[Messiahtosh]

I've thought about the future of the iPod and I hope that I'm right about what may be coming. Since Apple recently made iTunes tracks available to download with bundled music videos and video features, it would make sense that an iPod could display the video files as well. iTunes also includes a video button now, in version 4.8.

Of course, it's still the music stupid.

Including video capabilities with the iPod makes sense as long as there is content to put on the iPod. With exclusive content or music videos, there would be content...and relevant content.

So, iPod music video. An iPod with the extra feature of having your favorite band's music videos alongside the music itself. Cool? I think so.

Starting at $900.

[Wraven]

$900 = ridiculous. Just IMO of course (but I think you were kidding anyway).

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by Wraven $900 = ridiculous. Just IMO of course (but I think you were kidding anyway).

Yes, I was. Maybe $549 realistically.

[LAmezq3984]

yeah, I mean, Apple has had the music video feature for at least 2 versions of iTunes now, so I think the public is used to the idea of having it there. But don't forget about the Movie trailers!! So if you try and put the pieces together, Apple has everything in place to either create a video iPod, or something entirely new that uses iTunes as a loading station. H.264 covers the video end due to its scalability, and of course they already have experience building something that works, so now its a matter of when. I fully expect Apple to release a video device that will play music, music videos, and movie trailers, along with any video you convert to H.264 in the near future (1-2 years)

[Franz Josef]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh Including video capabilities with the iPod makes sense as long as there is content to put on the iPod. With exclusive content or music videos, there would be content...and relevant content.

I would love to see it. But the record companies struggle already with Apple's pricing model for audio (and much prefer the Yahoo/ Real/ Napster approach) so it they won't be keen to extend it to video. Let's hope Steve is at his persuasive best.

[The Return of the 'nut]

I dont understand why record companies would prefer the subscription model. It seems like they get much less revenue and profit out of it. I just don't see how they have even agreed to the pricing structure of it

[Franz Josef]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut I dont understand why record companies would prefer the subscription model. It seems like they get much less revenue and profit out of it. I just don't see how they have even agreed to the pricing structure of it

Seems odd to me too. They are used to selling tracks hardcopy, assuming they are happy with piracy protection (a big if) selling (rather than renting) downloads is the same process, it's just a question of agreeing unit price with Apple who presumably negotiated good bulk discounts. Note that Apple and Yahoo - via their different routes - both thought to be operating with wafer thin margins. Napster would be making a mint (assuming anyone actually used it )

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut I dont understand why record companies would prefer the subscription model. It seems like they get much less revenue and profit out of it. I just don't see how they have even agreed to the pricing structure of it

Simple, you never own the music, you have to keep paying for it, month after month after month after month...

With iTMS you have a copy on your local machine that you never have to pay the music companies ever again but get to keep playing. Also, the music companies are in more control of the subscription model pricing where with iTMS they have to deal with Jobs and from some of the press releases that have come out in the last few months they aren't too happy about that.

[defaultmike]

if the average iPod user has only 20 songs in his/her iPod that were downloaded off iTunes, I imagine that record companies want to take advantage of all the users who don't buy their music online, thinking that they might rent it... of course, I don't think they would, but that's just me

[Robo]

I think, and have thought for a long time, that an "iPod video" is, well, pretty much inevitable. I mean, does anyone hear honestly think that Apple will never produce one? I think the question is more "when," and at this point, it seems to be sooner, rather then later. iTunes 5 could be the big video upgrade, and iTMS could become the iTunes Music and Movie Store. Apple seems to be testing the water with music videos on iTMS and some video support in iTunes 4.8. I wouldn't have said this a few months ago, but I honestly think that an iPod video could be on the slate soon. Perhaps not with the fifth generation iPod, but shortly thereafter (a la iPod photo) or at Macworld in January.

There are some other "portable media centers" out there. Apple wasn't the first to make a hard-drive-based music player. They waited to do it right. I think they're in a similair boat right now with the iPod video. You can buy a 20GB video player for $499. Apple is probably waiting until you can get more storage in a smaller package. I think the iPod video will probably cost around $499, though, although Apple might try and get it cheaper ($399?). I can see Apple wanting mainstream appeal for this device at launch.

Just keep in mind that what many believe to be the biggest threat to the iPod (as far as being the cool gadget to own, at the very least), the PSP, just launched in March. Apple has been alledgedly watching the PSP very closely. I don't think Apple will let the iPod become passe and "only audio" while the PSP becomes the thing to own.

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by Roboman I think, and have thought for a long time, that an "iPod video" is, well, pretty much inevitable.

Of course. iTunes came first, and eventually the iPod came to market. We'll definitely see a video iPod.

Remember when Jobs said that a video iPod was a bad idea, and he went on & on about there not being any content to carry on one? Now here's Apple, dabbling in content...

[Robo]

Yeah. I'd die for an iPod video. I might not use the Movie Store as much, because I'm more of a film buff then a music buff, and thus, like owning the physical DVDs and such, but I'd love to watch movies on the go. Plus, if the Movie Store allowed rentals, well, that'd be awesome.

[nassau]

i'm doubting the selling factor of Video for PSP since you'd have to invest in UMD discs, not playable on anything else but PSP afaik.

i'd love to get my hands on a PSP but not for the video stuff at all. i know i'd never go out and buy a UMV movie.

downloadable Video is much more versatile (as we all know). i'd put my money on iTMS or similar services. i can easily see Jobs talking to movie studios offering them a safe and marketable place in the online universe. NO DOUBT!

[sith_lord]

It seems that this will inevitably happen and it would be pretty cool to have visualizers on your iPod (hopefully including 3rd party visualizers). Since a company outside the US introduced a 20 gig HD that's waffer thin that it claims to fit in a Mini iPod. You can imagine that the higher priced models will also get the upgrade treatment. Possibly, a 120 gig iPod vid! The puzzle is slowly fitting together with iTMS along with H.264 coupled with the 4th generation improvements like longer battery life and Apple seeking new engineers to work on the rumored new iPod's GUI but I wonder what will power the 5th or 6th gen iPod video?

[curiousuburb]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut I dont understand why record companies would prefer the subscription model. It seems like they get much less revenue and profit out of it. I just don't see how they have even agreed to the pricing structure of it

Don't forget the other benefit of subscription over buy-once services... regular tracking.

Those tracks you're regularly 'renting' via subscription services provide record companies with an ongoing profile of your tastes. This allows lazy A&R reps to produce clones of the same sounding stuff since they know you keep renting it. There is little incentive to add new or alternative stuff, since their only definitive tracking is based on what you rented last month. Risk averse companies will tend to stick with what the tracking says was successful historically. Record companies often fit this mold.

Purchased music via the iTunes model is logged once, but thereafter they've got no real idea if you only listen once or it's your daily soundtrack and inspiration. With less dependence on historical trends in rentals from the archive, the likelihood of new artists or alternative sounds per update may be higher.
As a non-Record company*, Apple doesn't have those lazy A&R tendencies. They innovate.
*Apple Records (Beatles Label) lawsuit preventing the Cupertino folk from doing so notwithstanding.

Both iTunes and subscription systems can work towards building a more complex, longer term customer profile which may help identify patterns based on artist, genre, or other factors. Subscription systems by nature track more regularly, so it is logical to assume these companies will grow more dependent on this data mining.

Just late night rambling... cynical theorizing rambling, perhaps.

[Doxxic]

Interesting. Short videos might be interesting to always have with you, as opposed to long videos.

In addition to videoclips, these could also be the little videosnapshots we take with our photo cameras. They could be shown from the iPhoto library.

And how about this subscription model, where you could subscribe to a series of daily short videos, like a soap, news or like little video comics. Every morning you update your iPod, you get the latest and then you watch it in the train/bus.

If Apple provided the iPod with a private media area, they might actually have the definite winner (i mean porn...).

[Bryson]

As a maker of short Films, I'd find this very interesting. A couple of mine are already licensed by a company who are distributing to mobile devices (mobile phones at the moment) and a big push on video iPods could conceivably make the market much, much larger.

Could be very interesting.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I just picked up a PSP last week, and the screen is great for video. Definitely much bigger than the iPod but I can play movies and display photos on the screen as well as play cool games. I got it so I can have pics of my son with me wherever I go as well as kill time playing Lumines on the bus ride to/from work.

I'm hoping to see more music videos come out in PSP format (MPEG-4 variant). Video seems to be the #2 use of the PSP among owners if the various PSP message board posts are an accurate representation of PSP owners out there.

[Franz Josef]

Video iPods are a great idea but price, size and processing capacity look like hard obstacles to overcome. A ViPod would have to have suffcient memory and processing capacity to be credible - I'm struck that current 3G mobile phones struggle in this regard.

[Messiahtosh]

Well, at this point, I don't see why Digital Booklets couldn't be included in an iPod...

Of course, there are only a handful of albums that contain digital booklets right now...So if you're down with Bruce Springsteen then I guess it's awesome. Devils and Dust has grown on me though...

[curiousuburb]

How about a picture disc option for song icons in addition to album art?

Just because it is possible doesn't mean it is practical/viable/justifiable.

[curiousuburb]

Digital Booklets, eh?

I'd like to see them try an 'original' version of Agrippa... (emphasis mine)

Introduction to AGRIPPA: A BOOK OF THE DEAD By William Gibson "AGRIPPA, A Book of the Dead" is a longish poem written in 1992 for a multi-unit artwork to be designed by artist Dennis Ashbaugh and "published" by art-guy Kevin Begos. Ashbaugh's design eventually included a supposedly self-devouring floppy-disk intended to display the text only once, then eat itself. Today, there seems to be some doubt as to whether any of these curious objects were ever actually constructed. I certainly don't have one myself. Meanwhile, though, the text escaped to cyberspace and a life of its own, which I found a pleasant enough outcome. But the free-range cyberspace versions are subject to bit-rot, it seems, so we've decided to offer it here with the correct line-breaks, etc. "Agrippa" is the name of the particular model of Eastman Kodak photograph album my father kept his snapshots in. Click here for full text of Agrippa

"Hello, Agrippa Tech Support... yes, your book ate itself. Would you like to buy another?
No, we cannot get it back... it's a 'book of the dead', not a book of 'just resting' or 'pining for fjords'."

[Messiahtosh]

The digital booklets are just the insides of an album's cover; the pages of lyrics, pictures, and credits.

Seems to make sense and follow the "it's the music, stupid" mantra.

[nassau]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh The digital booklets are just the insides of an album's cover; the pages of lyrics, pictures, and credits. Seems to make sense and follow the "it's the music, stupid" mantra.

these should be fairly simple to "port" to a video iPod. for starters, just look at the screens in iTMS, those artist pages look pretty damn good to be just for a music store. just add lyrics and credits notes to that and include it when someone buys a song (i mean include it in the song, like they do with covers now...)

[CobaltFire]

So, what kind of processor do you think a Video device by apple would use? I can see them making the screen a bit larger, but I think they would keep the click-wheel. I kinda hope to see a Motorola 7557 processor in there at like 500MHz, with a stripped version of OS X running. That would be cool, but probably won't happen.

[Messiahtosh]

Originally Posted by CobaltFire So, what kind of processor do you think a Video device by apple would use? I can see them making the screen a bit larger, but I think they would keep the click-wheel. I kinda hope to see a Motorola 7557 processor in there at like 500MHz, with a stripped version of OS X running. That would be cool, but probably won't happen.

Well, what is inside of the PSP?

[CobaltFire]

Not sure what architecture, but it is a 333MHz chip with (IIRC) 32MB RAM.

[nassau]

they should make the video iPod roughly the same size as the iPod is today. then, somehow, make it logical to turn it 90 degrees to watch video. the screen should cover the the whole front. as far as controls go, i don't know. they're the interface wizzes, i'm sure they *could* come up with something smart. perhaps a touch-screen simulating the Click Wheel. perhaps even a "soft" screen, sensitive to pressure. then it would be the good old Click Wheel, only with graphics on it.

this would be a killer imo.

[CobaltFire]

Only if you want to wear your screen out ungodly fast. Ever wonder why touchscreens are still not the norm?

[jbloodwo]

Originally Posted by The Return of the 'nut I dont understand why record companies would prefer the subscription model. It seems like they get much less revenue and profit out of it. I just don't see how they have even agreed to the pricing structure of it

My best guess as to why would have more to do with how the revnew is seen by the lables and also the diffrence in how payong for a track Vs. rental counts toward teh artist royalty. it would not be suprising to me if the rental model favors the lable and not the musicians.