The iPod Deal Apple Should Have Done
I’m sure everyone that’s interested has already seen the news of the video iPod, and seen Steve Jobs’s fabulous presentation.
Steve is a great salesman and Apple’s offering looks strong. It’s hard to believe that this new device will be anything other than a huge success. It would have been better if they’d found a compelling design for widescreen - but maybe they’re saving that for a new version, when video really takes off.
For me, though, there was something missing in the presentation; a fourth act if you will. Before I’d buy one of these things, I want to be able to view movies from my DVD collection on it, and to manage all of that from iTunes. So - the deal that needs to be done is one with the movie companies; to let iTunes users rip DVD movies at low resolution, for watching on the iPod. And Apple needs to extend iTunes to make it super-easy to rip DVD content to small format movies: select chapters (including getting rid of the annoying copyright notices); select subtitles; select languages. This would be a win-win for the movie companies and Apple. Letting people do more with their DVDs would drive both DVD sales and iPod sales.
Simon Brocklehurst's Weblog on 21 Oct 2005 at 3:15 am
Portable Video For The Mass Market – Future iPods and Mobile Phones
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