digital music/video
11/28/2005, 7:45am, EST
Monday, November 28th
Disney supports iPods, but not Macs
While Disney has decided to the support the iPod, Mac users are again out in the cold. Circumventing the iTunes-iPod system, Walt Disney Co will let consumers watch full-screen video directly on PCs and the new Apple video iPods starting with its upcoming movie release, "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Macworld UK reports that while Mac users can watch the clips online using QuickTime, and can watch/listen to a variety of Disney podcasts, some video clips use software which does not support Macs. "The software needs to be downloaded to unlock the full suite of multimedia assets, including desktop wallpaper and more. It automatically downloads new content and even supplies news on special ticket deals. It's ironic, because Apple makes both the iPod and the Mac, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs has an existing relationship with Disney." Bypassing iTunes, the Maven software for Windows will let users automatically download and synchronize trailers and clips directly to video-enabled iPods, according to DM News.
Filed under: industry
Other story tags: digital music/video
, 
, 9
, 
, 
, 
, 
Top
subscribe to comments
for this article
We wouldn't want any income from Mac owners, now would we?
There is nothing new here. We've been able to transfer mpeg4 / h264 media to the video iPod since it came out... all Disney is doing is making it available in an iPod friendly format.
"The software needs to be downloaded to unlock the full suite of multimedia assets, including desktop wallpaper and more. It automatically downloads new content and even supplies news on special ticket deals."
This, in my opinion, is good for the Mac - if you have a Windows machine, you're opening yourself up to spyware/adware and all sorts of rubbish you probably don't want.
It didn't really have anything to do with Eisner or their relationship. The contract has not been extended in the sense that they are doing more films together. At least not yet. The contract is based on the number of films, not the calendar year. Films can and do get delayed all the time.