Movies On Your IPod

Movies On Your IPod - The Next Digital Rights Battlefield?

The term "iPod" has become ubiquitous with "digital media player" for most consumers, and it's a credit to how Apple has built the brand and made it a household word. Where iPods used to be merely digital music players, they now cover so much more - from movies, to picture albums, even your favorite television programs.
By Steve Kadinski




The term “iPod” has become ubiquitous with “digital media player” for most consumers, and it’s a credit to how Apple has built the brand and made it a household word. Where iPods used to be merely digital music players, they now cover so much more - from movies, to picture albums, even your favorite television programs.

This has a direct impact on something you see in the news - the Writer’s Guild of America strike. The Writer’s Guild (WGA) is on strike (shutting down production of a lot of television programs) because of discrepancies in the way that residuals are billed on digital content distributed through the Internet, including through Apple’s iTunes online store.

Converting a movie you already own to play on the iPod is a bit tricky. There are compatibility problems lurking under the surface of the device, and it does take a bit of time. Remember that your time is also a valuable part of the equation - ask yourself how much two dollars of your time is actually worth before you start this quest.
Similar deals exist for VHS tapes and DVDs, but not for broadcasting streaming content on the Internet, and for sale through the iTunes music store and other digital outlets. That residual money is what pays for WGA members health insurance plans, mortgages and the like, and the writers are justifiably concerned about this.

Video, when it’s squashed down for digital presentation, uses an encryption/compression algorithm called a codec. There are several kinds of codecs out there, and the iPod will play a fair number of them. The most commonly used codec out there is called MP4 or MPEG4, and this is the native codec (with some tweaks) that the iPod uses. Make sure that whatever video converter you use gives you a preview function, so you can make sure that everything comes out well. Two “known good” converters are PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter, and ImTOO iPod Movie Converter.
Each of these software converts all of the popular video formats to iPod Movies MP4 (iPod video format MPEG-4) and they also convert audio files to iPod supported MP3, AAC, M4A file format. The conversion process happens automatically so all you have to do is set what format you want the movie converted then set the volume and the directory to save it in. Presto! You now have an addition to your iPod movies.
But as legal issues over piracy and copyright laws are beginning to be strict, many are concerned about the future of iPod movies. Will the users be made liable for home videos or ripped DVDs downloaded on their iPod movies’ play list?
The economics of iPod video distribution are very different and is dominated by the Hollywood moguls, including licensing and windowing agreements. Not to mention the progress of theatre shows to other markets like rental shops, pay TV, retail stores, free-to-air and now to iPod movies.

Once the digital video stream has been converted, you just drag and drop the file to your iPod and it’ll show up on the digital playlist, and you’re good to go. Now, be sure that you’re only doing this with DVDs you legally own, and be aware that there’s a movement afoot to make DVD copying software illegal, or harder to use. People getting paid for their work is a touchy issue - don’t be a pirate.
Creative issues aside, an iPod is a great way to share videos with your friends; you can show it to them on the little screen, or wirelessly connect to a digital media center, or just use the TV Out jack and wide screen options. Understand that digital video compression will make most of the videos come out a little darker than usual.

External speakers are also available for you to fully appreciate the audio sounds of the iPod movies you are watching. Add the optional audio cable so you can play music from iPod to your home stereo or use the S-video cable play VJ on your TV. You can also perform the same big-screen feat with iPod photo slideshows and iPod movies
If you want to know where to download free ipod movies check out our free tips for free ipod downloads here: http://www.squidoo.com/download_free_iPod_movies/

History and designiPod came from Apple's digital hub strategy,[1] when the company began creating software for the growing market of digital devices being purchased by consumers. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful,"[1] so Apple decided to develop its own. Apple's hardware engineering chief, Jon Rubinstein, ordered by Steve Jobs, assembled a team of engineers to design it, including Tony Fadell, hardware engineer Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive, with Stan Ng as the marketing manager. The product was developed in less than a year and unveiled on October 23, 2001. CEO Steve Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1000 songs in your pocket."
Uncharacteristically, Apple did not develop iPod's software entirely in-house. Apple instead used PortalPlayer's reference platform which was based on 2 ARM cores. The platform had rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. PortalPlayer had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones.[2] Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface, under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.[1] Once established, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel. Starting with iPod mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans — a font similar to Apple's corporate font Myriad. iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal in the lock interface. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod classic and third-generation iPod nano by changing the font to Helvetica, and in most cases, splitting the screen in half by displaying the menus on the left and album artwork, photos, or videos on the right (whichever was appropriate for the selected item).
TrademarkThe name iPod was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (with others) was called by Apple to figure out how to introduce the new player to the public. After Chieco saw a prototype, he thought of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the phrase "Open the pod bay door, Hal!", which refers to the white EVA Pods of the Discovery One spaceship.[1] Apple researched the trademark and found that it was already in use. Joseph N. Grasso of New Jersey had originally listed an "ipod" trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in July 2000 for Internet kiosks. The first ipod kiosks had been demonstrated to the public in New Jersey in March 1998, and commercial use began in January 2000. The trademark was registered by the USPTO in November 2003, and Grasso assigned it to Apple Computer, Inc. in 2005.[3]

iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched in October 2001. The line-up currently consists of the original style hard drive-based flagship iPod classic, the iPod touch, the mid-level video-capable iPod nano, and the low-end screenless iPod shuffle. Former products include the compact iPod mini (replaced by the iPod nano) and the high-end spin-off iPod photo (re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). iPod classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models, aside from the Microdrive-based mini, use flash memory to enable their smaller size. As with many other digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices.
Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes stores a music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of September 2007, the iPod had sold over 110 million units worldwide (stated in "The Beat Goes On" conference) making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history.