Cory Bergman reviews AppleTV vs. his regular cable/DVR combination. Sounds to me like a pretty close contest.
I just bought a video iPod. We’ll probably get AppleTV after we get settled into a new house.
I love carrying video around with me on my iPod. It’s a handy device when there’s time to kill. The quality is outstanding. The small screen size, for personal, up close viewing, doesn’t bother me at all. I’d say so far about 50 percent of my use is video. With my old iPod, time spent listening to music and staring at a wall while waiting for something or someone is now video time.
I haven’t gotten into buying shows on iTunes yet, but I see that happening.
the iPod and AppleTV combo seems like a natural fit.
I also see myself being more interested in getting local news video this way. If my local paper had a daily video news cast, something like TimesCast, I could see it being a regular part of my download habits.
On the flip side, from the standpoint of a content producer, the future of the attention economy is going to get a lot more competitive (as if it isn’t already hypercompetitive already).
My 10YO son got a video iPod for Christmas and I’ve found it invaluable when travelling on business to watch videos, listen to audiobooks, etc. Need one myself!
Agree on VOD, right on. Let people watch what they want when they want. My wife uses our computer to tape all kinds of shows and watches them at her leisure – built right into Windows.
But how long can you hold the iPod? I never tried a video iPod so I can’t imagine holding it for the duration of a TV show or movie. How long before your arm or hand cramps?
I’ve watched a couple of hour-long episodes of TV shows, and some other stuff for a half hour or more. It hasn’t been an issue.