HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

So, this is the new video-capable iPod. Seems the pictures we’ve linked to a few hours ago were indeed real, and AppleInsider/ThinkSecret were correct. It’ll come in 30/60GB versions, which can hold 75/150 hours of video content and go for $299/$399 respectively. Available in two colors: the iconic white, and black. Size-wise, it’s the same width and height as the 4th generation iPods, only thinner: 31% than the 20GB iPod for the 30GB version, 12% for its big brother. The new iPods sport a 2.5-inch 260K-color screen, which supports MPEG4 and H.264 at a pretty satisfying 30FPS. Also: TV-out, which is great (though you have to buy the AV cable separately at $20), and all the new software features that we met on the Nano: world clock, screen lock, stopwatch. In the box you’ll find a USB cable and a rather cheap case (think of a grey sock/sleeve: seen in the top left of this picture—UPDATE: iLounge says: “The case that comes with each 5G iPod is thin neoprene, very similar to the iPod nano armband. It’s gray on the outside, white on the inside, regardless of the color of iPod you buy. An iPod fits inside completely.”). How does it sound? “The company said the new iPod sounds as good or better than the iPod shuffle, which Apple considers its prior gold standard in terms of sound quality” (source). A sad fact: Firewire support is completely gone—I assume some Mac users aren’t going to be happy about this. On the battery front, the 60GB version seems to come with a higher-capacity one since it can play music for 20 hours, or videos for 3. That’s in contrast to the 30GB version’s 14 and 2 respectively. You can see for yourself that video playback time isn’t all that hot, which is a bummer. Recording-wise, you can go for 22KHz mono or 44KHz stereo, and you’re still stuck to WAV only (this is basically still meant for voice recording). Starts shipping next week, get your credit cards ready.

A note of interest: there’s now a Universal Dock ($40) for all dockable iPods, that works with the newly-launched infrared Apple Remote ($30—pictured on the left). Which means you can dock your iPod, connect the dock’s S-Video port to your TV, sit on your couch and control the videos played remotely. Nice.

Content-wise, you’re going to find two thousand music videos in the store (QVGA format – size of 6 songs), video podcasts (yawn) and episodes of five ABC/Disney series (“Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” are going to be huge hits) – all for $1.99/piece, all DRMed with FairPlay—you can’t burn them on discs, just reproduce them on 5 computers and as many iPods you wish. Where’s the BBC partnership? Back to the TV shows: current episodes will surface on the store the next day after they’re broadcasted. You’ll also be able to get episodes of past seasons. Also: ”[...] entire seasons are available in single-button-click packages, at a significant per-episode discount (25 episodes from Season 1 of “Lost” are available for $34.99)” (source). All in 320×240 native resolution, .m4v format, 650kbits/sec, AAC audio, ad-free, they’re taking about 10-20 minutes to download (~200MB per hour-long episode) [via]. Available in the US only (damn!). What about your existing video library? There is a setting in the just-released Quicktime 7.0.3 (“Movie to iPod (320×240)”—screenshot)that allows you to convert your home movies, etc. so that you can watch them on the iPod video.

Finally, iTunes 5 was released about a month ago, and before you know it, we’ve now jumped to version 6, which mostly includes store-related improvements and additions. (Like John Gruber, I can’t see why this isn’t called iTunes 5.1.) There are now personalized music recommendations based on the tracks you’ve purchased called “Just For You” (in beta—screenshot), customer reviews (be sure to mention how much you looove “Hollaback Girl”), and you can now buy music/videos for your friends to send to them as a gift.