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General discussion

Getting video shows on a MP3 player

Oct 25, 2008 7:16AM PDT

I hope this doesn't sound too dumb, but I am new to the video aspect of MP3 players. I have previously used one for audio books and some music, and now I'm ready to step up a bit. I notice that one of my favorite tV shows Dan Rather HDNET advertises at the end of each show that you can get the show from I Tunes ($1.99 ea)

I don't mind paying the $1.99 for these missed shows or ones I'd like to download to travel with, but I don't have an I Pod, and wanted to buy a Cowon D2, for some of it's audible book features and most important long battery life. So my question is:

Is there no other source for obtaining these TV shows. I like documentories, news,PBS, HDTV, Link TV type stuff (also BBC) without having to buy an Apple.

I just went on PBS and they have download streaming of their shows of NOW (a weekly news documentory), if you buy a $699 version of Adobe. Please educate me as to what is or isn't available for video on MP3's. I am not so interested in buying DVD's and then converting them over. I would like to be able to directly download from my computer onto the Cowon. Am I going to have to buy both a Cowon for my books and music, and an ITouch for the video? I know the ITouch will do the music and audible books too, but the battery life of them is very short. Some people are saying that they get less than an hour of video (supposed to get 5 to 6 hours) I have read this by many. This has little appeal to me.

Discussion is locked

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Remember that you might get Spammed.
Oct 25, 2008 10:37PM PDT

Watch out for the spammers that will reply.

Moving on. -> What you need to know is that your OTHER player must give you software and instructions on how to prepare content to play on that player. If they don't then you will be upset over having to learn that there is no standard for conversion to whatever your player is.

I know some have an aversion to the iPod but given the prices and the time you'll lose waiting for the files to convert or days (weeks?) lost trying to find support why isn't the iPod an answer?
Bob

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Re battery time.
Oct 25, 2008 10:40PM PDT

You can reduce that battery time by pushing the brightness to its maximum. My old PDA could run some 3 hours with the brightness to its highest when the battery was new. Lower the brightness to just below what I'd like and it would go for 8 hours.

And there are accessory battery packs for iPods.
Bob

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legal video content
Oct 26, 2008 3:43AM PDT

You're not going to find a lot of sites/services for downloadable legal video content. TV networks and movie studios are still pretty skittish when it comes to providing it. So when they do allow it, they want it wrapped in DRM, which is why most iTunes purchased music and practically every purchased video can only play on iPods. Some music videos are offered DRM free, but seems very few and you're not interested in that anyway.

The only services I can think of apart from iTunes is Amazon.com's video on demand and CinemaNow. Both offer tv shows for sale as well as movies for sale or rent. I think there is more stuff at Amazon, but I'm not really too familiar with CinemaNow. Unfortunately, video from these services have DRM, which limits compatibility. Both sites do not list any Cowan device as being compatible. The links that follow are the compatible device pages for each of the services. You can navigate around to find the shows each offers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000038721

http://www.cinemanow.com/Devices.aspx

Oh yeah, I forgot about Microsoft's Zune Marketplace store. It also offers TV shows, but only compatible with the Zune.

As far as battery life. If you use any player specifically for video and nothing else and set the screen so it isn't too bright, you should get close to the stated battery life from a fully charged state. I have 2 iPod Touches (old and new gen) and I have never gotten only an hour of video on either device unless I ran the battery down using audio or surfing the web. Using the wireless on the Touch does run down the battery as well.

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Thank you all for your information and one more question
Oct 26, 2008 9:58AM PDT

With the ITouch, since some of you reading this have them. Can you tell me if you have it pluged into an ac outlet for charging, can you use it while it is charging, or must you fully recharge it first before you can use it?

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yes
Oct 26, 2008 11:30AM PDT

you can use it while it is charging