A lilliputian more than calendar week ago , as the deadline for my chromatography column in the next print outlet ofMacworldloomed , I decided to employ a column theme that I ’ve been considering for a few months now : what ’s the pile with Apple ’s failure to enter the portable and downloadable TV market ?

do it to say that I write an entirely new column today . What a difference one set ofApple product announcementscan make .

I will admit , I ’m reasonably relieve that my labored retelling of Dickens ’ “ A Christmas Carol ” — sport Ghosts of iPods Past , Present , and Yet To derive — wo n’t ever see print . ( You , dear Macworld.com reader , can watch the PDF of the Column That Never Wasif you want to assess what I got wrong and what I got correct . )

But I ’ve got to say , I ’m extremely happy that Apple is in the end a player in the video market . And that the company ’s first steps are staggeringly supporting .

In my now - ruin original column , I fantasized aboutiTunes 6 , which would tally a Videos token in the iPod reservoir list — and that it would display a tilt of music videos , picture show , iMovies , and television receiver show . turn out my dream was reasonably close to reality . The stuff for sale via iTunes is n’t as wide - graze as I had hoped , but these are other 24-hour interval . The fact is , there ’s now nothing technically finish Apple from selling feature of speech - length films from its store tomorrow . reckoning on some enterprising movie studio to try out with cinema on iTunes in the very near future .

Most encouraging for me is iTunes ’ and Apple ’s embrace of TV . For a foresighted time I ’ve gotten the feeling that Steve Jobs is n’t a big sports fan of TV . But now Apple has recognized that television system , perhaps even more than motion picture , is a medium that could potentially be transformed by digital downloads .

Five series from ABC and Disney are only a first footmark — indeed , an Apple executive differentiate me that the company approachedonlyABC about this new service . But I ’m pretty sure that iTunes executives have already got a cluster of part - mail messages await for them from administrator at other networks and TV studio apartment . In fact , in the first place this monththe connection were speak about sell commercial message - free replay of TV show for $ 1 , so I think we ’ll see a whole pile more in this expanse soon .

Now all Apple require to do is combine two of its most latterly - sum up features : Video Podcasting and TV Series . Imagine give a monthly subscription for a special TV serial publication — let ’s sayThe Daily Show — and having it downloaded , commercial-grade - innocent , to your Mac ( and video recording iPod ) the day after it airs .

television on iPod

I realize that many people might be unbelieving about the intact concept of watching video on an iPod . After all , that ’s atinyscreen . But as I wrote in September , I ’ve been spending a lot of time on my commute watching TV shows on my Treo cellular telephone phone . The television specs for the videos I ’ve been watching are , in fact , identical to those of the video iPod — 30 bod per second at 320 - by-240 pixels , roughly half the resolving of a standard television receiver picture .

This is not a data formatting you ’d of necessity desire to observe a plushy , beautifully - tear question picture on . But for TV shows , medicine videos , silly romanticist comedies , and the similar ? It ’s a lot of fun . Watching video on the go wo n’t be for everyone , but people who have foresighted commutes or spend a muckle of time on airplanes will squeeze the video iPod . Sony ’s PlayStation Portable has already show that a small , manus - throw twist can be popular as a picture viewer . Now it ’s the iPod ’s turn .

A dream accede

try out that the imagination is still a remarkably powerful force-out , there are still numerous place where Apple ’s new video announcement have left room for improvement . Half - TV - resolution videos are fine for an iPod , but it ’s disappointing that people observe on high - resolution computer screens do n’t have the option of viewing standard- or high-pitched - definition television instead .

strictly because of politics , I ’m not surprised at the want of DVD integration in Apple ’s novel products . Yes , you’re able to play a videodisc back on a new iMac and control it via the novel Front Row applications programme , but there ’s no way to burn the video you ’ve grease one’s palms to DVD , nor is there any Apple - approved by of convert the DVDs you ’ve purchase into movies that are playable on your iPod . ( This is not to say that it ca n’t be done — just that Apple wo n’t avail you do it and the act of convert those videodisk into other formatting is , frustratingly , illegal . )

TV everywhere but here

Although Apple has eventually embraced television receiver programing , it ’s a slight frustrative to see that it has n’t embraced the televisionsetyet . Thanks to these latest announcements , you could now watch medicine videos , movie drawers , and TV render on your Mac and on your iPod . And yes , you could plug in your iPod to your idiot box circle and represent those video recording back .

But there ’s another shoe that ask to drop off here , and it ’s one that wirelessly connects the TV arrange to your Mac , give you a Front Row - style user interface as you sit on your couch . During my column - writing frenzy last week , I envision it as a small , white-hot plastic box , only a piffling bit larger than an AirPort Express , and attach to a beautiful flat - panel television set set . This gimmick would let me — via a snazzy Apple distant control — range my iTunes medicine depository library , choose medicine , browse podcasts , build playlists , browse Internet wireless Stations of the Cross , and even choose from a lot of snazzy visualizers , and all the music would play through my home - theater audio system . Plus , it would let me browse my movies , TV show , and iMovies , and play them back — in full , mellow - definition quality .

I ’m not complaining here , because I think Apple ’s going to liberate a product like this eventually . Whether it ’s based on the Mac mini and Front Row , or it ’s a slimmed - down , AirPort Express - like twist , it ’s a no - brainer . Apple ’s begin picture in our computers and on our iPods . Now it ’s meter to get them to where we watch most of our TV : our goggle box .

well news program , high-risk news program

On a purely personal layer I ’ll let in that I ’m a minuscule frustrated that I spent all that prison term lamenting Apple ’s lack of a video presencethe very weekbefore Apple went into video whole hog . But you know what ? parole are cheap . Apple using its technical artistry to transubstantiate how we watch video the same agency they transfer how we buy and listen to music ? That ’s priceless .