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Upgrading to the Video iPod – A Dilemma

By Brian | February 23, 2006 | Share on Facebook

  

For those who enjoy my Ramblings, some new fodder…
 

Topics: Tech Talk, Words about Music | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Upgrading to the Video iPod – A Dilemma”

  1. Jeff Porten says at February 23rd, 2006 at 1:14 pm :
    Probably the main question is, what would you use the videos *for*? Watching vids is a very different activity than listening to music.

    I’ve had a PVP as part of my smartphone since 2004, and usually when I’m storing a video it’s to show off that I *can*. It’s rare I have a show to watch that a) I don’t need to watch immediately (i.e., work-related), or b) I don’t mind watching it in dribs and drabs like a podcast (i.e., Battlestar Galactica *will* earn an hour chunk of my life).

    Besides, you have a Palm, right? That’ll satisfy your video jones with the right memory card.

    PS: don’t *ever* trust an iPod rumor. I think Steve leaks those just for the fun of it.

    PPS: can you really blame the lack of forward compatibility with iPods? Apple changes the form factor every six months. It’s like wanting to hook up USB speakers to a hand-crank Victrola.

  2. Brian says at February 23rd, 2006 at 3:22 pm :
    Good points, all.

    I freely admit it would be nothing more than an extravagance, with the possible exception of giving Sherry an iPod to truck around with the kids all the time (currently, when I’m at work, the kids are stuck with those old fashioned CD’s…)

    One idea I had after posting that made things a little better: I don’t really need the FM transmitter on both iPods. The old one can be the “car iPod,” and the new one would just be my “commuting” iPod (as I said – an extravagance). That lowers the cost of accessories to just the remote and the case (still ~$90).

    As for the source of videos, I honestly expected to pick up a few iTunes TV shows (for the “just because I can” factor), and then experiment with other free sources on the web. The guy at the Apple store said he downloads full length movies, but I don’t know how or from where. Transfers from the DVR never occurred to me, although I suppose it’s possible, but as you say – probably more work than it’s worth.

    As for the Palm, as hard as it is to say, I think it’s slowly fading out. The new job’s going to give me a blackbery with cell phone functionality turned on (the old job didn’t provide that), so there’s a huge incentive to move the calendar, notepad, To Do list, etc. to the blackberry. I still have to work out where the other apps go (train schedule, movie player, etc.) so the Video iPod would move toward that. As you say, though, even having the video capability in my pocket for years has never made me use it for anything…

    I’ll wait until the announcement and see if the “snazzy fever” goes away…

  3. Michael Weinmayr says at February 24th, 2006 at 9:19 am :
    Hmm, the “iPod for Sherry” is a good reason. Jen’s CD player in her car died, so she took my 3G 30GB one, and I got a 4G 60GB. I have to admit, the color screen is *way* nicer and easier to read (partly because it has double the resolution). And we’ve developed some playlists for Tim, so that requires the iPod as well.

    But still, wait ’til Tuesday.

  4. Brian says at February 24th, 2006 at 9:59 am :
    What’s a CD player? ;-)

    Playlists for the kids are essential: before we had the iPod, we’d lug around a dozen CD’s, and often wind up listening to the same Elmo song over & over again. With the iPod, I have an “Avery’s Favorites” list, a “Brandon’s Favorites” list, and an “Avery & Brandon’s Favorites” list, which is just the union of the previous two. As they discover new music and get sick of old music, I can update the lists on the fly. Today, they’ve got roughly 75 songs on the combined list, ranging from Disney to the Penn Band to Hip Hop (from a Yankees CD someone bought us).

    One more question, re: Tuesday – the article I linked to in the Rambling (here), says the announcement is likely on April 1st, Apple’s 30th anniversary. The first time you said March 1st, I figured it was just a typo. Are you hearing something different than I’m hearing?

  5. Michael Weinmayr says at February 24th, 2006 at 12:02 pm :
    Everyone is guessing. No one ever knows what will be announced. Apple is amazing at keeping things under wraps.

    The only known fact is the Apple invitation:
    “Come see some fun new products from Apple”. February 28.
    http://guides.macrumors.com/Image:Funnewproducts.jpg

    I said March 1 so that you could spend a day thinking about it.

  6. Jeff Porten says at February 25th, 2006 at 11:18 am :
    AFAIK, the April 1st announcements are pure speculation. The 2/28 is solid — or at least, to quote the guys at Engadget, “We’ve already bought our nonrefundable air tickets, so they damn well better announce something cool.”

    I infer that “something fun” means iPod or home DVR, as opposed to Intel Mac stuff. But I have a new policy of not predicting Apple since I pooh-poohed the move to Intel chips.

    If I can *truly* recommend a splurge, check out the EyeTV, which just had new software released allowing for automatic integration with iPods. Of course, it’s Mac only, so you’d have to get a Mac mini to go along with it. But I gotta tell you, Brian, between the OS X and access to the Darwin Unix layer, I think you could really go to town with a Mac sandbox to play with.

  7. Michael Weinmayr says at February 28th, 2006 at 1:58 pm :
    Without even reading the Rambling, my first reaction is “wait until Feburary 28″, because Apple has a product announcement scheduled.

    …

    OK, now I’ve read it. Other than “snazzy”, I don’t see the benefit to you in switching. Keep the current iPod for the short term, unless you have run out of storage capacity.

    What sources would you have for the videos? The television content of iTunes? Transfers from TiVo? Whatever way you do it, there’s a lot of time spent in downloading and transferring, and possibly converting and editing.

  8. Michael Weinmayr says at March 1st, 2006 at 3:12 pm :
    Wow, what an uninteresting announcement day yesterday. Sorry if I delayed any purchases for you.

  9. Brian says at March 2nd, 2006 at 12:46 pm :
    No apology necessary. Given that I don’t really need the new iPod, an extra few days doesn’t hurt anyone.

    I agree that the announcement was a bit of a letdown. I wonder if the folks at Bose are ticked off, since the Apple stores were all pushing the Bose iPod-ready stereos for so long, and now they’re competitors…

    So here’s my question: do you know if the 30th anniversary (March 31st) announcement is true? Or was that just a rumor?

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