Lewies Blog

Some say that video killed the radio star, but I think it is going to be podcasting that kills the video star. On that note, Apple came out with the iVideo today. Rumors have been going around for a few months that they were going to do it. We all saw the small changes they made to iTunes with each version in preperation and speculated about it. All the time, Apple lied when asked about it.

So is the hype worth it? I think not. Looking at my habbits of iPod use, I wouldn’t make much use of video. I listen while doing my work, driving the car, or just walking around. During that time, I wouldn’t be able to dedicate my eyes to watching a video. My iPod is essentially the soundtrack to my life.

The only features that appeal to me are the longer battery life, more storage space, and color screen. I could just upgrade to the iPhoto for those features, but I have no desire to spend the cash for an outdated gadget with a heavy price tag. Frugal? Yes.

As I looked at the new iVideo, I noticed a problem. The headphone jack is no longer in the middle on top of the device. Also, the top data-port is missing. Apple has a habbit of making the most incompatible hardware around. There are many gadgets such as the iTalk that have turned up that you can hook up to the iPod series, but with this newest addition, those gadgets will no longer work without that port.

I figured I would have to download the new iTunes version tonight as well. I fired up the software and told it to check to see if there was an update. Nope. The reply was that version 5.0.1 was the latest version. How could that be? I downloaded iTunes from Apples’ website and installed it. I checked the version after the installation and saw that it was now 6.0. I also saw that I now had a Video node in my sources panel.

There are a few short Pixar videos going for $1.99 each. The videos don’t list how short they are and everyone has probably already seen them by now. These are the bonus videos that shipped with DVDs such as Shrek, Ice Age and Monsters, Inc.

I would have figured that Apple would have arranged to give away at least one free video for people to try out. Instead, you get a 20 second preview of each video through the iTunes store. I wonder if they will give full length movie previews for free like we see on TV or if we would have to pay a fee to see the full version of those as well.

On a side-note, I learned how to hack an iPod today to change the images within it. After mucking with different firmware versions with iPod Wizard, I discoverd that my iPod was using IDR_FIRMWARE-10.3.1. The first thing that I did was replace that stupid “Do not disconnect” icon with a picture of … me. The one problem that I forsee is that I’ll have to play with the firmware each time a new version comes out so I can keep my images.

Of course, this voids the warranty. But then again, why am I worried? I got the thing free and I never do those warranty things anyway.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2005 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.