Apple Video I-Pod

[ginapeterb]

Has anyone seen the New Boys toy on the block ?

I picked up my stocking filler yesterday at the Apple Store, its pretty fabulous, I opted for the 30GB model although you can get a 60GB version if you can find 150 hours of video, the video compression that Apple uses, is phenomenal, its 2.5 inch screen, seems just right for travelling, although it sets you back another £25.00 for the infra red dock, the unit is around £220.00, with the additional set of Altec Lansing speakers, with are also remote control, it looks and feels pretty fabulous in any setting, how Altec Lansing managed to create a max bass woofer on something that small, will never cease to amaze me.

The Apple I Pod looks and feels like the original one, but this baby is so much more fun, those people who remember the 20GB original white one, will notice its more or less the same in looks, the great thing about this one, is that it stores 15,000 tracks, or 75,000 photos, and 150 hours of video, although having an I-tunes account costs you around £1.89 per video, the quality and presentation of these videos is simply stunning.

I downloaded "Fix you" by Coldplay, I also downloaded "Bad day" by Daniel Powter, and a couple of U2 videos, "I havent found what Im looking for" but by far the best and incidentally Apples major flag flying advert across the world right now is "Original of the species", it sounds so fantastic when the I-pod is attached to the Altec Lansing M3 portable speaker system, the supplied headphones are adequate.

Although everyone agrees you need deep pockets to keep up with the technology, the jump from the Apple I-Pod 20GB to this baby is well worth the money, I spent about £10.00 on downloaded videos, which are around 3-5 minutes each, I notice their is a big difference in the compression tecnology used on these, against say limewire, mpeg format and others, seem not to be as smooth in comparison, I would be interested to hear what others thought, if they have one, this xmas, when I got mine, the queue at Apple Store was out the door, there was even a special line up to buy one, which looked funny, the Nano is great, my honey has that one, that was her Xmas gift, but sorry honey, you purchased me the I-Pod Video, you just dont know it yet darling...tsssups what a thoughtful wife you are hehehehehe

[walesrob]

Originally posted by ginapeterb@Dec 18 2005, 09:03 PM
Has anyone seen the New Boys toy on the block ?

the video compression that Apple uses,

Quoted post


Just out of interest Pete, what video file format does this baby use?

The reason I went with a Creative Zen as my MP3 audio player is the flexibility with file formats - I've been converting my entire CD collection to MP3 (Fraunhofer) format, and I'll be damned if I have to start again to convert to the whole lot to AAC that apple uses.

[ginapeterb]

Originally posted by walesrob@Dec 18 2005, 10:16 PM
Just out of interest Pete, what video file format does this baby use?

The reason I went with a Creative Zen as my MP3 audio player is the flexibility with file formats - I've been converting my entire CD collection to MP3 (Fraunhofer) format, and I'll be damned if I have to start again to convert to the whole lot to AAC that apple uses.

Quoted post



Hi Rob, I beleive its Apples own Quicktime 7, the store told me it works great with windows, it was really built for windows users in mind, what I did Rob, was download the latest version of I-tunes, which is I-tunes 6, which has all the videos and a new look, I then downloaded Quicktime 7 for Mac OSX 10.4 but it works so well with windows XP or any other Windows package, but its no problem with your MP3's you can drag your entire collection into I-tunes, I have lots of Tracks before I started using I-tunes, and Ive dragged them all into it, it works really well.

I put all my CD collection into I-tunes to be sync with the I-pod, and it put them on the I-pod in less than 3 minutes, secondly Rob, the I-pod Video is served much better with the I-Pod Dock, the new dock comes with univeral fittings for all the I-pod range, its also Infra Red, although I heard the Apple Remote, doesnt allow the Menu function to work, this has caused some dismay around the world, as people wanted to plug the s-video into their t.v. to view their slide shows and then find that the apple remote is pretty useless other than to change track, go back one or forward one, lower volume or increase, press play or pause, its pretty useless in one sense, since, the whole idea of plugging into the t.v. was that you could browse your slide shows and play your music videos, from your armchair, Ive just read some reviews of those who purchased the Apple Remote, and guess what, they are very upset, at USD 29.00.. they are not happy, the new IMAC G5 has a remote control for it, and the demo I saw recently, shows the IMAC G5 being accessed from anywhere in the house, pretty cool, especially if you want to view your slide shows from the sofa, or start your music, the Video I-Pod is not for everyone, especially if you have already paid out for a different model, or if you have an alternative player, but its cool to watch the videos on, and pod casts, pod casts are quite entertaining also, there are thousands of them, they are free to subscribe to, and if you want a new episode and one comes out, you dont have to keep applying for it, everytime you sync with I-tunes, it automatically checks for a new episode and downloads the latest one, pretty neat

[Admin]

I can never be bothered listening to music unless it's on a stereo and very loud, I prefer to have the live gig DVD's on.

If I need MP3 on the move I can use the XDA, but never do, always busy doing something else, then again if you live in London, you probably want to shut the place out of your ears :)

I just bought a 5GB pocket hard drive, size of a yoyo for £67. Fantastic for backing up your computer easily, and for transporting lots of data. Works on USB, is password protected, and you can even load XP on it and boot from it in case of an emergency. Works a hell of a lot faster than these pen drives, and much cheaper per GB.

[ginapeterb]

then again if you live in London, you probably want to shut the place out of your ears

Stop picking on London hahaha Keith you are up to your old tricks again, of slagging London, come down and visit us, see how the city is...come and enjoy yourself, its very cosmopolitan, come and have a chinese buffet with us in Shepherds Bush, take a trip on the many cruise ferries that run up and down the Thames, come to Leicester Square and hang out, and sip a capuccino, come to Covent Garden in the Summer, and have a Pimms, come to Chinatown off Picadilly and browse the many chinese shops, take a stroll through St James Park, or Kensington Palace Gardens, come with Gina and I, and hop on the Central Line, and browse down Oxford Street, or if you prefer, come to Tottenham Court road and see the many Hi Fi shops, browse the latest deals on everything you can think of, and when you are tired of that, lets go on the London Eye at night, and have a birds eye view of the city while sipping a glass of champagne, that can be arranged, come on Keith what do you need an invitation ?

London is and always has been the greatest city in the world, there is something for everyone, always something to do, ...heheheh, and your reply Keith ?

[walesrob]

OK, it seems I'm a little blinkered when it comes to Ipods - seems it does accept MP3, WAVS and AAC file formats, the same with the Video IPod - this takes the mpg standard used in most windows applications.

Still don't like the idea of having to install ITunes to access the player - my Creative can be accessed using the standard Windows explorer, using the good old drag and drop.

[ginapeterb]

Originally posted by walesrob@Dec 19 2005, 09:59 AM
OK, it seems I'm a little blinkered when it comes to Ipods - seems it does accept MP3, WAVS and AAC file formats, the same with the Video IPod - this takes the mpg standard used in most windows applications.

Still don't like the idea of having to install ITunes to access the player - my Creative can be accessed using the standard Windows explorer, using the good old drag and drop.

Quoted post



Apple have been a bit smart here Rob, when you put the Apple I Pod in the dock (not supplied) ehhehe, another £29.00 for the Infra Red dock, it sycs directly with I-tunes, and can detect also if you are nicking music from Limewire, this is of course very similar to Sony Network walkmans, which use the Atrac3 format, with the Atrac format, songs are literally checked in and out, you can only check them out to no more than 5 devices, such as Burning a CD, this their efforts to prevent song nicking, I dont mind buying videos from I-tunes, as the compression is so good, the frame rate is phenomenal, the other thing I like about Quicktime, is that the videos, are played from a streaming server, not a web server, the quality is much better, any way enough of that.

I also use Real Player 7, as Real Player uses a streaming server, so videos launch straight away, unlike windows media player which seems to have a problem with that, it tends to donwload the whole file before playing, thats why on my Boracay page, I use the real player format to show the Boracay video, as it launches literally in seconds, and streams down from my server.

I think the player you have Rob is excellent, one doesnt need to splash out on I-pod, if you have a perfectly good player, its just that I am totally using Apple for everything, I used to live and breathe windows, but now, having gone Apple..I am 100 per cent converted, the IMAC G5 is fantastic to use, it beats those Sony all in one...entertainment Pc's with those horrible folding down keyboards, using the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, makes the cables a thing of the past, I just love the whole set up.

Its just so b....expensive with Apple, and you literally pay for everything, I just wished they would have shipped a remote control headphone set with the video pod, the standard headphones supplied are run of the mill, I would like to have seen a set of headphones that control the player.

[Admin]

I've done all that tourist stuff in London, but the place is a dump when your off the main tourist routes. Even Soho is crap, visit the red light district in Amsterdam if you want to see real sex shows/shops.

I will be down your end sooner rather than later, I just need to finish my course of steroids first, as well as the little problem that our niece does not have broadband, which is big problem for me, as I need to do 500MB backups from the server every day.

Still maybe Santa bring it to her :blink: