIAA? Doubtful. Is it attempting to fill up the hole in a dwindling music video market? Unlikely. Is it a feature that will get a huge initial "ooh toy" interest that will never get used after the first few weeks?
I can't see why this is needed unless Apple foresees video Podcasts from independent video "bloggers" or DIY TV show sites, but even that is a stretch.
The iPod coasted on the coattails of a huge market without a user friendly portable player. Video iPod is trying to invent a market boom.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a feeling this isn't about selling iPods. This is about proving that people will be interested in downloading video content through services like iTunes. What if it can hook up to your TV and act like a DVD player? What if iTunes starts having lots of good video content? This is just small part of a much bigger picture.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
What would be cooler if it used Airport wireless. Then you wouldn't even have to plug it up to the TV and transmit directly from the dock on your computer.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
Yeah, what's up with that? How is it Music Television when there are just shows on there?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2, Insightful)
The latest version of iTunes to come out added support for video podcasting, and with storage and bandwidth becoming less of a factor, I think we are goin
Re:Where's the market? (Score:5, Interesting)
That might be true in the circles you are in, but business travellers and various other frequent-flyer types LOVE portable DVD players. Not only for passing time between flight connections, but for late evenings on the road when you don't feel like going out or trying to find something on the hotel TV.
Not to mention damn near every last grunt in Iraq. There's a lot of "down-time" involved in occupation efforts, and folks like us mailing DVD's out to them is one of their main sources of entertainment out there.
These groups of people would probably go bananas over a video iPod, if it was done right.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
I don't know anything about soldiers, but I don't think basing a market on a few thousand (hopefully) temporary deployme
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Interesting)
As for using my laptop to play an in-flight movie: My desktop-replacement doesn't fit comfortably in the space I get in coach (and god help me if the seat in front of me reclines!), the laptop eats batteries too quickly to last thru a 2 or 3 flight
Re:Where's the market? (Score:5, Insightful)
It was, [archos.com], but it doesn't say Apple on it. Hence, no bananas.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Interesting)
The problems are:
A) You have to down size all your movies to fit the resolution of the screen.
B) Archos does not provide the software to do this and the freeware stuff they had me download used a very lossy codec.
Until I can watch my shows without ha
Re:Where's the market? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's but uggly, and doesn't support h.264
Sony PSP doesn't say Apple, yet is a fine portable video player.
I think you're flaming a bit.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:5, Insightful)
If Apple can match the PSP's screen quality and beat its ease of use (by making movies downloadable, perhaps) they might have something.
Those numbers are extremely over-inflated (Score:3, Interesting)
Add to that the number of people who will buy only one UMD ever for the "try it out" factor, and you will see that the numbers are not as good as it looks.
Portable video players have a bright future I think, but not based on a closed priorietary format that costs more than a DVD (who wants to buy a movie twice?).
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
They're not. You swallowed a marketing pitch disguised as news.
Go stand in the corner until you get your "silly corporate hype" detector working.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, so... since cell phone providers can't get people interested in their crappy, poorly designed, expensive portable video, no one else should attempt such a thing, even if it becomes technologically trivial?
Why not allow video playback on the iPod? They already have a color screen, and enough hard drive space to store several movies. It's not like it'd take much to allow video playback.
Of course, if they
Re:Where's the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to mention that they already have a video out too. Talk about Tivo-To-Go.
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
Those portable DVD players you talk about, are HUGE in areas with commuter trains. I see them every day on my ride into DC and I am sure trains from Conn to NY and into Chicago also see them. Trust me commuters and freq. travelers love this things.
Are you saying that there isn't a market for vide
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2)
If there were some sort of standard wireless interface for TVs, this could work - you'd just hook in. But plugging into RCA jacks is probably too much of a PITA for most users. Still, that would be
Re:Where's the market? (Score:2, Funny)
Well... (Score:5, Funny)
But... (Score:2, Funny)
Good thing I'm holding onto my reciept (Score:3, Interesting)
The video side on the iPod side doesn't interest me near as much as the outport system - I'd love to be able to hook it to my TV, archive all of my DVD's to the computer (something I was planning on doing anyway, as I have young children who, though they mean well, tend to dirty the DVD's a bit, and already ruined one copy of Toy Story). Then I can just transfer movie to iPod, put iPod in other room, and have every movie at my fingertips, and my DVD's stay perfectly pristine.
Granted, this is still a rumor, and I'll take it with a grain of salt until I see product in the store - but if they do make the announcement, I'll still have another 11 days on the return policy (maybe I'll just have to "borrow" my wife's iPod Mini for a week or two - I think some groveling will be in order).
Duhhhh (Score:2)
Re:Good thing I'm holding onto my reciept (Score:2)
Problem solved.
Re:Good thing I'm holding onto my reciept (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple Vpod announcement (Score:2)
Really, I wish they WOULD release one, just so we don't have to go through the same reasons for/against one again.
News? More like speculation. (Score:4, Funny)
"Slashdot, Speculation For Nerds." I am going to get a copyright on that.
Still not sure it's a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Say you make it taller than it is wide and rotate it ninety degrees to view video. Then you're 2" tall, but still only about 2.7" wide, giving you a whopping 3.3" diagonal, up from 2.5" on the current iPod.
Video out support is good, but you're pushing that tiny hard drive pretty hard whether you're driving the iPod's screen or not. Apple would have to do some very impressive tricks with the battery life to make a video iPod practical.
From everything I've been reading, video support on the current iPod is just a firmware upgrade away. But I'm not convinced it's something users are going to be able to use well, even if it is just restricted to music videos.
Hopefully AppleInsider's barking up the wrong tree.
Re:Still not sure it's a good idea (Score:3)
Have any family photos in your wallet? How big are they?
A TV screen that small is probably not as unwatchable as you think, given current LCD technology. If people can enjoy playing games on a small hand-held device, they can probably also enjoy watching archives of "CSI" (or whatever) using headphones and a 2" x 3" screen.
Re:Still not sure it's a good idea (Score:2, Funny)
> tall, but still only about 2.7" wide, giving you a whopping 3.3" diagonal, up from 2.5" on the
> current iPod.
You're too critical!
Look, if I were 2" tall, I'd love to watch TV on a 3.3" screen! I'd even put up with the 2.5" screen. Imagine a screen bigger than you are-- it would be like your own personal cinema!
Of course, if I were 2" tall and 2.7" wide as you suggest, I'd have plenty of free time to
Re:Still not sure it's a good idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe 320x200 MPEG4 "simple profile" but nothing you download off the net.
I am not using a portable video device until it is a) cheap and b) has at least a PSP-res or VGA screen, and c) is able to play back pirated DIVX/XVID movies as-is from the net.
Nothing really passes all three criteria right now.
I hope its a new PowerBook (Score:2, Offtopic)
(Unlikely, since they said it would be Janruary before Intel Macs come out, but it would be nice.)
Re:I hope its a new PowerBook (Score:3, Insightful)
it better play more video formats and codecs... (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey baby! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hey baby! (Score:3, Funny)
I'm just happy to see the porn in my pocket.
Bound to happen. (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt that Apple will support divx, using H.264 instead. My question, who has compared these formats in a 500 MB size limit? Will Apple give you a utility to convert your DVDs? (probably not). Also, the question of battery life is important. An SD card doesn't spin inside. That hard drive on the iPod is going to burn a lot of battery power, and get hot to the touch.
The video iPod is inevitable. My questions are mainly to how we will fill them without an Apple Movie Store. I would expect the release of this iPod to coincide with the release of a movie store.
Re:Bound to happen. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's also very interesting to note the following:
Go to www.apple.com/movies. "You don't have permission to access /movies on this server"
Go to www.apple.com/umptysquat. "Trying to find something at Apple?"
As Bill said from _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_, "Ted ... something strange is afoot at the Circle K."
However, and this is only my two cents, I don't think the technology / battery life / screen size / processor speed is quite there yet to show H.264 on a portable system in a marketable, affordable package. Give it two more years.
Re:Bound to happen. (Score:3, Informative)
DivX is a pile of shit (Score:5, Interesting)
H.264 is totally different. It's MPEG-4 part 10. It's about as big a leap over MPEG-4 part 2 as MPEG-4 was over MPEG-2.
Considering mplayer and other open source apps support H.264, there is *no* reason for anyone to be using DivX or Xvid any more. You will get *better* quality *and* smaller file sizes by using H.264.
Re:DivX is a pile of shit (Score:5, Informative)
If the iPod is to play h.264, the CPU is gonna be very fast, and it is going to be an expensive unit!
Re:Bound to happen. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm speculating here:
iPod AV Screen Resolution
H.264 can encode DVD quality media in 1mbit/s. I saw somewhere it could do it in 800kbps even. However the screen is half that. You could have video content encoded at 500kbps or under (i'm ignoring showing it on a TV here, and given the speculation about Airport Express including video out in its next incarnation you mig
Not a video iPod, but iFlicks. (Score:2, Interesting)
http://vodkapundit.com/archives/008158.php [vodkapundit.com]
Quote: "Most observers are predicting a "video iPod" that will play back video on a hand-sized device. Not me. I'm predicting not a video iPod, but rather an "iFlicks" service (they may or may not use that name) enabled by a new Airport-Express-on-steroids wireless widget with a video out, as well as a snazzy Apple remote control (perhaps looking something like this) for iTune
Re:Not a video iPod, but iFlicks. (Score:3, Insightful)
Who knows (Score:5, Interesting)
However, given that many of the movie studios are linked to the same record companies 'fighting' with Apple at the moment makes you wonder where the content would come from.
Think Secret are usually correct though.
Maybe they're finally launching 'Asteroid'
This has to have some sort of VIDEO OUT (Score:2, Insightful)
but,
if it did have vdeo out of some sort, it would be really attractive. I would buy a show through apple (h264 would be awsome), load it onto an ipod and play it on a tv at my convience, hd output of some sort would be a plus.
Re:This has to have some sort of VIDEO OUT (Score:3, Informative)
The marketing slogan for the video iPod.... (Score:2, Redundant)
How? (Score:2)
I don't know... (Score:2)
If you look at AppleInsider's next article, with the actual invitation card, the background looks like a theater curtain. I think they're going to beat TiVo, etc. to the punch and introduce an online movie store. Burn to DVD, or stream using a new AirPort Express Base Station with video out. (Rumors about vPods have been rampant for months, perhaps years, but this AirPort Express Base Station w/video out rumor just popped out of nowhere a week befor
Not sure, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
My suspicions are even stronger now that this "invite" has gone out. I think it's fairly obvious that a movie download service is a natural fit/extension for Apple given the success of ITMS. Yesterday or the day before I read a couple of articles where some big movie execs (or mpaa or somebody) were saying that they were going to enter the movie download market before the end of the year.
The invitation itself does leave a couple of clues (I think.) The first hint is "one more thing..." Steve's opening line before announcing his big plan. To me that means that Apple's going to announce something big. Not: We've said that video for the iPod is stupid, but "Oh yeah, one more thing... It's a video iPod! TAH DAH!!!! it's the greatest thing ever!" Of coarse, Steve Job's could invoke his RSF and make my claim a reality rather than a silly musing.
The next clue is the curtains in the invitation. To me those look like the old movie theater curtains they used to use (and maybe still use.) Dunno, but I can't imagine that they would be using theater curtains because somebody in the art department thought it would make a nifty background for "one more thing." But maybe.
Lastly, I don't believe that refreshed computers (desktops or laptops) would be enough of a reason to setup an invitation only press event. Well it could be G5 powerbooks, but I doubt that.
So my offical guess is a Apple branded DVR that hooks into a Apple movie service similar to ITMS.
But (Score:3, Funny)
Call me a Luddite, but if Flipbook support is not there, I'm not opening my wallet.
except to watch my credit cards flip back and forth...flipflipflipflipflipflipflipflipflip.....
Following the video ipod's release (Score:5, Funny)
No words yet on the release date of emacsPod.
The Real Question on /.'ers Minds... (Score:3, Interesting)
If anyone can do it...it's Mr. Jobs (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll fuel the rumor (Score:5, Interesting)
pocket video (Score:3, Insightful)
Mac Mini is Apple's real secret weapon... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd rather have Keynote (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I'd rather have Keynote (Score:3, Funny)
I don't really understand the "academic" bit of your comment. Isn't showing a Powerpoint or Keynote presentation enough to permanently revoke your intellectual credentials? What "academic" would be caught dead with such a hucksterish and infantile way of presenting their ideas? They would look like a retard from business school.
Re:No, or Apple would be marketing like mad (Score:5, Interesting)
The lawsuits by Apple against rumor sites are not a twisted propaganda strategy. Jobs hates the leaks because they spoil the surprise.
Re:am I the only one who does not get it? (Score:3, Informative)
What format would that be? What they call "AAC" is just mpeg-4...
Oh, you mean proprietary encryption format! Who the hell cares what encryption format they use? Only very trusting people keep their music in a DRM-hobbled format.
There are tons of other media players out there that accept open standards (at least more open).
As far as I can tell, pretty much no media players accept more than a couple of op
Re:am I the only one who does not get it? (Score:3, Informative)
It has always bugged the hell out of me why you can only listen to their proprietary format with the IPod.
You're misinformed. It also plays Mpeg1-audio3 (mp3), FLAAC, WAV, mpeg4-audio1 (mp4), etc. as well as DRMed mp4.
Also, you are tied to ITunes as well....correct?
Nope. It is just a hard drive that indexes content oddly (with some advantages). Plenty of other software supports it.
In addition, the consumer is not forced to use a particular retailer.
The only way the ipod restricts your choice o
Re:am I the only one who does not get it? (Score:5, Informative)
There is, however, a conversion when loading mp3 to an iPod?
Nope, not really. iPods play mp3 files with the built in hardware, but the filesystem on the iPod gives it a weird hash for a name and organizes it in a weird file structure. Perhaps you were recalling something about the Sony music players that spent several hours converting mp3's to their proprietary format when it loaded them onto the player.
It concerned me that their end game is to tie you to their retail service much the same way that MS has done by slightly altering their implementations of standards.
My opinion given the prices/profits they have posted for the iTMS is that their goal is twofold, first they sell music as an incentive for people to buy their devices. Second, they sell music to prevent MS from dominating the space with their proprietary format and making macs second class citizens for music, which would hurt their core market.
Thanks for the reply.
You're quite welcome.