ViPod Changes Everything

I'm sure by now, most of you guys out there know that I'm a gadget freak. While it took me 3 generations of the iPod to be released before I picked up my own, it wasn't because I didn't dig the idea of an mp3 player. Finances allowing, I'm what you'd call an early adopter. I owned the very first mp3 player waaaay back in 1998 or 99--the Rio. Anyone remember that little sucker? The smart media slot meant I could store 32 megs of songs--WOW!! Of course, a 32 meg SM card was hugely expensive back then, so it really was a big deal.

When the iPod first came out, I felt like $400 for 20 gigs was damn pricey for something that just held a LOT of mp3s. As it turned out, as many of you know now, the iPod can do a lot more than just hold a lot of mp3s. On top of mimmicking features of PDAs, it is also a very solidly-made device. It's got moving parts inside, but they're so well put together that you'd hardly know it. I love my iPod, but I was getting antsy for a handheld that could play video.

I started eyeing all of these handhelds from no-name companies. The DVX-Pod looked pretty awesome in theory, but I read that it sucked in practice. Creative came out with a bunch of vid-players but they were too pricey. One of the reasons I got a Nintendo DS was because it was pretty cheap and with the GBA Movie Player, I could watch videos and to all the people who wonder who would watch entire movies on a 2.5 inch screen--I WOULD. And I have--many times. When I'm cutting something on Final Cut, or doing other RAM-intensive activities on my PowerBook, I can't just pop a DVD in and watch it in the background. The DS with The Day the Earth Stood Still or Colossus: The Forbin Project has saved my brain from media boredom more than a few times.

But converting vids for the GBA MP is a pain in the ass even if you have a PC. Compression rates are wonky and I can never get precisely the same results. Sometimes I can't even get vids to play on the damn thing.

Here's what I like about the ViPod that makes it different from all previous media players I've eye-balled (ha-ha! that sounds dirty!):

1) It's made by Apple. While I've had my problems with Apple hardware, my iPod has quite literally never let me down. Seeing the ViPod for the same price as other competitors that I would normally call too pricey isn't a contradiction because I know that I'm getting a better device for my money from Apple.

2) ViPod will support QT7 and mp4. QT is a format that PC and Mac-users alike can easily create and at the resolution that the ViPod supports even messing up the settings a little won't make that big of a deal. Mistakes on a 2.5 inch screen aren't that noticeable unless you really screw things up which is hard to do with QT (I know this from experience). Mp4 format is also kick-ass because it allows a 2h20m film to be compressed to just 300 megs, or so. Figure you go with the 60 gig ViPod and imagine just how many movies you could fit on there. 3 movies per gig works out to 180 movies, I think?

3) Then there's the ubiquitousness (is that a word??) of the iPod. Like it or not, Apple has created "cool" with their music players. Everyone who wants to "belong" owns some sort of iPod even if it's a low-end Shuffle. Now, if even one-quarter of the people who own iPods upgrade to the ViPod just imagine how many millions of people that is who will own personal media players (PMPs). Now imagine those millions as a new market for digital downloadable video.

See where I'm going with this?

Apple has already announced a partnership with Disney to allow for pay downloads of ABC/Disney shows for just $2 a pop. Now imagine all of the mom-n-poppers out there who will create their own shows for play on the ViPod or other PMPs.

In my opinion, we're looking at a total media revolution on par with VHS and maybe even the TV, itself.

No longer will a show need a TV network to reach huge success. Imagine if the makers of Farscape continued making shows but just charged $2 a download. If there are just a million fans of Farscape out there, they'd make $2 million instantly. Can't get a distribution deal? Who cares?

Sure, the ViPod and the PMP, in general, could bomb. But I don't think they will. In today's hectic world of TiVos and DVRs that let you watch what you want when you want, "on-demand" is the phrase-du-jour that allows each one of us more control over our entertainment and ultimately our lives.

Forget to TiVo that football game? Download it for $5 from the NFL website and watch it on your computer or your PMP on the commute to work.

One thing I never have time for is watching the DemocracyNow.org news show every day. I DL the podcast and listen whenever I'm out and about. When I'm on the bus, I could easily watch the show, but they don't have it available in GBA format, so I have to listen, instead.

A couple of people in [http://undergroundparadigm.com/dc|my play] (Director's Cut, now performing until November 5, 2005 at the John Raitt Theater in Hollywood ;) ) are putting together a puppet show they hope to allow people to DL from their website. When they get it up and running, I'll link to it for sure. But just think about how much more people will watch their show now that they can DL it to their ViPod or other PMP.

On every level a PMP revolution could give voices and success to people on all levels of the financial spectrum.

Of course, it could also help traditional TV follow the dinosaurs. That means big business' stranglehold on what gets seen by people and what doesn't will also follow the dinos.

See? This very well could be a major revolution, here.

The smart people will embrace it. The short-sighted will deny it and the corrupt and greedy will actually try to scuttle it.

Who will win? All I know is that I'm getting me a ViPod if I have to sell every damn toy I own.

Or maybe I should just get a job. o_O