Land of Oz

Video iPod

Hype can be deceiving. OK, while I'm not the hippest digital guru around, I am fairly handy tossing around computer files. I know the difference between a .gif and a .bmp and an .mp3 and know that to the point that I'm aware a gif will compress in dramatically different percentages depending on if it has vertical or horizontal stripes.

In spite of all that, the Apple video iPod was a bit too much to deal with. It's become quite obvious that Apple wants you to buy from iTunes - pure and simple. I probably should have done more research on all this, but didn't. We wanted a video iPod to view, not surprisingly, videos. It seems however, and it's not all that much emphasized, that an iPod (and iTunes) is very picky about what it will display. Basically it want's its own version of an .mp3 or .mov format. In fact, iTunes won't even recognize other formats.

The main thing we wanted to watch was some videos in .rmvb format. To get this into an iPod, you need to buy (freeware is seemingly non-existent for this process) a video conversion program. You then have to convert from .rmvb (or rm, or basically anything other than QT or mov) to mp4. This isn't instantaneous. On my computer, granted, it's older, but still pentium based with 512MB, it took about 40 minutes to convert a 40 minute video. Granted the software would let you batch convert, perhaps overnight, but still... Now I could load it into iTunes, but surprisingly, not into the iPod.

Now you have to use iTunes to convert the .mp4 into iPod format which takes another 40 minutes (I think longer, but left the computer to go shopping). And of course after all that you're still viewing this video on a screen which would be hard pressed to display some stamps full size. (But I'll agree the size issue is my personal problem).

Would a Mac have made the process a lot easier? Perhaps, but from what I can guess, you'll still be converting conversions to let the iPod deal with what it wants. Of course the easiest course, both legally and logistically, is to just buy from iTunes. But why should I have to re-buy videos I already own just to watch them at my convenience. I know this is whole different kettle of fish, but one that isn't going away.

The bottom line was that after a week of me and my wife fiddling with and reading about the iPod, we gave up. The folks at Best Buy were great with our return giving us no hassle and no stress. We ended up buying a Zenith DVD portable player we noticed on our way out for $80 and it's working just fine.

Labels: apple, computers, gripes, tech