No question-- iPod more for less $.

Whoever said this:

"No one has any video content to put on them, and even if they did, the screens are much too small," Jobs said, adding that the iPod is the "wrong place" for video.

is an idiot...

How can someone actually say "no one has any video content to put on ipods?

how many digital video cameras and digital camera that can take video are on the market?????

not a smart remark to say the least

though the ipod photo is a great idea i have to agree that it is a bad idea not to have video when phoneslike the sony ericcson t610 and p900 have the capability to play video but dont have the storage.

i expect Griffin will produce a camera to go on your ipod or a coneector for your digital camera so why not firewire video input to link with the excellent imovie??

perhaps in a few months apple will do a volte face, i hope

"how many digital video cameras and digital camera that can take video are on the market?????"

And how many of those are selling well?

Have you ever tried to watch a video longer then 10 seconds on your mobile phone? The picture is crap and it gives you a headache, imagine watching a music video or even a feature film.

Lets face it the the screen of the iPod Photo is going to be to small to watch moving images. Video should be left to products with a bigger screen, and I mean televisions or computers.

Apple is smart to move up to a portable video device in smaller increments. Jobs is right: The screen is too small for video and the amount of content available at this point is insignificant. I'm sure Apple will keep tinkering with the iPod and sneak up on video playback when it becomes practical and when the demand is there. Microsoft makes a mistake by trying to build a device that does it all now. Ease up to it, build the base for your product and then add video playback. The new iPods are cool. My only regret is that I bought one last summer so I won't be getting the photo iPod ... for now.

We did quite a bit of testing on consumer adoption of small video devices. The fundamental issue, for long term acceptance, is being able to see an actor's face in sufficient detail to grasp the subtle expressions a person is capable of ...

This works out to about 7 to 8 inches diagonal for a handheld device. Everything smaller failed badly.

Also connects to a tv so you can set up a slideshow with your i-pod. It seems to me that this will become a tool for all sorts of businesses with this added feature and Apple is on the right track. Video output later, for now other formats work better.

Anyone saying Steve Jobs is an idiot is, well.... an idiot. I'll take Jobs' genius in marketing and figuring out how to make products that actually work for consumers any day of the week.

Chances are very good that Jobs is not going to ever really let us know what he's actually working on until it's about to hit the market. No doubt the iPod will eventually be a video also product, complete with easy hookups to TV for actual viewing of movies. He's just not going to give away his strategies too early, but unleash them when the demand is ready to explode. Given the iPod's share of the market already, I think he knows what he's doing. The synching of iTunes, iTunes Store and iPod is key to the acceptance of the whole deal, and when iPod video is ready, there'll be a matching store and iTunes to make full use of it's capabilities.

I think video on the iPod should look like the ipod videos, an almost monochromatic version of an ordinary video. And some special songs sold on iTMS would have the video embedded. This way, even old iPods or B&W screen ipods can play the videos. It wouldn't be a huge feature, but just something simple that sets it way apart from the competition.

Just think...

If I were able to use a photo/video iPod to play a video and a Keynote presentation last Friday afternoon, I could have left my iBook at home.

Sound good?

iPod streaming video has several serious drawbacks.

Video is very resource intensive. It requires significant storage space, sustained disk transfers, high-speed disk i/o, CPU horsepower, and copious amounts of RAM.

All of the above are beyond the capabilities of the iPod disk, CPU, and battery. I would expect battery life to be minutes, rather than hours.

Apple warns users that the iPod disk should not be run continuously. It does not have the desired performance and can actually overheat. This is why home-directory-on-iPod is not supported (although I believe it was an original design goal).

When Jobs says no one has video content, he's talking about legal online easy-to-use downloads. And think about, we have jukebox software that allows us to organize and listen to our music, we have photo album software that allows us to do the same thing.

But where is such software for videos? There is no such thing as a video jukebox, and until video content becomes so ubiquitous that the need for such software arises, Apple won't be wasting valuable engineering resources to build a product that nobody will buy.

Case in point: the Microsoft Portable Media Players are selling SOOOOO well, cause it's so "idiotic" not to do video. Not.

Well, I own a digital camera, a Fuji with VGA 30fps with sound. I was looking forward to a product which would allow me to show these movies on TVs at friends' places, without bringing along the laptop. Also, an app to organize these home movies is sorely needed. At this time, iPhoto takes care of the photos, but guess who has to manually copy the movies over, in the Finder environment?

For some people, even a 12" iBook screen is too small to watch videos. However, the iBook is great as a multimedia output device to a TV.
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I wonder if downloaded pics from the Belkin can immediately be viewed on the iPod photo? People are assuming this, but any news from Apple on this yet?

Imagine custom iPods containing the latest Pixar movie

To me, the idea is not to watch video on an iPod necessarily, but who says you can't find a way to connect the iPod to a TV, or projector? (Besides, kids might not be so picky with a small screen as long as they get to see what they want--Finding Nemo, Harry Potter, or Garfield.)

If the iPod can't do it right because of the issues presented--heat and battery power, how about coming up with another version of an iPod than can?

I wouldn't mind carrying a larger version of the iPod to a friend's house to show my home movies or my favorite motion pictures from my library without having to swap out DVDs everytime (and risk scratching them). It would be cool. I'd buy it.

(continued from tesla)

...and wouldn't it be nice if it could have a CD/DVD attachment to play X-Box and Playstation games, too?

Hmmm. Very attactive indeed. ;)

(continued from tesla)

...and also act like a Tivo?

Very cool.

and a toaster, latté maker, toiletry and chauffer all built into it too?????????

Someone will hack the iPod and develop software that will play movies. Give 'em three weeks.

i listen to music, share (and take!) pictures with my friends, and watch videos all the time on my portable device. I downloaded the "clone wars" videos from starwars.com, and watched them during my commute. I have a program that regularly downloads news video from a handful of sites and syncs them to my device. I listen to a bunch of podcasts. I also read books, browse the web, aggregate RSS, and play games. My device fits in my pocket, and only ever have to charge it overnight. I also get access to my corporate email, calendar, and contacts.

From time to time, I also use my device to place voice calls and send SMS messages.

If you haven't guessed by now, my device is a Microsoft Smartphone... I couldn't imagine why i would want a device that *just* played music and showed pictures...

oops, i forgot to mention... smart devices like mine are available for less then 200$ (with service plan). yes, they don't have 40(or even 20) gig of storage; 1g SD memory cards are available for as low as 75$. i have about 4 that I keep my portable media on. most of my music is on one, my recent pics are on another (the one that i keep in my camera, of course), another has backups of critical work documents, presentations, and source code, and the last one has "current" media; videos, music, and pictures that i want to have at my fingertips at all time.

If i put the time into building a media center PC, then i could have my favorite TV shows sync'ed up to a 5th SD card. how much low bandwith, low resolution video can you fit into a single GIG SD card? i'm guessing at least 7-10 hours... thats enough sitcom to keep my silly little mind busy during the boring commute..

I looked at this thread when it first went up and then again today. Most of the comments make sense. The commenters 'get' the iPod. However, those who want it to be all things to all people are missing what it already is with the new photo capability:

~ A backup hard drive

~ A superb MP3 player

~ A way to store and view photos (which already has two forms of video out, though some posters don't realize it.)

That seems to be quite a bit to offer for a device that will likely sell for $500 for the high-end model in a few months.

Chris, I have an elite PDA, the Tungsten C. Though it has the abilities you describe in regard to your Smartphone, other than phoning, and a larger screen, it is woefully inadequate in delivering video and MP3s. One problem is that there is no way to make listening and or viewing private as there is with the iPod. Guess which I carry with me more often?

Someone said that Apple advises people not to play their iPods continuously because they will overheat. Ludicrous. There has never been such a warning and I've had them since the first generation.

Guess what -- there are portable video-playing Apple devices. They're called iBooks and PowerBooks. Just $999 gives you a 12-inch screen, full keyboard, wired and wireless network connectivity, USB and Firewire, S-video or digital output to your TV, even a DVD burner! This is just $400 more than the iPod Photo. Oh, and you can do Office apps, too. Just less than 5 pounds.

Okay, you can take it out for a jog, but do you really watch movies while you jog?

The existing iPod can hold video files, they just can't play them. But give them time.

Mac Diva:

The inadequacies (in terms of a/v) that you outlined with your PDA are expected since your device is... a PDA. As you alluded, in order to be successful for digital media (primarily music and video, but i'll include pictures, text, news, audio books, podcasts, etc) a device has to be designed with certain usability considerations in mind: i.e., discretion/privacy, unobtrusiveness, and the ability to operate with one hand (your other hand is carrying your portfolio, or straphanging, or paying your busfare, or whatever). iPods have good single handed navigation, and work good "in your pocket". Luckily, so does my phone.

Palm devices, on the other hand, generally require two hands to operate, and generally require undevided attention; they're traditionally difficult to operate "blind".

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By the way, eWeek has it wrong. iPod Photo is slightly thicker than 20GB 4th gen.