Digital Home Thoughts: Why Apple Can't do to Video What it Did to Music

"MP3 players, including the iPod, are valuable from the day you buy them because your entire CD collection provides immediate content to fill the device. The video hardware business is different. Unfortunately for consumers, the movie industry won't let you rip DVDs to iTunes, and therefore any one of the many devices Apple has recently added video to, including the iPhone, iPod Touch (essentially an iPhone for people with Verizon calling plans), iPod Nano video, and Apple TV. This means you can spend $299, as is the case with the Apple TV, and still not be able to transfer any of your existing video library to the device, forcing you to buy video from iTunes."



The record companies couldn't have seen the coming monopoly when the iPod hit the market half a decade ago. Lucky for the movie industry, they had the fortune of foresight, and headed it off at the pass. They've effectively prevented Apple from establishing a monopoly in the online video marketplace. Only problem is...the consumer suffers. What amazes me though is the way the laws are written, it's legal to rip a CD to your iPod, but not a DVD. Nevermind that there are dozens, if not hundreds of programs to do just that. Many of them free. Eventually some content provider is going to learn, and corner the market with inexpensive, univerally compatible, DRM-free content. I just hope it happens in my lifetime. :roll: