More iPod Rambling...

So I tinkered around with the new iTunes music store last night. I bought the first episode of LOST to see what all the hype is about and also to check out this new service. I think the idea of this kind of serialized portable entertainment has the potential to take off. I think Apple approached this new venture from the right point of view. They aren’t charging any more for the new video iPods and the video feature is somewhat of a bonus if you will. Its still first and foremost a portable music device which is why I think it will be extremely successful. I think that’s part of the problem with the Sony PSP. Its being sold as a portable movie player which is cool and in some circumstances handy or at least nice to have around like say on a long trip but as a whole people don’t watch movies on the go. (Plus you have to rebuy the movies you want in their UMD format which makes it prohibitively expensive in my opinion) Anyway back to the iPod… this is what makes “television shows” (can they be called that if they aren’t viewed on a television?!) the perfect fit for this kind of device. I think the next big thing though will be video Podcasts. They could be called vCasts or vPodcasts or something. For those who are unfamiliar, a Podcast is similar to a radio program but they are available online in .mp3 form so you can take them with you and listen to when ever you want. The majority of Podcasts are news related, be it sports, editorial, business, technology, and so on. These podcasts are available for free on iTunes. You “subscribe” to which ever ones you want to hear and new podcasts are downloaded to your computer as they become available. I don’t think it’s a big leap to see this sort of thing happening with video. For example you could potentially download a daily News report and watch it on your lunch break or something. Steve Jobs said something like “this is only the beginning” at the end of his presentation of the new iPod yesterday and I believe that he is totally right. It won’t be life changing, but it sure will make things more interesting. Apple started a revolution in the way we take music with us when they introduced the original iPod and I believe they are doing it again…