New Technology TV

Apple’s great hope for its 5th generation iPod with video capability may be beginning to wane. Launched last fall among much fanfare and many press releases, there was a huge sense of optimism at Apple headquarters and around the Applesphere. Tube junkies were excited to have a new outlet for watching and downloading television, and iPod freaks were expected to purchase the new devices in droves. The reality of the situation has been that not that many people downloaded entire episodes of “Desperate Housewives” or “Lost”. The number one complaint about the device is that the screen is too small. Sure, it’s great for watching a quick music video clip, but trying to watch a 2.5 inch screen for an hour is not an attractive proposition. In fact, in the letterbox format, which most shows were delivered, renders the size of the screen about the size of two postage stamps! For three hundred dollars, most users wanted a better experience. In addition, posters to a forum online noted that the best viewing distance was about a foot from the face, which made it difficult to hold the iPod up to the eyes for more than a few minutes. Their arms simply got too tired.

There is an extensive amount of programs that are available, usually at a cost of $1.99. Here is a sampling of some of the television programs that are ready for download: “Alias”, “Scrubs”, “The Apprentice”, “South Park”, “Leno”, “Conan”, thousands of music videos of all types, ESPN Winter Games and much more. The problem is that only around 15 million programs were downloaded, and while that may sound like a large number, it is seriously disappointing to Apple and the content providers. It seems that many of the downloads ended up being viewed on laptops and PC’s—many users were not even viewing the shows on their iPods. Another problem that surfaced was that watching an hour long television on the iPod took a good chunk of the battery life, and didn’t leave as much power to listen to songs or podcasts. There are whisperings that Apple is considering enlarging the screen size on the next Video iPod. Rumors put the screen at 3.5 inches or larger. Users can play the iPod through any television if they have the proper cables, and since it can hold around 150 hours of video, it makes a handy portable video storage device. Another problem users found with the device was the audio portion of the show could only be heard by one person with headphones. The user wanted to be able share what they were watching, but without a splitter to send the audio to another pair of headphones, they couldn’t share the video experience. It’s too soon write off the Video iPod, but this latest version has generated considerable griping.