Opinion: The subscription model is there, the tools to create the content are there, and now we have a platform that is built on a technology and metaphor that millions of people have already bought into.Apple made some pretty big announcements today. In addition to releasing iTunes 6.0 which will allow you to download video and television shows like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," it's added the ability to play those videos on the new iPods.
That's right. The iPod now supports video. It's also worth noting that the new iPods' optional dock supports video-out. That means video on your TV, straight from your iPod.
This is a pretty big deal. Just as iTunes and the iPod changed the way we listen to and acquire music, they're set to do the same with video—and more. The iPod is poised to become the perfect portable platform for just about any kind of content you can imagine. It'll do audio, text, photos and now video.
We all know the iPod is great for audio. You might not know it makes a great platform for portable Web pages. I know I've used my own iPod to download Pod sites like the iPod Bartender. You can get all sorts of textual content onto your iPod. Subway maps, RSS news feeds, recipes—you name it.
And we all know how nice it is to have one device to carry around for all your digital media. When the iPod Photo came out, I wondered why anyone would store their photos in it. Since then I've met quite a few people who do and who love that they can do that.
The iPod is a perfect tool for sharing media with others. You can bring it anywhere with ease and by hooking it into a stereo, TV or computer you can share your media in all its glory.
Click here to read about what Apple has done to support Podcasting.
What's been surprising to me is how well iTunes handles subscription of content. Couple that with an iPod that can store and deliver the content and you've got a powerful platform. I've actually been using iTunes and the iPod to subscribe to (and much to my surprise) listen to Podcasts, and it does this very, very well.
Would I do the same with video? Sure!
There is little doubt of what this means for videocasting and subscription of Web-based video feeds. By bringing video and the iPod together, Apple has rovided a usable, portable platform to allow subscription and display of video content.
You'll be able to bring those funny videos you pulled down from your favorite humor site and share them with your friends anywhere you like. You should be able to subscribe via some kind of TiVo-like service to shows and have them placed on your iPod, which you can then watch on your TV. Or on the plane. Or at a friend's house.
The 60GB version will hold 150 hours of video at a pretty decent quality. I'm not sure it'd be the best thing for watching your favorite television show, but for videocasts and the like it should be perfect.
So what does all of this mean to publishers? You'll soon want to check into video as a viable option for content creation and delivery. Videocasting is already becoming pretty popular, and this will be a big step toward getting it out to a huge audience. It'll be much more important than adding Podcasting to iTunes was.
While I've got a Podcast of my own and I do subscribe and listen to a few, I've never been sold on Podcasting as anything more than a nice way to push audio content. Video on the other hand is much more compelling, for the content producers and their audience.
The subscription model is there, the tools to create the content are there. With the video iPod we now have a platform that will not only enable easy access to the content, but is built on a technology and metaphor that millions of people have already bought into.
It'll make videocasting as easy as Podcasting—but bigger—and it should serve to put a real kick into the realm of video content creation and delivery.
Online Media 
