I love my Video iPod

Apple's newest addition to the iPod range is awesome. I just bought one for a bargain price and I'm pleased to announce it's well worth every last penny of it. I'm over the moon with my newest gadget, although I must confess, had I not got it for just over half the retail price I probably wouldn't currently own one, given that I was perfectly happy with my iPod mini before. Given that 6gb was more than satisfactory, 60gb is going to OWN.

I wasn't quite sure how the iPod video would fare when I first heard about it, I predicted that the video quality would be awful, that the small screen would make viewing it a real pain in the arse (or rather the eyes) and I'd heard terrible things about the battery life. Now whilst it's true, several battery tests suggest that the PSP will clock out 7 and a half hours on video playback, compared to 2 and a half on the iPod, the biggest memory stick I've seen for the PSP is 2 gig compared to the massive 60 gig storage of the iPod. This makes a massive difference in terms of what you can store, and the quality of the iPod's screen is actually superior, even though it's smaller. I'd say my earlier fears about the quality of the viewing experience were incorrect.

If you use Quicktime Pro to convert your videos then yes, it can take up to 12 hours to convert, so I've read, but Videora make software that can convert any PC format of video into suitable video for many different portable media players, including both the PSP and iPod. The iPod version takes a lot less time than QT Pro and whilst I've not done a conversion with the PSP version yet (as I don't own a PSP) I'd be surprised if the PSP version fares much better. The compression rate seems perfectly fine, a 620mb mpeg converts down to 400mb in mp4 format, which, given the massive 60gb at your disposal, there's plenty of room for. I think when it comes to raw storage the PSP will always struggle against the iPod, but then again, this massive storage comes at a price; the reduced battery life.

It's really a trade-up in that regard, you lose a little bit of battery life but gain a lot more storage. Personally, since I use my iPod on the tube journey to work and then back again, I find the battery life is just about fine, but for longer journeys I could see the benefit of the PSP. I plan to actually buy myself a PSP too, and get the best of both worlds, but if you're choosing one or the other, it really is a toss-up as to which one is the one for you.

The battery life of the iPod can of course be improved by using a battery pack, and is probably a situation that will be improved quicker than the PSP's storage issue. The reason for this is that the PSP isn't being marketed as a storage device, and the planned pre-recorded UMD market will rely heavily on the fact that the PSP can't store a lot of video. Neither Apple nor Sony is oblivious to the fact that their systems will be used to play pirated material, and if Sony intends the pre-recorded UMD market to succeed, it needs to kill off potential piracy, and trying to keep storage potential low is the way to secure that. Apple, however, will want their device to fare better in terms of battery life, and currently it's beaten silly by the PSP and Creative's Zen Vision media player.

That said, is any more than 2GB really that necessary? You can fit a decent film onto that no problems, and if you have several memory sticks, there's no reason why you couldn't juggle several of them around. However one of the main reasons behind the success of MP3 players has been that they don't require external storage media; the player and the storage media are as one unit. This is why MP3 players have overtaken portable CD players despite the fact that the latter will probably deliver better battery performance and almost certainly better audio quality.

Personally I think if you want a media player, the iPod Video beats the PSP, but if you want a gaming device, that can offer media playback, the PSP is a nice bit of kit. However, if the Zen Vision was more reasonably priced it would be my choice, especially if you're more into the video than the music aspect. Creative's offering doesn't quite have the same battery life as the iPod when it comes to music, but when it comes to video the Zen Vision craps all over the iPod Video.

Truth be told, they're all nice, and if I had enough money, I'd have one of each. I just love my Video iPod and wanted to share that with the world. Or rather the two of you that ever actually bother reading this blog on any sort of regular basis. Hi you two!