Basically, the iPod video present 2 variants of the device: the 30 GB model and the 60 GB one, which both play QVGA H. 264 videos. Over the last holiday season, the sales were very high, as people seamed to be more interested in purchasing such an item before taking the summer vacation. Due to this fact, the new iPod video turned out to be a great choice of spending the time during the holiday. In fact, the last holiday season brought a 30 % increase of the sales, which is a consistent amount. Even more, the new iPod video turned out to be an excellent Christmas present, as the sales indicate the fact that the sales of the iPods increased significantly before this important religious holiday. Another sales hit in the history of the iPods was the Apple iPod + hp, which was launched in the year 2004. In the first months of 2006, Apple reported sales of 565 million dollars, which was the highest number in the company’s history. In fact, Apple managed to ship 6, 16 million iPods during the first months of 2005, meaning a 66 % increase over the same period of time in 2004.
The new range of iPods are supposed to be even more improved and have a new variety of features and new accessories, which will increase even more the popularity of these products. After the famous exposition called Macworld, which was held on the 10th of January 2006, the official speakers reported sales over 42 million dollars, which included a part of 14 million dollars, gained in the first quarter of the year. With even more expectations in sales for the future, the engineer team of Apple is focusing even now in producing a sixth generation of even more optimized iPods.
Till the appearance on the market of the iPod video, the best selling product of the iPod series was the iPod nano, which had great results since the launching. The studies and researches show the fact that most of the part of the consumers want and easy personalization of their video content, meaning quality and inexpensive solutions that satisfy their needs. IPod video brought, at its launching, a new set of features that were about to change the perception that people had about this small, yet powerful device. With a memory that could now include a play list of 15, 000 songs, 25, 000 pictures and up to 150 of hours full with videos and movies, the new iPod was an innovative new product and the market embraced its originality and new and exiting features.
One of the newest and most popular digital devices on the market today is, without any doubt, the new video iPod. The small device has improved significantly since the last model` s launching and the main evolution is represented by the capacity of playing videos.
Still, the new iPod video is not all about watching movies or music video clips, as it has various improvements since the last model, different accessories and improved capacities. As the producing company Apple claims, regarding the evolution of the product: Witness the evolution of the revolution. First it played songs. Then photos. Then pod casts. Now iPod plays video. Importing and saving photos was an important characteristic of the last models of iPod and it still is, even with the new video feature.
IPod video, just like the previous generations of iPods, can import photos in digital format from either a camera or a card reader. One of the best options for these is the Apple Camera Connector, which works with both a camera and a USB card reader. Still, the usage of the Apple Camera Connector or Belkin Media Reader (for the other generations of iPods, excluding the iPod video, which is not compatible with Belkin) might cause the intense usage of the battery of the iPod, as well. With the USB 1.1 camera, the battery remains half charged after the procedure. While transferring the pictures with the UBB 1. camera, the iPod shows the thumbnails of the imported images. At the end of the transport, the images can be browsed, but they can not be displayed on TV.
The new iPod video provides some options for the photo album, due to the high quality of the images and pictures. These can be rated or they can form slideshows and a major plus this fact that the new iPod video provides full-size thumbnails of photos.
Another characteristic of the 5th generation of iPods which is connected with the photo feature is the large color screen that this version of the iPod provides. The screen is the largest-yet display which was created since the appearance of these items on the market. Even more, the screen shows sharp texts and optimized brightness; so long titles can be read easily. Due to this fact, the photos are large and sharp, as well. Even though the company Apple advertises the new battery life (which became 20 hours from 16 hours of the last model of iPods), the battery runs down quickly if the backlight is on. Still, the backlight is not necessary in most situations, as the text is readable and the images have a good visibility in sunlight or in intense indoor light.
The photo importing and saving feature of the new iPod video has significantly changed in comparison with the last model of these devices, which lead to a better response from the public and a more optimized device. With the new range of importing and saving pictures, the video iPod presents improvements in this domain, together with the obvious improvements in the video processing. The Apple company symbolizes the capacity of the new iPod video, mentioning that the new device can store up to 15 000 songs, 25 000 photos and up to 150 hours of video.
IPods have been a great market hit since their appearance in 2001, almost 5 years ago. Since listening to music is one of the favorite activities of today’s individuals, the constant evolution of this device was an important request, so the new product presented a diverse range of new features, accessories and capacities. The iPod evolved from a simple and basic music player to a sum of music player, recorder, and photo viewer and now to a both music and video device.
The most important new feature of the latest generation of iPods, meaning the 5th generation, is the video. Basically, these inventive and technologically advanced, yet small devices support both MPEG-4 and H.264 videos at significantly high resolutions, which are not far from a VSH tape. Actually, in more precise terms, the H.264 codec can play video at frame rates up to 30 frames per second, video bit rates as high as 768 kilobits per second and pictures as big as 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high. Comparing the iPod video with the TV 27 FPS or the movies 24 FPS, it is obvious that the small device it is much better. Regarding the audio qualities, comparing to a CD quality, the iPod video is superior. On the other hand, the MPEG-4 video supports a bit rate of 2,500 kilobits per second and pictures as big as 480 pixels wide by 480 pixels high, meaning three times the size of the actual screen (in comparison with the H.264 video, which supports pictures the same size as the screen pf the iPod).
The reviews on this item are so far, excellent – the quality of the motion images is great, with almost perfect colors, even when the device is connected to a TV set in order to watch a video. Even more, watching the videos on the actual iPod is possible due to a larger screen, which also allows the high visibility of sharp texts and photos. Still, even though the battery is claimed to last around 20 hours, which is an evolution since the last iPod model, the battery is much rapidly consumed when watching videos.
The range of improvements since the last model of iPod is impressive: the new video iPod comes with a new design, but in the same black and white colors and with a new set of accessories, which range from world clock, smaller earphones and a thinner slipcase to AC adapter and FireWire cable. Concerning the new package design, the iPod video comes with a new look: the box is flat and in a square shape; the color of the new box is black with silver accents, such as the Apple logo and the text.
The latest generation of iPods surprised the market in many ways: from the video capacities to the other improved features since the last model in 2005 and from the design and package changes to the wide and evolved range of accessories that are available together with the new iPod video. The evolution of the iPod shows an increased interest in constantly developing this device and always considering the needs and desires of the consumer. It is expected that the next generation of iPods to be even more optimized, with a lot of changes in the video settings and a longer capacity of the battery when watching videos.
