Dânesh Zaki

I had a look at the iPod Video edition at CNet.com and thought that its form factor was all wrong. It appears that the designers were working under stringent deadlines and decided to re-use the MP3 player’s design.

Creative and Archos had players with the right form factors in my opinion. The space occupied by the dial in the iPod is absurd, it is equal to or more than that of the screen itself! Creative and Archos’ players had the screen placed horizontally across the player, which in my opinion is the right design for a video player, using as much real estate on the device as possible for display. I am not sure about the video quality and other features but I thought the basic design of the device itself was flawed. If Apple is pushing this as an MP3 player that plays video too, I do not have any qualms about it but if it is touted as a specialist video player, Apple would be too high-handed with its marketing.