Looks like I'm gonna have to upgrade my wife's mini iPod to a Nano and my iPod to the new video iPod. X-mas is coming early to our home.

Portable Video systems with built in harddrive have been around for a while now, namley ARCHOS (hmm, did I spell that correctly?), Apples playing catch up. I'm not sure but with the ARCHOS you can record directly from AV sources such as DVDs and TV/Satelites and you can also attach a digital camera head that allows digital stills and video to be captured.

But this will be a big success, if only I had one three years ago (So many long train journeys!) alas, the newer generation will never know what long journey boredom felt like :)

Anhar

About time..hopefully I won't have to design a "Podcast" to register my video uplinks to iTunes. I have been waiting along with my "Silent Killer" (dual G5) and now we can take over the world....Muwahahaa

Keith,

You have to download both the new iTunes 6 and the latest QT version 7.04. Just having iT6 alone won't get the video.

BTW, I did download one episode of Desperate Housewives just to check out the quality. Not bad, but not in widescreen like it is on my tv. The size of the file was 206mb. It took over 2 hours to download but I'm sure that's because their servers were slammed pretty hard today.

-gb-

I love how I posted something about 8 months ago asking people what they thought about a video ipod coming out soon and lots of you laughed at me. I do rule!!!

So what's next to come out in a year from now, special ipod phones or something. It's just going to get more crazy!!

Greg B- Itunes downloads with the latest version of QT.

It didn't on my Mac system. It was so new as of yesterday that even the Mac software update application didn't detect new versions of Itunes or Quicktime. I haven't downloaded the new stuff to my Windows laptop yet.

-gb-

Sorry, haven't been around much recently am halfway through some intense production of 3 operas here.

Glad to see they finally came out with the video iPod, and I suspect it will be a big hit. Personally I have absolutely zero interest in watching video on a 2.5" screen... and it isn't even 16:9. I find it even more inconceiveable that I would ever pay money to download a TV show that I wouldn't even watch for free. But it's very cool that they are now offering this through iTunes. So as a shareholder I'm really happy with all this, but it isn't the kind of thing that I'd want to buy myself. Then again, I've never wanted a regular iPod either.

As far as Apple playing "catch up"... that's really funny. They already have wiped the floor with every other portable music player and own something outrageous like 80% of the market. Now they're really the only game in town with a video device. Sure, there's the PSP, the Archos, etc. but they don't have the iTunes store, the software or the "cool factor" that Apple has built so skilfully. Nobody stays on top forever, but for the time being it's everyone else that's going to have to play catch up IMO.

Funny thing Boyd... As we are trying to catch up, and get moved in while finishing the house, we have no cable at the moment. The way I see it, internet is a necessity, cable is optional. My wife on the other hand, has become a Housewives junkie. While I wouldn't give a hoot about watching a show on a tiny screen either, I can let my wife catch the latest episodes on my pc, full screen.

If $1.99 makes her happy... everyone is happy ;)

Now... Ifthey would only add Ghost Hunters and Supernatural, I would be happy too!

Anytime you can spend $1.99 and make your spouse happy, it's a good day. Hey, I watch Desperate Housewives because of the 'eye candy'. The storyline is pretty good, but Eva Longoria (a native Texan) is just hard to look away from. :-)

-gb-

Eva IS nice, but I like me that red-headed Donna Reed... too bad she is sooooo uptight!

Marcia Cross is nice to look at also. Even Terri Hatcher seems to look better on this show than she did on that Superman series a few years ago. I loved the promo ABC ran before the series new season premier featuring all of them and some song with the repeated lyric, "juicy". I'd pay a buck ninety-nine to download that!

-gb-

Hey Boyd

Here's a theatrical use for the video iPod. Have an assistant stage manager tape blocking sessions with a hand-held camera. Compress and put on a video iPod. You now have instant video reference to blocking . . . ok, maybe it's a dumb idea . . .

Maybe realtors put short home tours on a video iPod -- their clients watch while they drive from house to house, or drop in and borrow it from a local office . . .

You are running a teaching shop at a college theatre. The video iPod has saftey or how-to videos on it. Give to a student who missed class etc.

I think the thing has a number of similar neat applications

Sure, all of these are good ideas, I just fail to get very excited by anything on a 2.5" screen personally. A portable DVD player might be better suited for this, but of course the hard drive is much nicer. Analysts are predicting that an iPod with a larger screen is coming however.

Divx to the ipod
 

I have like 600 gigs of divx and DV video on my computer, anybody have any good ideas for converting that to H.264? I tried Quicktime Pro...didnt like the Divx codec...or even better any idea how to copy all of my LEGALLY purchased DVDs to H.264? I've been waiting for the video ipod to actually take some of my movies on the go, and when i began coping my dvds, i didnt think about what codec they would use...