The Apple iPod. Falling Behind The Crowd?

[sandmanfvrga]

Man, I took 5 minutes to compose myself before I responded to you. First to stop laughing (no offense) and to talk civilized. An iPod with Video and a Video iPod are the same. If you think they are different, then I feel for you. Why? Look at the box of an iPod, what do you see? Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Not a video player? Ok sure. So I guess I need to call my Archos an Archos Media Player WITH Video. I am sorry, but dude no offense, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I guess you may mean an ipod specifically design for a video but then it would be a video player, and not an all around multimedia player. I think you are not seeing what I am saying. Yes the iPod started as a music player, but with photos, then videos, and now games and such, it is not just an iPod but an iPod that is a video iPod, a Picture iPod, and a Gaming iPod, all in one. If you want to say it your way, then it is an iPod with Video, Photos, and Games. In the end, same thing man, no matter how you rearrange the words.

 

Now onto you claim of "Apple knows that the market for such a device is tiny". How can they know it is tiny if iTunes has turned into a TV Show, Movie, and Games super store? Please tell me this! How can there be new stations (in the TV Show section) added all the time, and how about new movie studios (remember Pararmount?) If there was such a TINY market, would Apple spend the money on this? NO! There IS a market for this. That why Apple does it! Not rocket science here man.

 

To recap what you said, you rearrange the wording of the iPod's description and say there is a tiny market for video on the go, when in fact the wording doesn't change what the iPod does and the market is far from tiny. *shakes head*

 

I think I am going to have an admin/mod close this. I didn't want anybody to agree with me, that is not fun! But {censored}, this fanboyism is rediculous. I love Macs and OS X, but I am not so wrapped up in Apple to not see flaws in their products. Frankly the whole discussion has been ignored and what has been said was how awesome the iPod was with music and I really didn't get much feedback about the OTHER functions of the iPod. Some replied, but most were like "iPod rules, the music playing is great, why need that stuff?". Not what I asked. I was wanting the iPod users the religiously use the video function to discuss pros and cons, just the hell of it. *shrugs* Whatever.

[rollcage]

I'm hoping we'll see a new model with the release of the iPhone/Leopard. A touch-widescreen would really put Apple ahead of many competitors (need to add CoverFlow too), and I think it's the best way to keep the traditional iPod style. Of course Apple might not be looking to stay traditional with this release? I would really like to see the ability to sync recorded TV, but I don't think that will happen because of the content on the iTunes store. The UI once you're playing a movie is great;actually browsing through you're movies, while simple, is crappy compared to some other players.

 

I think that the Video iPod is behind because Apple didn't think far enough ahead about the future of the media people would carry. It was designed for music videos, not full length movies and TV shows. And while some players are made to cater more towards people that watch video on the go, the iPod is still mainly used as a music player. Apple is going to have to find a balance between how they design their players for both music and video.

[sandmanfvrga]

Thank you rolllcage, a response I was looking for. I agree on the points, though I just don't understand Apple's not thinking forward. I mean I do agree with most, the quality of the iPod's are great, though over time other companies have been making products to match the iPod's quality. I think, unless Apple has some huge trump card, the new ipod is going to not be a clear leader of the pack, but in a very tight race with other great products.

[Urbz]

sandman, i had to take a few minutes to compose myself after reading your post...

iPod with Video is what Apple has named their 5/5.5 gen iPod. If it were a standard feature or an iPod with the PRIMARY goal of playing video (or if it was a "media" player) it would be simply an iPod or an iPod video/media.

To address that second paragraph of yours, eesh, wake up!

Let me quote myself... (I think you missed this)

This iPod is just a clever set-up for when they can have iTunes with video content globally available

That's what this is: A set-up. The AppleTV is one more step into getting Apple into the video-playing market LIKE THEY HAVE DONE WITH THE MUSIC MARKET. The peices are slowly being put into place, with a few more undoubtedly to come. This include (but are not limited to) HD (or near it) video on their iTunes store, an iPhone without the phone features for their "true" video iPod, and probably just a lot more video content (specifically movies).

And that you want to close an argument because you deem something to be fanboyism is ridiculous and quite immature. I don't see how anything I said makes be a fanboy. If I didn't know better, I could also make something up about you, like calling you anti-iPod and probably anti-Apple. But I won't sink so low.

 

-Urby

[sandmanfvrga]

No, you just called the ipod something else which in turn my friend, means the same thing cause they do the same thing. I didn't mean to be offensive, but it was funny to me. You said the market for videos on the go was tiny. That was what you said, it is in your post above. That again, is funny due to Apple making tons of money for video on the go. So again, it makes no sense. Me wanting to close an argument is my choice, whether you think it is mature or immature. Rollcage's post above is what I was hoping to see, not your post. The fact is, the iPod is the king, that is for sure. The other fact is the mobile media, not just music, is booming now. My discussion is about the iPod's media capabilities vs. others, not why people think the ipod is not a video player, why the video part doesn't matter, etc. Most have dodge my question and made the topic an argument, like yourself. THAT is why I want this closed. If you think me keeping this topic from going to a flame fest is immature, you need to look in the mirror.

[o_OR4N^_^]

I had an Ipod Nano for about a year. At first i loved it simple design and easy navigation. I also enjoyed the hackability of the device "yeh... idoom+ipod linux " However i hated its reliability and lack of battery life/features. I had a gen1 nano that claimed 15 hours battery life. I thought id try to push this more by lowering the backlight timer to almost minimal levels. i managed "Maybe" 10 hours, whether this is due to my lossless format audio or apple lying to me i do not know, but it never managed 15 hours. It also took me an aweful long time to convert my non id3 tagged music files to run on the ipod, to allow me to actually be able to see what i was playing/searching for. This is the major hassle i have with the ipod/itunes, its undenying reliance on things being "perfect" or as apple wanted it to be. with every other mp3 player on the planet handling WMA, apple decide not to include it. So my lossless wma files now have to be converted to apples AAC format...

That format is quite nice dont get me wrong... but mass conversions annoy me... alot

 

I know for a fact most IRiver/Sandisk solutions will handle a majority of files quite well without reliance on id3 tagging or format conversion. The sandisk uses an almost identical portalplayer DSP, with just as good SNR levels "well over 100dB". I am not a fan of EQ'ing my audio but the Sandisks i have used seem to EQ with very minimal distortion. Ipod bass EQ is quite simply horrific. Not to mention the fact that the sandisk comes with FM Tuner, Voice recording, and expandable memory... booyah

 

In conclusion... the ipod was never really ahead of its time, They built HDD based mp3 players well after creative, they released the video ipod well after Iriver, and every hdd video mp3 player under the sun uses a portalplayer processor...

 

I replaced it with a palm lifedrive, and i doubt i will ever go back to my ipod and heres why

Out of the box my lifedrive will handle Xvid/Divx without "any" re-encode

Pocket tunes is just plain AWESOME, it can use the lifedrives inbuilt wifi antenna to access "ANY" internet radio station you want

needless to say i use that alot

It handles AAC/MP3/WMA and lossless codecs out of the box "even musepack"

and its a freaking PDA

 

Its quite big, its bloody expensive, its probably not even sold anymore , but it made me decide never to choose an ipod again

[Soliber]

Face it, the market IS tiny. I have yet to see 1 person besides myself watching video on the go on such a small aparatus. Why? Because people tend to want to sit back and relax watching a video, and that's kind of difficult when you have to watch where you're going all the time. As far as the commute goes: ditto. Few people enjoy video on a small screen so early in the morning or after a stressy day at work/school.

If you're talking about taking something along in an airplane or in the car for travelling, or for in your hotelroom, there is this magnificent thingy that's called "a laptop", which is far more suited for the task.

Undoubtedly, there are people who want video on the go, and Apple has given them something to hold them quiet untill their true media player is done. But most of the people, still use an iPod for music, and as such do not give a rat's ass about the current iPod's (half-assed) video capabilities

And seriously: do you actually think Apple is making a ton of money on video-downloads? I sincerely doubt it.

[o_OR4N^_^]

I dont see how the ipod's video power is tiny. a Hardware H264 decoder is something rarely seen in an mp3 player. most "mp4" players use a varient on the .3gp format because it is so tiny it can be decoded on the main processor. People dont really use the ipod for watching an entire feature film, but almost every ipod owner i have seen uses it quite heavilly for music videos or short clips like a television episode. the 320x240 screen isnt exactly up to cinema quality production but it sure makes train trips alot shorter

 

I use my lifedrive almost constantly for video, running eps on the train is something i simply couldnt live without anymore. This technology has just jumped the gun a bit, taking wind from the sails of devices like portable DVD players. When in reality the future of multimedia technology clearly lies in a hard drive based mp4 player. They can be small or big, and will hold more than a single movie on a giant 12CM disc. The next gen will be awesome, and im hoping for apple to get with the program and release an awesome actually new ipod this time round. Instead of rebadging 5 year old technology with an extra feature or 2.

[.ark]

My iPod (60GB Video) is used primarily in my car while driving. It's too bulky for working out or walking or any portable use. It's too small for video. For that, I have a 57-inch TV.

 

But in my car it's amazing.

 

I have a cell phone with a 2GB microSD car in it that plays any file format you throw at it, and the phone is small and light had generally runs about 8 hours on battery playing music. So I won't be spending $500 for an iPhone without 3G (which is available here) and 2 hour battery life.

 

There will probably be a touchscreen iPod with video in a similar format to the iPhone. This is "Apple's big year" and June 11th isn't that far into the year.

[sandmanfvrga]

It is where you are at. Like said above, there are users that watch stuff all the time on the ipod, if not, then there wouldn't be sales on iTunes. The market isn't tiny, but it isn't huge either I will admit that. The 2.5 inch screen of the iPod, not the 320x40 size of video, hurts it. I encode my stuff in 320x240 and it is awesome. I got into a movie and forgot I was watching it on my Archos, because the Archos is big enough not to squint and you can see detail. But the ipod's h.264 is a plus in the video compression. Archos can add that on, but most can't so Apple has an advantage there.

[EPDM]

I agree. For 1 the zune has wifi and can stream music to other zune users "that would be cool on a ipod" I think another thing should be a fresh new gui "graphical user Interface" and maby another button for something.

Yeah but the WIFI is severely crippled.

 

The songs transmitted over WIFI last for only a couple of days/plays. You can't sync to/from your PC using WIFI nor buy songs from a Internet using WIFI hotspots.

 

Djeez, why did they bother to have WIFI at all.

 

 

The reason why iPod will stick a quite long is simply that many additions are dedicated iPOD-only.

 

I'll give a real life example.

 

I recently purchased an ipod-adaptor for my car's OEM radio. This adaptor has an ipod port and an aditional aux-input. The ipod can be controlled through the knobs on the radio (ff/rewind, next/previous, random track, playlist selection etc...). Ofcourse this is not possible with those other MP3-players (no latter how advanced they may be) using the simple aux-input.

 

Now I couldn't care less whether the mp3-player for my car was an ipod, zen, archos or the mp3-player inside my cellphone for that matter. But because only this quite expensive type of ipod-adaptor was available when I bought it. I wanted to use it at its fullest potential (controlling the music-player from the radio is really handy when you have over 2000 songs on it, trust me.) which meant buying an ipod instead of any other type of MP3-player.

 

There are many situations like mine which enforces ppl to go the (less advanced) ipod route.

 

In that case none o/t advanced MP3-players will get their full success even though some really deserve to have success. unless Creative or Archos would make their device compatible with Apple's Dock connector and protocol. In which case it would emulate in ipod in circumstances that require this. Now THAT would be great.

 

Cheers

[sandmanfvrga]

Well in the reader news, Leopard is delayed and what is SAD is that Apple is putting to many on the iPhone to work on Leopard. New iPod coming soon? Doubt it.