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67 Comments
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It isn't the point that most people don't know bit torrent. The point is movie and television studios fear bit torrent. If they believe people are using bit torren to steal their shows and watch them on the iPod, they'll be willing to drop the prices and cooperate with Apple and the iTunes store just as the Recording Industry has. If this is Job's plan, I salute him for trying to give the American public more crap for cheaper just like he did with CDs. I'm still going to steal it all, but I salute him none the less.
- Anth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the biggest thing here is that Steve needs to convince them (the content providers) that they need to not make the consumer pay twice for the same content.
Why buy all the episodes of Lost for your iPod, THEN buy the DVD. Why not, as the author said in TFA, get the episodes for free (or heavily discounted, 75%) when you pre-order the DVD.
Maybe the $2 price is too much, and Steve is trying to set an example for the music industry, "See what happens when you get greedy? You lose sales!"
Oh, and $50 to the first person to writes a piece of software that takes my Tivo-2-Go shows from my Tivo, cuts the ads, and encodes it into MPEG-4 480x480, ready to put on my iPod. - 16x9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MikhoohkiM asked: "Does anyone know of any good programs that convert my videos to h.264?"
QuickTime Pro (costs $30) encodes h.264. As a matter of fact, the latest update to QuickTime, v7.0.3, includes a default option specifically setup to encode video for the new iPod. - wisewaif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0We need podtorrent,com! Someone already owns the domain, someone needs to set this up.
- Chango_Family, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No fast forward and rewind?!?
Is there a stop button at least? - Carbito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting analysis. It raises a lot really good points about the pricing and why Apple is doing it, however I'm not sure that I entirly agree with the Torrent part. Still, its a interesting concept.
- kungfustickman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Man Apple is really pushing people's buttons.
- ketsugi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I wouldn't be surprised to see iPod-optimised downloads soon.
Question, though: Aren't Xvid and Divx5 MPEG4-compatible? Wouldn't the iPod be able to decode them natively as well? - Charlotte_Web, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The problem with Engadget's speculation is that it sees the iPod as the end of the line in this scenario. More content to sell more iPods. Which I'm sure Apple wants to do anyway.
However, the fact that Apple simultaneously rolled out the iMac with the remote at the same time as the video iTMS tells me that Apple is slowly pushing into the media PC market. The iMac is not a replacement for a TV, but it's a good stop-gap measure until Apple has a large enough video catalog to warrant selling a media center Mac.
$1.99 per episode is not a bad price, although it seems a little odd that a 3 minute music video is the same price as an hour long show. And cable's video-on-demand is $3-4 per show, so Apple is coming out cheaper. - personman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think he's spot on about the torrents. I used ffmpegX to convert a divx video to ipod format. It was very easy. I'm sure there will be a lot of content on the torrent sites optimized for the iPod. Whether Apple likes this or not is another matter. Although, it will be added value for their hardware, and they care about that more than about content sales.
- unmarked, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0While I'm not sure of the details, I do think the article is heading in the right direction. I, too, found it interesting that video is not in the name. Remember too that the content is not HD either.
What this does however, is allow Apple to start building up its infrastructure to sell video content without having to be ultra secret about everything. Then in about 6-12 months, we'll learn what Apple's real video plans are.
It looks like Apple is addressing the convergence issue as well with FrontRow (another toe in the water). Imagine hooking up your Mac mini to your HD TV, downloading HD content (with an additional file for iPod transfer). If the shows are cheap enough, you'll ask yourself -- why do I need cable again? Why am I spending $50-$100 on cable to feeds me 33% commercials on most shows and fills the rest up with 100% commercials (ie infomercials) and then makes it difficult to let me determine when and where I want to watch it? - dubstar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0dang, that was a bomb article. i wish more articles were as inventive as this one.
- OrangeTide, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I wonder if this sort of thing will allow the millions of people who can't stand commecials to enjoy new programming? A lot of times when watching something (especially on SciFi channel or TBS) I give up about half way through and decide to just wait until the DVD comes out. The commecials blast you with shouting ads that last for what feels like 20 minutes.
The only reason for commecials to exist is to pay for the shows that are being aired. But if everyone paid $2 a show, then I would [hopefully] assume that commecials would not be necessary. Infact I pray that people who pay $2 an episode would not tolerate commecials in programs. You paid for it, why suffer with silly ads. I optimistically view this as a good trend. - oliyoung, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0h.264 is teh perdy, check out the HD videos on apple.com/quicktime.. and yeh, this is less a play for the PMP market and more a move to establish h.264 as *the* video standard - my phone plays it, my future iPod will ..
+1 Digg - dailyclerk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I totally agree with this engadget entry. But I'm still going to wait for version 2.0 when it's the official iPod cine.
Bring back the mini and put in a color screen! - Sferrero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I like the pre-order the dvd and get the downloads for free pricing scheme. Yes please
- the_snitch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I thought of the exact same thing about torrents becoming ipod native resolution/h.264 as soon as i heard that the ipod only decoded h.264.
I actually think this may be the major leadway that will push h.264 to become the new video standard. Everyone has ipods, and soon enough everyone will have these new ipods. unfortunately for now we're stuck with QVGA resolution, but when apple release their "HD ipod" next year, i can see alot of new content being offered on the iTMS then in HD resolution. Perhaps a new app that will allow consumers to legally rip their dvds/blu-ray discs to the computer (with some sort of DRM), and transfer to their ipods.
Of course, regular non-DRM h264 episodes will be all over bittorrent, and like the author said, because of the hardware restrictions of the new ipods, bitrates and resolutions will become alot more standardised on the warez sites. - Caps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah it does have ff/rw but it works exactly the same as ur winamp. You can drag the slider bar forward and backwards to move the video around.
- EPeters, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dudes! Divx and xvid are the best, ever. h.264 is pretty, but it's such a resource whore. I can't justify encoding to mpeg4 for my pc without a hardware decoder. Plus, the p2p community doesn't want the general public to discover bittorrent. They'll just screw it up. Finally, xvid is open source, and divx is free, so you will NEVER see a switch to h.264.
- fighto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0why no ff or rw?
- flunky02038, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0bloomin eck - 12 minutes late - i need to get the hang of this diggin lark .....
anyway - i dont know if this if Job's plan - but it certainy would p@ss of the content providers - so i'm all for it ..... - TimmyK., on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, lets see...
Crappy 4:3 video that only looks good when viewed on a $300 iPod with a 2.5" screen, or beautiful 16:9 video that looks better than broadcast quality when viewed on a standard def television with a $60 Phillips DVP642 DVD player (which plays divx files, and also can be set to all region, and has a PAL/NTSC converter built in). Unless they get their act together and offer QUALITY video downloads for the money I think it will be a while before divx and torrent die out. If they offered Lost in widescreen at a quality that looked decent on my television they would already have one devoted customer. I'd by the video out converter for my laptop, and gladly pay $2 to download it from iTunes and enjoy it widescreen and commercial free. And then I would still buy the DVDs too (I love DVDs and would rather buy television on DVD than watch it loaded with commercials). They'd make a mess of money off of suckers like me if they weren't so concerned about Joe College Student making a couple of copies for his buddies who weren't going to download the videos anyway. - fighto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wouldn't that push pirated video? Apple wants this?
- buckdog05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting idea. True that the majority of the public doesn't have a clue what bittorrent it, though. I can't imagine that the ipod will increase torrent use, just switch its formats to iPod optimized video.
- catullus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the torrent part is very interesting:
Step 3: Help drive Torrent traffic.
“WHAT??� you ask, “doesn’t this fool know that torrents are usually DivX files? Doesn’t he know that the new iPod doesn’t support DivX?� Yes, that’s true, but here’s where Apple earns its foxtails.
Anyone who has ever delved into the world of torrents has been greeted by a slew of file formats. Yes, the video is usually some flavor of DivX. However, the bit rate, the resolution, the audio format, etc. can all be different. The onus is then placed on you, the consumer, to download and configure the proper codecs. What if, on the other hand, a new set of torrents emerged. Instead of files intended for all types of destination devices, these files just assume they’ll be played on the wildly popular iPod. It would be easy enough to encode iPod friendly versions. It’s just H.264 and Apple (surprise surprise) offers a $29.99 upgrade to its Quicktime Pro package which offers encoding into H.264.
All of a sudden you’ll be able to look at:
Lost.S01.E02.ipod
and know that not only will the file play on your iPod, but that it’s been optimized to do so. Suddenly, the lack of DivX support isn’t so important. In fact, by excluding DivX Apple might have given the torrent community the direction it needs to truly make iPod torrents consumer friendly.
Within six months we’ll see iPod torrent search sites. People will be thanking Apple and wondering why DivX was such a big deal.
But why on earth would Apple want to drive torrent traffic? To pressure the content owners of course. - BxBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0aww man, and i just ordered an Ipod Video.. :(
- foohookups311, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think the torrent part of this article may have some validity. Apple may actually want to drive up pirated video on the torrents so that people buy the quicktime convertor for the divx files and so that this worries the movie industry into dropping their prices for videos on apples new itunes media store. IF people can get great quality videos for a fair price on itunes they would most likely do that instead of a half - assed rip off a torrent. Many of the music files u download of of P2P networks are often ripped like ***** with id3 infor missing and the songs cut early. I know that I have been purchasing legal music off of itunes now because the id3 tag info is filled out completely and correct with the aac file in perfect condition. This is a win win situation for apple.
- cruci, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm sure I read on doom9.org that there is an opensource h.264 codec in development, but I can't find it anymore.
Wardrive - there are no adverts in the TV shows you can currently download.
The Snitch - are you crazy? Certainly not everyone has iPods, and not everyone is going to go out and buy a new iPod just for these new features.
My take on the article: iPod optimised vids are not going to become the standard for torrented video unless
a) the iPod can acceptably play vids that are larger than 320x240 - no one who watches vids on their TV or PC is going to bother downloading something that low res.
or b) the iPod screen gets gets updated to at least the res of SD TV.
You may see some iPod releases of vids, but there's no way it'll replace xvid/divx for a long time.
Did I really read that the writer of the article finds it hard to configure divx/xvid to play downloaded videos? I've never had to configure anything, winamp seems to play everything just fine, and it's hardly the only app that does... - soccerob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0whatever apple's plans are i think they've got themselves a serious money-maker. and they're "shaking their money maker". and they are shakin it hard! i don't know about 1.99 per episode, but that's me, i know other people are gonna be all over that. i think apple has got its head on straight with what they're doin and this is seriously gonna give the psp and all those other pmp's a run for their money. free ipod: http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=23767479
- BlueStarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They're on to something me thinks... :D
- BlueStarr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You use the scroll to wheel to scrub through the movie. The buttons for fast forward and rewind won't be used for that.
- mackie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0for all those who are looking for a converter, I've found it. It's called IMToo Ipod converter. Search for the Torrent, it's out there. Great program. Combine it with DVD shrink which de-encrypts dvd's and saves them on your harddrive, and then convert them to ipod format. Bingo, rent a movie, dvd shrink it, imtoo convert it and it's on your ipod.
There is an ipod torrent tracker, called Podtropolis. www.podtropolis.com. All files are ipod ready. - DaviDK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The torrent part was the most interesting one in the article, but it's flawed.
Yes there will be torrents ripped for this video ipod, but it wont drive the p2p community.
Not everyone that downloads movies from p2p has an ipod, but they do own a computer, so why would they prefer less quality if they were going to watch it on their computer?
But Apple does want more studios to jump in, so they can sell movies.
Look at the new iMac with FrontRow, it was obviously made for the living room, that will be to the movie store, what the ipod was to the music store.
*initially I thought the mac mini would the "movie ipod", but things seem to have went another way. - cepher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0technically, torrent isnt p2p...just a very similar file distro system...but it created its own genre
Great ayalysis! I think Apple's got a good plan to torrent, they dont tax their servers that much *so people can waste more money with a short wait* and it keeps hosting prices down *the real cost of the music store*.
It doesnt matter that nobody knows what a torrent is, because their getting their crappy music and tv shows faster!
My god, Apple's done it again! - nick53, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Inhumanity (0): "No rewind and fast forward? iPod Video = loose. That is just plain retarded."
Read the comments/articles! You can scrub thru videos, like you can music on normal ipods, using the scroll wheel! - cepher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Oh yes, it really did seem torrenting by the speed of my download yesterday...
...Diggnation is on video podcast list... - NSXROX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good analysis. Engadget is right on.
- cuoops, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Welcome to the iPod postings on digg for 48hrs....
- krahzee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"it's because many modern video codecs (especially h.264) are highly CPU intensive when it comes to encoding AND decoding. Plus, in order to to create good looking video within the confines of smaller file sizes, the information required to reconstruct any given frame of the video is spread all over the place.
The hardware in the iPod is probably just barely able to decode and display the video. Adding the ability to fast-forward and rewind would bury the iPod's tiny CPU to the point that the user experience would be very frustrating. I'm guessing that you can jump from one location in a video to another but until they can embed more powerful brains into the iPod, fast-forwarding and rewinding just isn't in the cards."
Exactly why I'll wait a few generations to buy one.
Plus, I'd love to see a harness for A/V out to hook up to a TV.
Think about it. You can hook an ipod up to your stereo and listen to your collection, Why not be able to play those movies on you tv at home, in a hotel, etc.... - TK99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0First I think the studios are going to consider this a threat like RIAA thinks iTunes is since it is an independent ratings systems for shows.
The DVDs were the first sign of this, but with the convenience of this I expected more of an impact.
But the MIAA and RIAA are both running scams on artists and consumers and anything that can prove actual viewers/listeners is a threat to their racket.
In the end I think both the RIAA and MIAA will try to kill Apple at every turn. - bacon_skoda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is some wild as speculation. 1st why the heck does jobs care about making a standard for a pirate community? he has the ultimate legal distribution, iTunes. this blows the integrity of the whole article. and it is speculation, not apple's plan. one man's day dream. and why is this guy asserting $2 is too much? I'll pay $2 for a show I love but missed. Of course I can steal it for free too, but nah.
downloading and encoding and downloading and encoding takes too long. if it takes even an hour, i already lost more than $2 of my time. - nanoguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is similar but not quite as far reaching as the commentary found here: http://freeappleipodnanos.blogspot.com/2005/10/apple-ipod-announcements-commentary.html
- lws07, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sounds pompous enough to be a Steve Jobs plan, mmwuuhaha
- TK99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Oh and one more thing with the new generation of digital paper expected out in 2007 that's when the best Video iPods will start coming out, not mention those $100 laptops.
- anagami, on 07/02/2008, -0/+0interesting article :)
my favorite quotes:
“I told you so; it’s just like music. If you give us all your content and lower the prices, we’ll sell it for you.�
"It would be easy enough to encode iPod friendly versions. It’s just H.264 and Apple (surprise surprise) offers a $29.99 upgrade to its Quicktime Pro package which offers encoding into H.264."
QuickTime is now one of the top sellers (7º Mac version and 9º PC version) of Apple Store (online).
"Within six months we’ll see iPod torrent search sites. People will be thanking Apple and wondering why DivX was such a big deal.
But why on earth would Apple want to drive torrent traffic? To pressure the content owners of course." - Jeppy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't wait...I have been waiting for this. I was hoping for an iPod with a built in radio tuner but I will be happy with the video....
- whiskeybravo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I couldn't agree more in the Divx comments. I would drop it in a hearbeat for consistently encoded videos. Consistent encoding means simplified transcoding. This is the biggest problem in internet video today IMO. The second biggest problem is bandwidth, which is why you won't see delivery of HD content anytime soon until the studios have no choice but to accept torrent distribution. The day will come.
- ArchonSG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0People gotta stop being lemmings and stop buying iPods just because a new one's released and they think its "cool" to own one.
Frankly speaking, I think Jobs have plans for a *real* Video Ipod and its not this one, this one's just to test the waters to see who would actually buy and who'd actually pay for a dinky little videos just to be "cool" for the few weeks.
The Nano's a hot buy, but I feel that this recent ipod video thing is just an experiment on Apple's part before they decide if they want to comit on a real portable video player. Imagine a control wheel roughly the size of the shuffle's and the rest of an ipod's real estate is taken up by a much larger screen. - SonjaKelli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sounds like it would work! And it doesn't matter if the general public doesn't know about Torrents - the current community is pressure enough and it's growing.
- aggies11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A few clarifications?
I'm not 100% of these, but from what I read so far, I *thought* this was the case
- Ipod Video doesn't have fastforward, per se, but does allow you to use the scroll wheel to jump to any part of the video. And in that case, it's just semantics.
- Does play divx/xvid (I thought some sites tested this? Unless my brain is fading too old age ;)
Regarding torrents, this info both scares and saddens me. Right now, you are seeing more and more "PSP" tv-show rips online. Smaller res, with more complicated codecs. God help us if 320x240 h264 becomes the new standard.
If the ipod becomes popular enough (for video playback!), then I could very well see this happening.
For me, the "Best case" is that: This new ipod helps grow the PVP market, a "Video Ipod" comes out that really sets the bar (the offerings we have had so far are pretty much all lacking) and that drives BETTER quality PVP's, untill the "Killer PVP" is finally released.
If the crappy 320x240 2.5" 4:3 Ipod becomes the PVP standard, then I will cry :(
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