I don't know why people here complain about 32 GB being not enough space for video. If you go 1080p, 32 GB are indeed just one movie, but consider the resolution of the regular video iPod (320x240) and iPhone (480x320).
Try Quicktime Pro or Handbrake and compress a whole movie is 320x240 in h2.64 in stereo sound (you don't need surround sound on your iPod, do you?). Start with ridiculously low bitrates and increase it until it looks good on your iPod. Maybe make a super high quality version as a reference. You will find out that you don't need that much space for videos.
I agree on you with that 100%... I've been fiddling with encoding movies/TV shows for my new iPod and I've found that at 320x240 h264 250kbps is adequate (plus 96 or even 64kbps AAC sound). I've been using MPEG4, though, at 300kbps (2-pass on both of course) because Handbrake+h264=too dark video.
Then there is the fact that the way you "consume" music is totally different from the way you "consume" a movie. A (good) song will be listened to over and over. Did you ever watch the same DVD twice in a month? Seriously?
Lots of storage for music makes sense, I personally like it when I don't hear the same stuff over and over when my nano is in shuffle all day. But honestly, TV shows and movies are more like a podcast: listen once, done, next.
I'll agree with you a little on this one. Some movies/shows I can watch pretty often, at least for awhile. But this fundamental difference in how media is consumed is the flaw in the iTMS' model. Songs @ $1 us a bargain - it's got lasting value that makes it a worthwhile buy. TV shows @$2 is almost like throwing away $2.
They need a rental plan, something like Netflix where you pay say $10-15 a month and can have any 3 or 5 episodes of any show on you iPod at any time. Ya, you could cruise through a season of a series in a month, but you'd have to go back to your computer to update them and you'd have to watch them through your iPod at least. Maybe put some other artificial limit on it, like 5 at a time, 25 in the month max, or you have to keep a show 24 hours before you replace it, etc. With a Netflix plan @$20/month I can cruise through a season of a TV show in a month no problem and snag a couple movies along the way as well. If Apple offered something similar in iTunes but had new content available right away they'd have something very popular on their hands. Even if shows were purchase only for a week or two and then became available on a rental plan it would be great.
I personally think it's ridiculous to watch videos on regular iPods, the screen is just too small and not widescreen. Subtitles must be a pain to read. The iPhone seems to be the perfect blend of small size and big screen. Well... it is basically just a big screen
I'm going to disagree with you here. I haven't watched anything on a 5G iPod yet, but I have watched plenty of things on small screens (PDAs, etc) and it's no problem at all. I would agree subtitles are just not doable, but that's a limitation I'm willing to accept. Not being widescreen is a bit of a problem, but as you point out it's so small already that it's not really a concern at that point.
Too bad I'm used to high def (720p) though, DVDs actually look terrible on an HDTV. Either too blurry or too compressed. Even HD TV-shows suck big time because they use old codecs and simply don't have enough bandwidth. Even the japanese Hi-Vision (analog high def) looks better. BlueRay and HD-DVD look great but it's a lot of data...
Ok, here's where I REALLY disagree with you. Yes, HD looks great. I have an HDTV and it's terrific. But DVD looks really good on it. Maybe you DVD player sucks, but even on my modest RCA upconverting set DVD looks really nice. A well mastered DVD has very minimal artifacting, and while there is a little grain to it I find it's barely noticeable, and when it is I almost sort of like it... reminds me of the grain in film when I go to the theatre. DVD even looks nice on my 480p DLP projector at ~96", and that's coming from my $20 cheap-o DVD player. Again, some grain but not terrible and I ALMOST prefer the grain to super smooth textures.
Also, I will clarify that I've not watched an HDDVD yet (don't care to drop the money 'till one format wins out, or dual players are the norm and are under $200). I find HD broadcast to be great though. Maybe OTA HD sucks, I don't have an antenna, just cable. The HD sports from ESPN, etc are just amazing though.
Back on topic: You don't need or want your entire movie collection on your iPod. 32 GB is plenty. There's a big Torrent file out there with ALL Simpsons episodes (from Season 1 to 17) and it was around 40 GB last time I checked...
I'll agree with you here, 32gb is plenty for an iPod. I can see why some people may want 60-80, but 32 is really sufficient for 90% of users. My concern is that 32gb of flash is not cheap. No way you'll see 32gb flash players for $200-250 (about what a 30gb HDD player runs) anytime soon. When you do, 30gb HDD players will have gone down in price accordingly. There will be a time when flash catches up to magnetic storage pricewise, but it's a ways off. Until then there's going to be a market for HDD iPods.
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