Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Apple iTunes Introduces Movies, but Is It Worth IT?

So Apple announced today that it will begin to expand its video selection on iTunes to movies. Up to this point, Video iPods have been primarily been given access to only music videos and TV shows. By adding movies, this is another big step in the MP4 revolution. But are we really there yet?

I have two inherent problems with this:

1) Would you really want to watch a 2 and half hour movie on a three inch screen?

2) Videos take up space and at this rate, a full movie is going to take a majority of your iPod drive space no matter how you look at it. 30GB is a lot for music, but for video, it is not too much.

Now I get it's practical uses, though. I have watched a thirty minute TV show while on a flight and it was pretty cool. But am I willing to first spend the time to download it, pay for it, fill up my iPod and spend 2 more plus hours watching it on this tiny screen in moderate resolution? Not yet. (That is what I have a portable DVD player for).

This is the direction of the future, no doubt. Thank goodness I got Lasik surgery a few years ago, because things keep getting smaller and smaller and my eye strain is getting worse. But who am I to complain! If you like watching stuff on your Video iPod, this is nothing but good news to you. Maybe I am just getting old and cranky. Who knows!

I think I'll download a episode of Lost and see how that goes...but I'm not ready to pull the trigger on Lord of the Rings!

Check out the iTunes website for their new movie offers! Click Here!