iTunes Video

I love my iPod Nano. It’s a great little music player. I wish now though that I had waited JUST a few weeks and gotten the iPod with video.

I don’t know about anyone else reading this post, but I’m a sci-fi nut. I still love Star Trek (hopefully another interview with a fan-film director soon), and I hold a small place in my heart for some of the other vintage shows as well. Which ones? Glad you asked. In no particular order, UFO, Battlestar Galactica (old and new), ST: Deep Space Nine, The Invaders, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Night Stalker (The older one), V: The Mini Series (The TV show sucked), and others. I enjoyed the great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s performance in “They Live” (all time favorite quote: I’m here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubble gum).

There is a point here somewhere…looking….looking, oh yeah, iTunes Music store is now selling videos. In a relatively short amount of time, they have gathered many of the big content providers. CBS isn’t there yet, but it’s coming. Apple is having some success over this and it’s not just because the iPod with video is so great, because it really isn’t. Darn good start and I wish I had one, but it’s lacking in one major area. Screen size. 2.5 inches just isn’t enough for decent viewing even with TV content. I’m sure a better one is on the way, but right now that doesn’t matter to me.

What does matter to me is that some pretty good shows are beginning to show up for purchase and downloading. I just bought the Battlestar Galactica Mini-series and both seasons. Don’t have an iPod so why did I bother? Because it’s a great frigging show and I’ve missed many due to other commitments. Now I have them all and can watch them anytime I like on my computer. Where it shines is when I travel. Instead of lugging a bunch of TV shows burned on individual DVDs from either broadcast rips or downloaded from the net (not that I would EVER do such a thing), I can burn them onto my OWN DVD’s and have decent quality playback with QuickTime.

Apple’s files are only at 320 X 240 resolution, but they’re compressed with H.264 so they look pretty good at almost any size. Check out the iTunes store and see for yourself.

Movies and vintage shows are next. Can’t wait to get that Taxi episode with the first appearance of Reverend Jim.