Video iPod

I just got one of the new color iPods.   Although Apple hasn't changed the name since they added video, they do refer to it on some of their tech support pages as "Fifth Generation"  I ordered it from the Apple Store and paid the $19.00 for overnight shipping.  Little did I know they were shipping it direct from Shanghai.

Like all recent Apple products, just opening the package was a beautiful experience.  The unit itself is slight wider and a lot thinner than its predecessor, holds 60 GB, and has a bright color display.

Bedsides the expected music videos, the iTunes store also sells episodes of a few TV series, such as Lost and Desperate Housewives and offers free video podcasts.  Some of them are quite amusing, although not all are in the MPEG4 or H.261 format required by the iPod.  You can convert them (or make your own videos) with Quicktime Pro, but conversion takes f o r e v e r - a twelve minute video took almost three hours to convert on a 2.1 GHz Pentium, but looks really good when it's done.