Well, two outta three ain’t bad. First there was the iPod nano. Great product. It’s thin; it’s stylish; it’s selling like crazy. Never mind the recall or any of that stuff. The iPod nano is a winner. Then came the iPod phone. The ROKR failed to thrill. With 100 songs, why would anyone buy this thing. And the carrier choice is absollutely dumbfounding. Personally, I thought that one of the two US CDMA carriers was going to get the business.
Now for the third product: the iPod Video. This wasn’t much of a secret. And the only really novel piece about the hardware is the screen size. With 60GB being the largest current model, htere isn’t much room for mass quantities (of video storage, that is). But since iTunes does support RSS enclosures, I’m sure lots of folks will be storing Rocketboom on their iPod. But back to new things… In order to accomodate the new screen, the scroll wheel has changed again. But the model for this one is the iPod nano. So there no big cataclysmic change for folks to process.
But all of this does mean that there is a new media type for the iPod. Now, there will be a means of directly integrating QuickTime into iTunes. Yes, I know it was there all along. How else did the music videos get displayed on ITMS? But this integration will push Apple one step deeper into the media content channels of the Windows community. In my mind, this is good. I want to see someone challenge Microsoft and WMV. And given Microsoft’s recent settlement with Real, I can be pretty certain that Apple is the best bet for a credible video challenge on Windows.
Will I buy one of these systems? Not now. I have a new 60GB iPod. So there is nothing that would really draw me to this platform right now. But I guarantee that when I need a new iPod, it will be one capable of video storage.
-CyclingRoo-