2008 Woodie Awards
Twin Cinema
John Roberts
Issue date: 9/13/06 Section: Opinion
Yesterday, Steve Jobs of Apple Computers announced that movies would now be able to be viewed on the iPod.
With the excitement of a six-year-old on Christmas morning, I rushed to my computer to see which movie I would be downloading first.
Although the idea of how much easier it would be to watch a DVD on my laptop, I couldn't really fit my laptop in my pocket, now could I?
After 10 or so failed attempts to log into iTunes' music store (has anyone else EVER been told that the music store was too busy?), I finally succeeded in getting into the new "movies" section.
That feeling of being six again returned.
"A Bug's Life," "Toy Story" and "Princess Diaries" were just a few of the small selection they are offering right now.
Apparently, Jobs must have been receiving tons of emails from angry three to nine year olds with video iPods and lots of time.
For those of us with a more mature taste in movies, the titles ranged from "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", to "The Rock." Both good movies, many many years ago.
The only film I even considered purchasing was "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou."
I didn't buy it though.
With Amazon.com and other sites offering non-iPod compatible movie downloads, it seemed obvious that Apple would follow suit. However, the only studios offering films on iTunes right now are Disney, Pixar, and Touchstone.
This is not a coincidence since Jobs owns a considerable portion of Disney (who owns the
aforementioned studios).
Another problem to consider is battery life. Sure, if you buy a new 80 Gig iPod today, the battery life will last up to six-and-a-half hours in video playback mode.
But, if you have the "old" (less than a year in existence, but age is relative) 60 Gig model, you only get two hours of play.
So, in order to watch that pirate movie, you would have to fully charge the iPod, watch the first two hours, charge the iPod again (all while remembering what happened) and finally watch the last half hour or so.
With the excitement of a six-year-old on Christmas morning, I rushed to my computer to see which movie I would be downloading first.
Although the idea of how much easier it would be to watch a DVD on my laptop, I couldn't really fit my laptop in my pocket, now could I?
After 10 or so failed attempts to log into iTunes' music store (has anyone else EVER been told that the music store was too busy?), I finally succeeded in getting into the new "movies" section.
That feeling of being six again returned.
"A Bug's Life," "Toy Story" and "Princess Diaries" were just a few of the small selection they are offering right now.
Apparently, Jobs must have been receiving tons of emails from angry three to nine year olds with video iPods and lots of time.
For those of us with a more mature taste in movies, the titles ranged from "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", to "The Rock." Both good movies, many many years ago.
The only film I even considered purchasing was "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou."
I didn't buy it though.
With Amazon.com and other sites offering non-iPod compatible movie downloads, it seemed obvious that Apple would follow suit. However, the only studios offering films on iTunes right now are Disney, Pixar, and Touchstone.
This is not a coincidence since Jobs owns a considerable portion of Disney (who owns the
aforementioned studios).
Another problem to consider is battery life. Sure, if you buy a new 80 Gig iPod today, the battery life will last up to six-and-a-half hours in video playback mode.
But, if you have the "old" (less than a year in existence, but age is relative) 60 Gig model, you only get two hours of play.
So, in order to watch that pirate movie, you would have to fully charge the iPod, watch the first two hours, charge the iPod again (all while remembering what happened) and finally watch the last half hour or so.
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