Audio Video News

Last week Apple concurrently announced a new iPod digital music player that can play digital video as well as audio, and iTunes 6.0, which enables users to purchase and download music videos and TV shows from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS.

Two versions of the new iPod are available- a $299 30GB capacity model and a $399 60GB model. The new iPod flagships perform real-time decoding of MPEG-4 and H.264 digital video, and Apple claims the 60GB model can store over 150 hours of video that can be displayed on its 2.5-inch TFT screen.

In addition to offering over 2,000 music videos for sale at the iTunes Music Store, Apple will also have six short films from Pixar Animation Studios for sale and download. It was also announced that Apple has reached a deal with Disney that will allow it to sell episodes of five of ABC's hit shows, including Desperate Housewives and Lost, as well as children's shows from the Disney Channel. Each music video, Pixar short and TV program will cost $1.99 per download/episode.

All of the video content purchased and downloaded through iTMS is encoded with Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management. While the video content can be copied and played on multiple "authorized" computers, burning to CD or DVD discs isn't permitted.

Each version of the new iPod is significantly slimmer than previous models, and in each case the storage is increased a full 50% in spite of the fact that the new players sell for the same price as their predecessors (previous iPods featured 20GB and 40GB capacity).

At UAV we spend so much time thinking about large displays with 1280x720 and now 1920x1080 pixel counts that watching movies or even TV shows on a 2.5-inch screen with a 320x240 pixel count seems like fast food video! Before thinking about watching full-length feature movies on your iPod, consider that Apple estimates a 10—20 minute download time over a broadband Internet connection for a one-hour TV show. On the other hand, kicking off a download before you go bed at night can give you something worthwhile to watch on the subway ride to work in the morning!

Both versions of the new iPod begin shipping this week.