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Video iPod Really Coming on Oct 12th?

SiliconAddict said:
God damn it people. If there are any PowerBook updates it going to be for crap. Why can't people get it through their thick head Apple is going to have a computer blitz next year? Get your panties out of your crack and chill. god. It’s like dealing with a 8 year old before Christmas. You just want to smack em and tell them to shut up. Thankfully I have no plans to be a parent. :p
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Wow. Relax. Agree with you on the parent thing but Apple cannot continue selling the current PowerBooks and PowerMacs for another six months as they are. They need a fresh lineup to hold them over until then not the stale one they have now.
 
RONIN1138 said:
I have heard from a very reliable source that the "one more thing" WILL be a new powerbook driven by a new processor chip called the flux capacitor 2.0 with dual titty overdrive.
I've had enough. I just want to go to sleep and wake up at 10:15 am. :)
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I heard from reliable sources that the following shall be the update being announced tomorrow (actually today):

Tetris made available on all iPods by firmware update.
That game is so huge they called a whole 'nother "One more thing..." for it. Understandably so. Its been a long time overdue.

Also, on a lesser note, Powerbooks to get a 0.03GHz processor bump...
:rolleyes:
 
Only proves that Thinksecret doesn't know what the hell they're talking about any more. What kind of news source publishes, blows smoke in another direction, and back pedals.

Everyone knows that the larger iPod models are not selling. Unless they release full length movies, the larger HD will not be big sellers...Nano's are the new form factor future. Unless a 10" iBook, flip tablet is in the cards...cross the fingers...
 
bankshot said:
If that happens, then I'd be much more receptive to the idea of portable video. Still, even then I believe it's not nearly the "killer app" that portable audio has been. People carried audio with them since the day the Walkman came out. And they've always wanted to carry more than just a few tapes/CDs. MP3 players, and eventually the iPod, satisfied that long-standing desire. It filled a need that already existed in the market.

I don't see a similar overwhelming need or desire in the market for portable video. Car DVD players are taking off, especially for families with kids, but that makes sense in the car, when the kids are bored to death. Who else is carrying their DVDs around with them on a daily basis like people used to carry tapes and CDs for their Walkmans?

Maybe this will be more like the Walkman and create a new market need/desire, but I remain ever the skeptic. :p

As for whether Apple has even got a way to import DVDs just like we import CDs into iTunes now, I believe that's extremely unlikely right now. My reasons include:

  • The movie industry is even more paranoid than the music industry about piracy. No way they let Apple release a way to rip DVDs.
  • Even if Steve Jobs can apply his RDF and industry connections (he is CEO of Pixar, after all) to convince movie execs to allow this, they still have to come up with a way to preserve DRM on commercial DVDs to prevent unauthorized copying. Difficult task at best.
  • Steve Jobs is part of the movie industry. He has a vested interest in preventing piracy and/or making us all buy new copies of Pixar movies for our new iPods.
  • Heck, the whole movie industry would like to resell us the same movies again in a new format just for this. See UMD movies for PSP.
  • Imported movies will have to be compressed so an iPod could hold a reasonable number of them. This takes a huge amount of time. A reasonably fast machine might compress a full length movie to H.264 in 20 hours. Maybe longer. Nobody wants to wait that long when you can import a CD in 5-10 minutes.

For similar reasons, online distribution of movies isn't ready just yet - a full length movie is a much bigger download than a similar length set of music. Needs a few more years to kick up broadband speeds and get the tech stragglers off of modems. Frankly, I don't see portable video being more than a novelty or niche application until we can import DVDs or buy online like we do with music now. It may be a quite a long time before the technical and legal hurdles are overcome.

With that, I'm fully prepared to eat these words if something huge happens tomorrow, I'm just not betting on it. Not yet. :D
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You have a point about ripping DVD's. Ripping 8 gigs, then compressing it into H.264 and applying a DRM will take ages. Add the time it takes to rip a DVD + the time it takes to author one in iDVD.

However, online distribution would work with broadband connections. People already download torrents like nuts. If Apple put all the movies in H.264, they would take a LOT less space than a normal DVD. Considering a 4.7 GB single-layer DVD with MPEG-2 can hold 2 hours of video plus fancy menu systems and extras...at H.264 it should be much less.

I think online distribution would work...but it may end up a niche as people will need fast connections.
 
m-dogg said:
Wow. man, do everyone a favor and break a long post like this into paragraphs. I got tired of reading 1/4 way through...
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I just skipped the whole thing. ;)
 
kupua said:
Only proves that AppleInsider doesn't know what the hell they're talking about any more. What kind of news source publishes, blows smoke in another direction, and back pedals.
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I think you mean ThinkSecret there. Appleinsider has held firm.
 
wooo this is exciting. not because i really want to watch video on my iPod. I could care less. I just like the idea that there is a new iPod coming out. And also the Powerbook...EXCITING :) :) :)
 
thymac said:
i cant take this anymore. just introduce the dam things already. honestly im waiting for the rebirth of the newton os so they can create an ipod/newton
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this would nice... something with a 6" screen, wifi, bluetooth, a couple of USB2 ports on the side, and an ethernet jack. usefull as an ipod/photo/video/internet/email tool.
 
wireless???

is there anything suggesting that the new ipods will have bluetooth or airport???
 
bikertwin said:
Wasn't there an Apple patent a few months ago showing some sort of bogus looking iPod-docking-inside-an-iBook thingy?
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That would be cool. Like the Powerbook Duo. The screen with an iPod dock. If they pull that off well...:cool:

Or 2 different versions. A low-cost laptop shell with an iPod dock and iPod for brains for a half-decent low-power laptop, and just a screen for the "Video iPod".

Or, instead of a laptop shell, a PDA shell with an iPod docking port. The PDA shell would add app support, touchscreen, and all that, but would ultimately run on the iPod, which would show all the same stuff, but with a simpler interface and read-only. Now THAT could be something there...

The iPod Duo PDA... :cool:
 
To address some various concerns:

1. Ripping DVD's and 20 hour compression times Maybe this happens, maybe not. But Apple will have talked to movie industry about allowing iTunes ripping feature. Keep in mind that DRM will be applied that limits playback to a single iPod, AND applies a 30 to 60 day limitation to it to prevent amassing movies via NetFlix.

Compression? It won't be H264, it will be MPEG4 or some variant. You can't decode H264 right now in a $299 iPod AV, maybe in a year or so. It will have been hard enough to get MPEG4 decoder that can do decent TV out resolution.

2. The 'Focus' Thing The media focuses on iPods, but Apple is not the media. Do you think that maybe employees at Apple work on an iPods or Mac team, and not the entire workforce working on 1 product at a time? Apple is working on Macs just as hard as it is working on iPods.

In another year or 2, Mac will be the major opportunity for growth for Apple, and they know it.

3. No Video, add gapless/OGG/whatever instead! I sympathize with your pain, but have to point out that adding video doesn't exclude other improvements, and vice versa. If any particular improvement doesn't show up tomorrow, it's not because of video. It's unfortunately because Apple didn't deem it important for now.

4. No Macs, Think Secret said so! Ummm...where have you been in the last month? Think Secret has waffled more than John Kerry in the last month. No iPods at September special event- Oops Nano! No Mac updates until MacWorld...Wait there are new Macs coming Wednesday, but no iPods! Wait! There are iPods AND Macs, but definitely NO VIDEO! WAIT!!! THERE ARE IPOD VIDEOS but NO MACS!!!!

Can you sense a pattern? Tomorrow would be the ideal time to introduce new Macs. My prediction is that PowerBooks get the 7448 but at least a couple of spiffy updates like higher resolution.

Apple is a company on the move. They have shocked the world repeatedly over the last year or more, with such big launches as the Mac Mini, the Nano (replacing the then best selling iPod Mini), the Intel switch, now this...They are taking advantage of the iPod spotlight, and I like what I see.
 
i've got a 512 shuffle for working out and a 15GB 3rd gen for general use, so i am fairly sure that no matter what the upgrade is, i will be picking something up... unless it is really, really underwhelming, which i am guessing that it wont be, given the hype.

i believe that video does and will have a market, but more for the 'underground' people, who download TV shows onto their HDs, etc... of course, the party line will be to "watch music videos and video podcasts from the iTunes store", but just like the ipods now can play downloaded music, subway riders, students, and other on the go people will be watching family guy and futurama and seinfeld on this thing if and when it comes out.

i think most people would agree that the future of video media, just as music, is going to be digital, and computer delivery, be it through computer like set top boxes or computers themselves. it will be interesting to see how 'open' apple will make the video ipod to different formats of downloaded tv, movies, etc... or maybe they are hoping that it will be such a hit, that the distributors and content providers come to them and want to be open to the ipod, as to help the marketing of their service.

all i know is that although many people dont see the place for the video ipod right now, no one saw a place for a $500 5GB iPod when it first came out either... apple had the foresight to establish the market then, and it hasnt looked back... turned it into the most profitable music store in the world, and they would be stupid to not look at their own business model and corner the next emerging market.

in 5-10 years, the day that the video ipod was released will be just as significant to us as the day that the ipod was released is to us now.
 
age234 said:
That would be cool. Like the Powerbook Duo. The screen with an iPod dock. If they pull that off well...:cool:

Or 2 different versions. A low-cost laptop shell with an iPod dock and iPod for brains for a half-decent low-power laptop, and just a screen for the "Video iPod".

Or, instead of a laptop shell, a PDA shell with an iPod docking port. The PDA shell would add app support, touchscreen, and all that, but would ultimately run on the iPod, which would show all the same stuff, but with a simpler interface and read-only. Now THAT could be something there...

The iPod Duo PDA... :cool:
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Why not just put an SVideo port on the bottom of the iPod.
Connect the video to your screen and the headjack to the stereo.
 
whenpaulsparks said:
they need to drop the USB port on it, no one uses it because it works with like 5 printers out there, and add HD video streaming. it already has 5.1 output, i just dont know how it works, since itunes doesnt have 5.1...
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Hey, I use that USB port to wirelessly print to my printer, you insensitive clod! :)

I would really dig a video airport express, though.
 
caccamolle said:
truly. ThinkSecret is merely loosing it. They've predicted all possible product announcements for tomorrow. Pathetic.
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Yeah, funny to read how they write their new stuff to look like they were right all along. Gruber at Daring Fireball has parsed some of their stuff before.
 
Just a really quick crappy mockup.

duo.jpg

475722.jpg


Like I said earlier, it could be used as a PDA when docked, but everything would be accessible when in iPod mode, just read-only. It would have a nifty PDA-but-still-Mac-style interface when docked, but iPod interface when undocked. It would be connectable to a TV with S-Video/RCA audio cables in both modes. You would be able to run Keynote presentations with it, which would be cool. Maybe the Duo would even have a slot-loading PSP disc player.

Now that would be my definition of a hot device.

[edit] Whoops. Realized it should turn the other way, since most people are right-handed. Too lazy to fix it. I also noticed I forgot to remove the menu bar over the video image. Oh well...
 
bikertwin said:
Wasn't there an Apple patent a few months ago showing some sort of bogus looking iPod-docking-inside-an-iBook thingy? What if that was the technology behind the new iPod video "accessory"? That way, you could have your cake and eat it too.

A "regular" iPod that is small and compact and only plays music.

An "accessory" that's just a glorified video screen into which an iPod docks--this allows it to display video....
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I like that idea, but instead of having a screen on the device, it just hooks up to your TV. The box has the capability to play video file stored on any recent iPod. This way your friends could bring over their shows to watch on your TV without pissing off the Industry (iPod is linked to content, just like the music store). It could plug into the network via ethernet (sure.. airport, too, why not..) and have a hard drive inside, so you wouldn't have to have the iPod plugged in to watch your shows (or not, maybe two versions?). This the kind of device I've been thinking would be released. It makes more sense to me than a video iPod. Which isn't to say they won't release a video iPod as well for those who want to watch on the go.

My 2 cents. I'm waiting to be proven right...
 
Let's just say that Apple is smarter than all of us and we'll just have to wait til 10:15. We've all put our ideas out there so lets just see if Apple listened.
 
1984 said:
Wow. Relax. Agree with you on the parent thing but Apple cannot continue selling the current PowerBooks and PowerMacs for another six months as they are. They need a fresh lineup to hold them over until then not the stale one they have now.
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Yah but what do they really have for their mobile line-up. People love to talk Freescale. No one even knows if FS is even mass producing the theoretical drop in chips for the PowerBook in mass yet. If they are only starting to ramp up production it could be next year before we see mass quantities and at that point say hello to the Pentium M. And let’s be realistic here. Would Freescale even give a crap about pleasing Apple right now? They are going to be phased out in 6 months anyways. I doubt they are going to bend over backwards to get mass quantities of the drop in just to appease Apple.

When the well is empty of water you dig a new well. There is nothing else to do. You can’t make water just appear as Apple can’t just make the G4 just go faster. Which is what is frusterating me. People expect the impossible from Apple. Of course they are focusing on the iPod. Its all they have for now. It’s what is fueling the transition.
Apple has squeezed the crap out of the G4. At best all that is left is menial GPU upgrades (Even though most of the vendors are going PCI-E which Apple would have to do a mobo redesign for.), screen upgrades, and further price drops.
Everyone keeps screeching for some fantastic new hardware from Apple. Well it’s possible, even probable, we will see dual cores DESKTOPS tomorrow, today. (Gah. Need to get to bed.) 2006 is the year of the Apple blitz, and the year the PowerBook and iBook strikes back against the rest of the industry.
 
A video iPod???!? Surely not?

I've been expecting this for weeks but after reading all the "NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" posts on here, I now have to believe we won't see iPod video.

I mean... come on... how can so many people be wrong when they speak with such authority!?!? :rolleyes:

Rolll on 10am (PDT!)

Steve
(practicing his "told you so" dance ;) )
 
MickhyperioNostradamus

I predict...

Video Podcasting/Blogging will explode when the Video iPod is released and become a powerful new form of media worldwide.

I think it (Video Podcasting/Blogging) will give television a run for its money as people start to make the natural progression from (phony) reality shows to actual shows about reality made by real people podcasting from wherever they are in the world. Like cable access on steroids and turned into Ultraman.

A new era of journalism will arrive as news and information will be exchanged directly between people without any sort of corporate or governmental filter, establishing a historical media and potentially social revolution.

Video Podcasting/Blogging will spawn a much needed alternative to the advertisement and propaganda blitz that television has become, introducing new shows and genres of every imaginable kind for all ages, cultures, nationalites, etc. We will see new celebrities emerge from the medium.

The whole thing will be huge and the Video iPod will be the catalyst to set it in motion.
 
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