October 13, 2005 – 11:25 am
So Steve Jobs launches the video iPod yesterday – and nobody seems terribly happy about it, apparently. How come there’s another buggy version of iTunes? Why on earth would I want to watch TV shows on a three-inch screen? Why would I want to pay for music clips I can watch on MTV?
I seem to be the only one in the blogosphere that’s sitting here thinking – oh, cool…
Let’s forget for the moment the stupidity of that MTV argument. That’s a bit like saying why buy records when there are radio stations? Let’s also overlook the fact that I’m really not that interested in buying the promo clip for the last Kaiser Chiefs single… at least, not just at the moment (I have to confess an inexplicable fondness for them and the other ‘K’ bands – Killers, Kasabian… though not Keane).
I am, it should be pointed out, a person who collected and kept – well into adulthood – 18 3-hour video tapes of music clips recorded off Radio With Pictures in the mid-late 1980s. I have since released them into the wild, but I totally get the long tail potential of music promo videos.
Sometimes, I want to go back and watch the clip for PIL’s ‘Seattle’ or Lloyd Cole’s ‘My Bag’. Owning them in reasonable quality, in stereo, on a random access device makes perfect sense to me. I did get bored with fast-forwarding and rewinding and ejecting VHS tapes to watch the clips I wanted to watch.
And I like music promo videos. Some of them are perfect little works of art in and of themselves. And some are just cool.
This, my friend, is where the much feted ‘Long Tail‘ kicks in. I want to plug an iPod video into my telly and watch, say, a selection of kiwi music clips. I want to be able to carry that video to a friend’s place and watch them there as well.
And while I might not be iTunes’ biggest customer, it’s probably something to do with the fact that I haven’t really been an active purchaser of singles in any format for at least 25 years.
But remember, this is something new: the ability to select music video clips a la carte and watch them in any order you choose. I’m not entirely convinced I should be paying for the contemporary ones – they are, after all, expensive telly ads for CDs – but then I’m not really in the market for those ones either.
Let me know when the video for Shriekback’s ‘Nemesis’ is up online – or that promo clip Miles did for the Tutu album – and they can have my cash.
In the meantime, if you want any third party iPod accessories – buy them now while they’re still cheap enough…
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7 Comments
You will notice that the cable to plug your ipod into your TV doesn’t come with the new ipod. There also seems to be a special video version of the ‘dock’. Let’s bet the cable is around £20 and the dock £50! I paid £20 for my DVD player! If I wanna plug something appley into my telly it will be ‘my’ powerbook.
iTunes selling episodes of “lost” (and other ABC hits!) for $1.99? That’s crazy talk.
I for one think an mp3 player should do what it says on the tin. Leave telly to TV’s….
While I also reject the automatic multifunctionality of all new devices, I think there’s still room for a bit of what we used to call ‘convergence’.
Having used an iPod Photo as a slide projector, the internet as a radio, a phone as a calendar, a computer as a cd shelving unit, and a camera as a hard drive, I’m not quite so rigorous about ‘one tool, one purpose’.
I think people will buy TV shows. US$1.99 per episode makes the entire Firefly series about UK £15 all up as a download. That’s not entirely unreasonable.
There are some shows I would happily pay $1.99 for. The first episodes of Mork and Mindy and The Tick would be first on my list. I’d also probably part with that sort of money for an episode or two of Animaniacs. Or Bro Town. Or Black Books. Or the South Bank show.
Wait till there’s a bit more content.
That said – I don’t actually HAVE a video iPod, of course – and if I’m buying these things online, it’s my laptop I’m watching them on. That happily connects to the telly if asked nicely… but it does well by itself for those long train journeys.
Interstingly Music Videos cost £1.89 in the UK! You also can’t buy the ABC TV shows here, all you can get is Pixar shorts.
Why would the same music video cost $1.99 in the US and £1.89 in the UK?
Screw apple! I vote Google for world domination…..
ps im sorry, i am fast becoming a big apple fan!
I thought it was a great idea. I didn’t realize it wasn’t a great product add-on. Sprint wants us to watch TV clips on a small cell phone.
I can’t get over the lack of buzz that this is getting.. I hate watching movies on my laptop.
~jenniferk~
http://www.milliondollarsweethearts.com
The lack of buzz over this thing is astonishing.
~jenniferk~
http://www.milliondollarsweethearts.com
why not just get an iRiver (for a lot less £££), do the firmware upgrade, and you’ll be able to play videos on that. as well as Ogg, WMA etc…