The big announcement from Apple yesterday was the new iPod which has a bigger screen and can play video. My first thoughts when I saw it: mmmm Gadget. Shiny. Want one.
But I didn’t go out and buy one, partly because my wife would kill me, but mostly because I thought about it some more. Do I really want this? Is this what us gadget consumers really want? Or is it just what the DAP manufacturers are telling us we want?
There is a fundamental difference between portable audio and portable video. I can listen to music while doing most things. I can be driving, walking, running, biking, climbing, working, mowing the lawn, reading or just sitting and be listening to music at the same time. Out of all those, sitting is the only one I can really do while watching video.
If I’m sitting at home, I can watch video on my big screen TV. If I’m sitting on the train or plane, I can get out my laptop and watch video on there. The quality of any video watching experience is directly related to the size of the screen and the resolution of the image. Why would I want to sit and watch an episode of Lost (and pay for the privilege) on a screen smaller than my hand with a poor resolution when I can watch it in high definition on a big screen tv? Watching a movie on my laptop is acceptable thanks to its 17″ widescreen display, but I wouldn’t want to go much smaller than that. Even the first TV I ever had was 14″.
So why are all the DAP makers forcing portable video on us? It’s not all that innovative, and it’s not very useful. Concentrate on making portable audio better (like making iPods play OGG files!) instead.
