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does this mean you can load videos from your computer?

October 12, 2005
Apple Introduces Video iPod
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. unveiled Wednesday an iPod capable of playing videos, the latest creation in its ever-evolving and hugely popular line of portable music players.

The company said music videos and TV shows will also now be sold on its iTunes Music Store.

Citing a groundbreaking deal with ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., a longtime partner of chief executive Steve Jobs' Pixar Animation Studios Inc., Apple's online iTunes store will sell episodes of hit shows "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for $1.99 apiece, making them available the day after they air on television.

"It's never been done before, where you could buy hit TV shows and buy them online the day after they're shown," said Jobs.

The new video iPod, available in black or white, will be able to play video and podcasts. A 30-gigabyte version will sell for $299 and a 60-gigabyte, $399. Extra features on both versions include a clock, a calendar that Jobs said never looked better, a stop watch and a screen lock.

"It's really very beautiful and very thin," Jobs said at the much anticipated news conference.

Uh, yeah.

If you thought downloading MP3s were hard, just wait until you try downloading music videos: 8 billion codecs, numerous file formats, general lack of availability, and stingy download restrictions.

While mp3s are a nice, unified format(er, um), music videos are not. And sadly, 99% of the videos I own have horrible sampling/bit rates. I wish I could just overlay clean mp3 audio onto a music video to give it a better life.

[quote][i]Originally posted by British[/i]
<br>While mp3s are a nice, unified format(er, um), music videos are not. And sadly, 99% of the videos I own have horrible sampling/bit rates. I wish I could just overlay clean mp3 audio onto a music video to give it a better life.
[/quote]
You need to go sample some of my videos on the hub - 90% MPEG4 video quality, 160kbps ACC audio, often 5-channel stereo. [8D]

Actually have one and Quicktime makes it very easy to convert. They have an option in the dropdown in exporting to convert to ipod. As with the quality, it's always GIGO. If you start out with a good source the end result is just as good with the mp4 compression.

I love the new thing!

[B)]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Urlme[/i]
<br>Actually have one and Quicktime makes it very easy to convert. They have an option in the dropdown in exporting to convert to ipod. As with the quality, it's always GIGO. If you start out with a good source the end result is just as good with the mp4 compression.
[/quote]
You and my son both have trumped me in the iPod realm. I'm so jealous!

The $29 upgrade to Quicktime Pro is well worth it if you play around with MPEGs. The "iPod" option is actually just the 320x240 size with the new H.264 compression. It's quite good. H.264 flavor of MPEG is actually the new default format for Quicktime (.mov) if you don't choose something else. Pro also has rudimentary editing functions, ability to export audio only to MP3 or AAC, and is just a fine basic swiss army knife for video. I've taken these MOVs to my PC and WMP, and it plays them just fine as well.