First Impressions of the Video iPod

Apple Computer did not announce a Video iPod device at the January, 2004, MacWorld expo, but I’ve been trying out an imaginary Video iPod in my mind, and I like what I see. Here is a product review of imagined features of the Video iPod and why I feel this is the most important product Apple has ever designed.

First off, when you hold the Video iPod in your hands, the device feels beautifully designed even before it’s turned on. With the textured, soft rubber surrounding the sleek, curved lines of the device, it’s difficult for the human hand not to want to touch and hold it.

In my mind, Apple has released 3 models of the device. The entry model is for playback of video only. The middle model is a Video iPod for playback and digital camcorder (as well as digital camera) device. The upper level one is a Video iPod, digital camcorder/digital camera and with iMovie 4 built-in for portable video editing. The highest level one has a 9-inch LCD screen to accommodate the greater resolution needed for video editing. Video editing can be accomplished on this device using any USB mouse.

While the design of this device is flawless, the unexpected innovation is the iMovie Video Store, a web-based service for buying and selling video for viewing on either Video iPods -- or any other device with QuickTime 7 installed on it. This other device may be a personal computer or a personal video server (wired or wireless) for use in a home, school, university, business or government office.

What kinds of videos can you buy from the iMovie Video Store? The standard fare of entertainment videos you might find in any video store, along with instructional videos for adults and children, independent film documentaries, and any other QuickTime file produced by any software program by anyone in the world. The producer of the file would receive half the selling cost of the file. Most producers will choose to price their files at 99 cents, to maximize the size of their audience. As the iMovie Video Store becomes more established and the producers of QuickTime files develop a reputation for the quality of their work, these producers will feel emboldened to charge more for their creative work.

Do you see what Apple has been able to invent? They own all pieces of the video production and distribution channel, and are able to derive income from video production hardware, video production software, video distribution channels and video viewing playback devices. All of these are seamlessly integrated using Apple’s legendary ease-of-use. Other companies might sell a video playback device, but the device will not work with the iMovie Video Store.

Do human beings yearn to communicate their ideas? Is this yearning as deep as any other human need? If you think about the answers to these questions, you’ll better understand what Apple has been able to accomplish with the Video iPod and the iMovie Video Store.

Let’s delve a little more into the iVideo application that Apple has designed for people to manage the QuickTime files they buy or create. iVideo looks and works like iTunes in so many ways. It seamlessly integrates with iMovie 4 and includes a prominent button in the top left corner of the application: Sell My QuickTime. Clicking on this button transfers an original QuickTime file to the iMovie Video Store for purchasing by others worldwide.

From the moment a video is completed in iMovie or Final Cut to the time it’s available for purchase worldwide can be measured in minutes (and sometimes hours) depending on the size of the file and the speed of the upstream connection.

Listen to this: People will be able to purchase unfinished video projects, thereby giving a revenue stream to the producer to finish the project -- if the video uploaded to the iMovie Video Store shows promise.

The standard control panels of the human brain include the Creativity control panel, the Hope control panel and the Dignity control panel. If you open the Creativity control panel while holding a Video iPod in your hands, you’ll notice that the creativity slider is twice as long as usual. You can slide it much further to the right. If you open the Hope and Dignity control panels, you’ll notice that they too are double in size and slide much further to the right. Apple has focused all its work on expanding the Creativity control panel in the human brain, but since the Hope and Dignity control panel are connected with the Creativity control panel, these two control panels also have expanded capacity.

By including a “Sell My Video” button in the iVideo application, Apple has created a system for video producers to sell their partially completed videos to anyone so inclined to buy them. What does this do to the Creativity control panel in the human brain? It moves the slider all the way to the right.

This is also an unprecedented step in the history of human communications, giving people a fixed and stable fee-based distribution channel for unfinished creative works.

What will the Video iPod mean for education? K-12 schools will at first complain about the price of the device, shortly before ordering truckloads to be delivered to their school. Why will the device be so popular? Time-shifted learning from some of the best teachers in the country. Why should a student at one particular school not have the benefit of being taught by the best teachers in the country? Granted, teaching is more than talking heads. Great teaching includes the interplay between teacher and student. But could a high school student learn all of algebra from the best teachers in the country via a Video iPod? Yes. Could American history and other standard social studies courses be taught by the best teachers in the country, viewable anytime, anywhere via the Video iPod? Yes. Could a Video iPod benefit gifted students and remedial students? Yes, those students who are able to progress faster than classroom instruction will very much welcome the Video iPod, as with students who learn in different ways.

How will K-12 students use a Video iPod? At first, they’ll sign them out for the weekend from the school library. (School media specialists, prepare for this extra work that will not be compensated.) When it becomes apparent that the Video iPod can boost student academic performance, students will sign them out during the week, too.

Students from affluent families will own their Video iPods outright within the first 2 months of the products release. Hence the very careful planning on Apple’s part to release this product only after it has the capacity to meet consumer demand. Not huge consumer demand. Gigantic consumer demand.

Instructional video content will be downloaded to the Video iPod from the school’s video server, located in the school library. The school’s video server (another revenue stream for Apple) will have anywhere from 30 to 120 FireWire ports on it. It will be cylindrical in shape to allow sufficient “human bandwidth” for students to plug in their Video iPod to receive their teacher-chosen videos. File transfer will take place either via FireWire 800 or FireWire 1600 ports -- amply fast for distribution of QuickTime 7 files. More affluent schools will opt for wireless video servers and the higher end Video iPods with wireless capabilities built in.

It goes without saying that the 2nd generation of the Video iPod, released in 2006, will contain almost all the standard features of the proverbial electronic book. The screen resolution will be moving towards 127-pixels per inch (and higher) based on technology invented by IBM in 1999. The readability of the screen will be close to that of paper.

The holy grail of electronic companies of the past 50 years, the mass market electronic book, will arise from the design labs of Apple Computer. Some might come to say that Steve Jobs outshines Thomas Edison as an inventor. It will be easy to rewrite the history books. History books are no longer printed in an immutable medium. Apple has taken care of that, too, with the Video iPod „ the first incarnation of the electronic book that'll be widely adopted. One way to create history is to invent devices that history is read/viewed on.


Phil Shapiro
The author works for the Mayor of Washington DC as a Literacy Leader/Lifelong Learning Coach, tasked with increasing the quality and quantity of learning in the city.

He has been an Apple user group member and supporter since 1986, and has served as the president of the Virginia Macintosh Users Group.

For the past 15 years he has been working on technology access issues via Community Technology Centers’ Network and other organizations working to bridge the digital divide.

He writes frequently on issues of technology and community empowerment, along with articles about educational methods, creativity and the process of creative collaboration.

Copyright 2004
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This article may be freely distributed for nonprofit purposes, including user group newsletters.

The author can be reached at pshapiro@his.com and via his blog at http://teachme.blogspot.com