Video iPod / iTunes Video Changes Everything

By tackling video in iTunes and with the video iPod, Apple has single-handedly changed the media landscape. As Mark Cuban mentions in his story How Bob Iger Saved Network TV, the television market is fundamentally changed because Apple is making legal video download mainstream. By setting a $1.99 price point for everything from music videos to TV shows, Apple has dodged the Hollywood movie business and created a whole new market. Where a TV show used to go through pilot, hang on as long as possible and eventually be cut, the new model allows for a TV show to continue production as a download only property. At $1.99 per episode per download, the numbers are potentially staggering.

Apple advertises iTunes videos as a music video download service. It’s a nice segway from the music industry, but music video download isn’t as big a niche as television shows. At $1.99 per episode, you are getting ten times more for your money with a 42 minute TV show than you are a 4 minute music video. Add to this the fact that TV shows are much more universal than music videos targeted toward Mtv’s 18 to 25 segment of the population.

Apple dodged the Hollywood movie studios with their price point. Clearly movies are out of the question at $1.99 so Apple is free to experiment without angering movie studio lawyers. However, of course, Apple will attack the Hollywood market as soon as they have some good history with television shows. It will just be a question of brokering some deals and setting a price point.

Just as AirTunes brought iTunes music to a home stereo near you, “AirVideo” could bring TV shows and eventually movies to your home theater. There is no technical reason why Apple couldn’t release an HDTV box that drives your home theater as well. As the iPod / iTunes combination is making CDs irrelevant, so could the iPod Video / iTunes Video combination make the DVD irrelevant! This, of course, has obvious far-reaching implications.

Literally nothing physical will replace the CD. MP3 files aren’t a physical format. They make the physical format they reside on irrelevant. The whole High-Def DVD debate is irrelevant as well because I don’t think anything will gain enough marketshare to replace the DVD either. It’s going to be formats like MP4 video files from Apple that will replace the DVD.

If Apple can post some big numbers and get more television shows, which I am convinced will be fairly easy for them, they could be sitting in the middle of a very large media pie. Apple would be the company to go to for both media producers and consumers alike. It’s interesting to me that Apple was able to see that media is the key to the kingdom. I don’t see Microsoft succeeding in this arena, and not for lack of trying.

Next steps for Apple are movies and Hi-Def content. Mark Cuban’s HDNet and HDNet Movies might be in Apple’s sights before long, and knowing Mark, he’ll do the right thing.

There is still much to think about, but one thing is clear. The shift to video is nothing short of fundamental. This does indeed change everything.

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iTunes Video iPod Video Apple changes everything

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Anders Brownworth has stated it beautifully. Although he wrote this back in October, I just came across the blog yesterday. This is something I’ve been talking about here for a few weeks. I agree with him completely. Apple has changed the me... read more...

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Comments (39)

Anders from RTP

Wow, looks like Apple is kicking it up a notch with the TV shows! Catch Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and even the complete first season of Knight Rider! Let's not forget The Office too, hilarious by the way. This really does change everything. Apple is truly following through. No wonder Apple's stock price is on a meteoric rise! Now let's tackle HDTV, Apple.

Jonathan from U.K.

I've got a new iPod black which takes videos and photos etc.... Sorry if this is slightly irrelevant, but it's saying on iTunes that my iPod cannot take videos. When it can! Could someone please e-mail me

Anders from RTP

Videos you want to put on the iPod Video have to be 320x240. Larger sizes won't be able to be imported.

Eric from MD

I just got a video iPod. I have put a couple songs and a few videos on it already. Now though, it won't let me put any more videos on it or even in iTunes. I have a converter and it worked fine for the first couple of videos. The only thing I can think of is I accidently changed some option somewhere but I have no idea where. Any suggestions would be helpful.

hana braid from

i have just got a video ipod and i know how to put songs and music videos on it and also small trailers of movies and free subscription cartoons, however i have no idea how i can put movies on to it please help.

Anders from RTP

To rip an entire DVD movie to a video iPod on a Mac, you should look at Handbrake and follow the guide:

http://www.anders.com/guides/convert/video/iPod/mac.html

For Windows, you might look at Videora but you have to rip the DVD to mpeg first with an external program like DVD Decrypter and follow the guide:

http://www.anders.com/guides/convert/video/iPod/windows.html

I discuss this also at: http://www.anders.com/cms/139/Video.iPod/Convert/MP4

Best of luck!

B en from U.K

I got the new video iPod its great, i can put songs, videos, films onto the device, but i am having trouble putting photos on it!! if anyone can help me can you e-mail me please

maggie from shreveport, louisiana USA

i have just got a video ipod and i know how to put songs and music videos on it and also small trailers of movies and free subscription cartoons, however i have no idea how i can put movies on to it please help.

Anders from RTP

I just released guides on how to convert DVD movies to the video iPod:

Convert DVD movies and videos to iPod with Mac OSX

Convert DVD movies and videos to iPod with Windows

Bri from FL

Okay, so I ripped and converted a DVD, but everytime i try to add it to my iTunes, it wont go onto iTunes. I've even tried making my default player iTunes and opening it, but it wont work. The conversion worked fine- its an mpeg 4, which is what itunes requires.

Any help?

Um from CT

Yeah i have the same problem i did everyting the way it was stated but everytime i try to add it to my iTunes, it wont go onto iTunes.

Connor from Washington

My new ipod video is great! but i cant figure out how to add and remove photos, help?

Eric from Fresno\cal\usa

Every time I I unlock my ipod it freezes up , what should I do

zlaja from vermont

yeah hi.. i bought a new vid ipod and its great i have 3 movies 2 tv shows and alot of music the only thing i can figure out it i ripped the tv shows off of the dvds hat i have and i put them into itunes but they went into the movies folder just like everything else how can i movie it around to make it more organized and make it easyer for me to find what i am looking for on my ipod thanks for the help. p&t

will from brisbane australia

itunes has caused me so much grief!!! i have a 30gb ipod video. the only way i can view video podcasts on it is from the "recently added" playlist folder they dont go to the video podcasts folder??? also ive tried to convert videos to mpeg 4 using 2 different programs (videora and M2convert) both were successful and i could add the viedos to itunes videos directory but they wont add to my ipod
can somebody please explain this dodgy apple mess??

YoYo from Hong Kong

help! there is something wrong with my itunes.
i had an ipod mini and it ran on an old version of itunes. but when i get my ipod video, i downloaded the new version of itunes, and my ipod mini stopped working, saying it couldn't run with it. my ipod video works alright, i can put photos and music, but it wouldn't let me put videos. when i try to put videos from my library to the ipod, i says that my ipod doesn't play videos. why?

YaYa from United States

I dont kno how to put music videos on my ipod 30gb? plz send me intrustions of how

kyle from Manchester, England

the same thing has happend to me plllzzzz help i have converted easily and i can put muscivids etc on but when it comes to adding films itunes will not add it to the libary nothing happens ::S:S::S:S:S

gamza from south africa

hi, i know how to put my music videos onto my ipod 30 gig, the thing is i want it to go into the music videos folder on my ipod. instead it jus goes to the folder where my movies are. pls help.

Mike from Jacksonville, FL USA

I just bought a new 30GB vid Ipod a few days ago. The music works fine, but the video will not play. It was working fine last night but now it wont even play a video. Just wondering if there was any advice out there that might be able to fix my problem before I smash the damn thing to peices, and that would suck cause it cost me $300 to get this lol, plus accessories. Anyway if there is any info it'd be helpful thanks.

Natasha from Birmingham, UK

I had a new 30GB video iPod for Christmas, and ever since i got it i have been trying to find out out how to put music videos onto it using iTunes. I finally found out how to do it- but when it started to play, there was no music. How can I get music videos on my iPod with the music playing?? Please help if you know how. Thanks

Anders from RTP

One trick that has been known to get audio to work if audio stops while watching a video is to pause the video right when it starts for about 5 or 10 seconds. Unpausing it then should keep the audio for the entire video.

It's important to note that this is highly un-scientific. I have no idea why this works some cases and not others. If that doesn't work for you, I don't really have any other suggestions.

Matt Rolls from St. Just, Cornwall, England

I use Videora ipod Converter and it works for every MPEG file I have converted. When adding to the itunes library, however, sometimes you encounter problems. I tried to add the freshly converted MP4 files, and they did not appear in my library. I found there is a VERY simple solution to this....Just edit the file-names and make them shorter, and they will add to your library just fine ;-)

tamara from singapore

Ok, so heres the deal.
I have several videos, podcasts and loads and loads of music on my brand spanking new ipod (60gb video). BUT it wont let me ad any more. i jsut go file add file to library but when i select the MPG4 video i want, it wont let me!! please help me. it would be much appreciated

richard from california

I just got my ipod 60gb and can't load my dvd onto it what's up I hate to smash this thing with a hammer cause it cost so much and my niece who I bought it for is driving me crazy with why howcome why isn't it working what's the problem on and on I might use the hammer on her. if you have trouble responding to me you can leave me advice at my website thanks richard www.Layerco.com

clara from philadephia

HOW DO U PUT PHOTOS ON UR VIDEO IPOD!? PLZ HELP!

Anders from RTP

OK, I'm going to try to drag this back on topic. Now a year on, it looks like Apple is coming through with a number of things from my original post. The iTV device that Apple announced may very well be that HD box I called "AirVideo" and of course Apple has released Movie downloads as well. It looks like things are coming together for Apple. Of course Microsoft has also launched the Zune, or the "un-iPod" but Microsoft still has many years of an uphill battle before we know where that all will lead. In the meantime I'm betting fairly heavily on Apple. Fun to see it all work out though.

chasity from florida

hi i've had my ipod for a year now and i just bought a video.... but i can't figure out how to get it on my ipod plz help...email plz

kushal from california

first of all...all u pplz that wanna put video on ur ipods...u gotta get it on itunes...which is pretty easy...first u gotta convert the file into mpeg-4...using a converter u can find basically anywhere....then juss go to itunes...file>import file>(find ur file and double click)....then once its on there.....drag ur movie onto ur ipod....

then if ur having problems with watching it with video and audio.....go to ur video settings...and make sure ur "tv out" setting is OFF.....i just figured that out...if i helped plz email at....kushball@gmail.com.....and if other help needed email me bout that too

Kristina from Georgia

I just got a ipod 30gm....and i have songs but i don't know how to put music videos on them and were can you get the vids besides itunes? please help!

Anders from RTP

Kristina, iTunes is the only "easy" way to get music videos but if you happen to be able to get a music video file from the Internet somewhere, there are converter programs to make them work on the video iPod.

Nicky from Deleware

I downloaded music videos and i pulled them into my itunes to play them on my 30gb ipod video but when i connected my ipod to load them in, it said that they were not able to be loaded in to my ipod. if the problem is that i need a converter, any help to how i would find one?

joseph from Melbourne, Australia

G'day
I am also having trouble with putting music videos onto the ipod and where to get them from. Please email me ASAP.
thank-you mate

Heather from boston

how do you put downloaded music videos on your ipod I tryed dragging them onto the ipod selection on itunes but its not showing up on the actual ipod.. is it different then putting songs on your ipod?

Anders from RTP

Heather, you have to convert them to a format that the iPod can show. Try iSquint if you are on a Mac.

MIGUEL from SJ

I GOT A 30GB VIDEO IPOD IT WORKS FINE WITH MUSIC AND PICTURES AND GAMES.I RECENTLY BOUGHT A COUPLE OF MUSIC VIDEOS FROM ITUNES THAT SHOW UP AS VIDEOS ON MY LAPTOP BUT ONLY PLAY THE SONG ON THE IPOD.WHY?IF U KNO WHY THIS IS HAPENING JUST POST THE ANSWER ON THIS SAME WEBSITE I WILL COME BACK AND SEE FOR ANY ANSWERS

Luke R from Perth

My 80gig Video Ipod has worked fine now for over a year and I turned it on this morning to play a video and it just plays the audio with a still picture in the left hand corner and wont play the actual video. I have done nothing to my ipod and I dont know why this has happened?

Tracey from Brisbane

I know everyone is asking these same questions, but I have the new iPod touch, and i can't figure out how to get videos onto it. I converted the file to a mpeg 4 and brought it into itunes, but in itunes it only plays audio and displays a blank white screen. I synced it to my ipod and it does the same thing. Please email me if you know the answer - lankees_chic_3112@hotmail.com

Sharon Vroegop from Springwood Australia

I used the DVD decrypter and Videora converter to put a DVD on my daughters Ipod Nano ..only trouble is that the audio and video are out of sequence. The scene happens and then the audio for that scene is heard about 2-3 seconds later.What am I doing wrong with the conversion? Is there a setting I need to adjust to get the audio and video to sequence correctly together?
Thanks for your help!