The iPod Is Still Very Much A Music Device
from the as-useful-as-a-vcr dept
New research from Nielsen says that iPods are overwhelmingly still used to listen to music, rather than watch videos. Overall, videos represented 2.2% of the media items played by users of iPods with video functionality, while they spend just 11% of their "iPod time" watching videos. It's hard to know how to interpret the data just yet, but since the launch of the video iPod, it hasn't been clear just how consumers would respond to the new paradigm of using an iPod or similar device to watch video -- although previous handheld video players haven't enjoyed huge sales. Part of the success of the iPod as a music player is due to how easy the iTunes software makes it for users to rip their CDs and put the content onto their device; iTunes can't do the same for DVDs and video. But the bigger problem, perhaps, is that watching video is an activity that requires the user's full attention, it's not like listening to music, which is a rather passive activity that can be done doing other things. Of course, maybe the iPod just isn't as a good a video player as it is a music player, either. Before condemning handheld or mobile video as dead, the market could use some tinkering with business models, as well as the release of more devices to see if consumers are really interested. But here's one suggestion: if your video efforts are resting on selling expensive, locked-down reformatted content, you might want to rethink things.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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bright shiny objects
www.thatpoliticalblog.com
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Re: bright shiny objects
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Ipod videos
Well mine can play videos on it. Its a small flash based one.
I could prob shrink one dvd down to AVI formatt and then convert it to my mp3 players files.
Well the only problem I see with it is there is no Fast foward, or rewind feature on it.
It would be bad if you cut it off and could not get back to where you were. And the screens are so small. After even 1.5 hours I am sure you would be tired of it. I use mine for just showing short vid clips to friends.
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Big screen, little screen
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iPod with video
The iTunes store started out by only selling music videos. This was the intended usage at launch. Later Apple added TV and Movies.
Apple always says bigger screens are better (iMac 24"). That is why the iPod video has TV out.
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umm, video is still over-hyped
I don't think there ever will be a real market for watching TV shows or movies on a screen small enough to make fit in the tiny device that people clearly want for carrying around. Now that could change if they built an output so I could hook it to a real screen and watch a movie.
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Take a note from the Video-cellphone play book, "Not too many people actually use their 1.75" screen cellphones to watch content -- it is primarily a look-what-my-phone-can-do type of toy".
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Yep, It's a music device. No Surprise.
Oh yeah, didn't jobs continuely say that the world wasn't ready or wanting portable video before releasing the 5G version and then still not emphasizing the video side in any way. Hmmm, maybe he does get it.
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This is not news...
Plus then you have addt'l (generally) DRM bs to deal with, with video, too.
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Creative Zen is a true video player
If you're looking for a wide screen device to watch movies on, check out the Creative Zen Vision W
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Indeed.
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