During the recent MacMania Mediterranean cruise I witnessed an interesting phenomenon . Where , in the past , teacher and the attending eccentric would equate the odd - yet - beloved utilities and applications on their computers or the content of their reckoner bags , this time it was all about television . In our off hour after dinner party we gather in the ship ’s Internet Cafe or adjoining group meeting room and whiled aside the hour showing each other amusing video clips—“What , you have n’t see the Italian eyewear commercial message ? It ’s hysterical , check this out!”—and sky through each other ’s iPod video libraries to see what mattered enough to deserve the portable discourse .

Besides the insight it gives you into your shipboard companions ’ tastes , I guess these sessions were peculiarly interesting because of what mass value in video . await through most peoples ’ iPod music libraries and you ’ll find fairly much what you ’d anticipate — a reasonable act of Big Hits in the listener ’s favorite literary genre and a handful of less well - have it away stuff . From what I ’ve abide by , television is different .

On the 5 G iPods I examined ( and on my own iPod ) I did n’t find smash hit — no Harry Potter , Lord of the Rings , Spiderman , Big Budget Movie of the Year . Even mainstream TV shows were mostly missing in action ( though I ’m trying to catch up onLostso its first season made the slip with me ) . alternatively , people on the sail lean to pack far quirkier fare . For example , my iPod contains a couple of dozen episodes of the old TV mystery / supernatural show , One Step Beyondas well as the Channel 101 mocumentary , Yacht Rock . lensman and Photoshop guruJack Davishas packed his ‘ pod with every episode of the shortlived Sci - Fi westerly , Firefly(as well as the spin - off motion-picture show , Serenity ) . Apple employees Janet Hill and Sal Soghoian had their portion of rare Apple commercial .

And it makes me mull the differences between portable music and video . Given a gadget that can hold back up to a solid month of medicine , one can shovel onto it every mo of music they own — much of which is potential to be of the “ heard it , have it off it , do n’t thinker learn it again ” salmagundi .

Not so video recording . Given files that weigh in at over 100 Bachelor of Medicine an episode — with full - length movies taking up more than half - a - gig of warehousing — you have to be choosey . And , as far as I can see , those choices are wholly dissimilar than those you ’d make with music cartroad . They let in : How in all likelihood are you to follow this again ? Is this something you ’ve been meaning to watch but it ’s not worth wasting clock time on at home plate but definitely worth keep an eye on on a long carpenter’s plane escape or with the iPod jack into the hotel telly ? Is this rare and cool enough to show off to kinsfolk you encounter on the road ? Does this video have such substance to you that you but need to have it with you disregarding of whether you learn it again or not ( and yes , I ’m think the YouTube model ) ?

I dunno , mayhap I ’m drawing conclusions from far too small-scale a sample from a like - tending chemical group of individuals . That prompts me to ask this :

Prove me haywire or right . What ’s on your 5 G iPod ?

Comment connection below . Use it sagely .