Video and Music Ipods

The following article on Apple's 60 gig video Ipods is free for you to use in your lesson as a topic of discussion. 

There are many words relating to music and multimedia ipods that native English speakers deal with every day without a second thought. But ESL students may not be able to handle more than just 'mp3 player' so this is a rich source of vocabulary for them. Get your student to read the article aloud and correct pronunciation.
What are music Ipods? What is a video Ipod?

The other day I was discovering the delights of podcasts when I stumbled across the fact that video podcasts could be played on an Apple Ipod. I thought, what? I don't even have a music Ipod and I never really liked having the early version of Apple Itunes on my computer so this wave took me by surprise.

I was very surprised to find that Ipod not only plays video podcasts but that it is a tiny sliver of a device that contains space for up to 60 Gigs of multimedia files (well, give or take a few gigs depending on formatting and calculations)

Needless to say I was impressed. 
Having said that I still can't see the reason for people wanting to listen to the same songs over and over. I only ever listen to one song once and, like a book, if I've read it or heard it before I certainly don't need to read or hear it again, well, for at least 10 years anyway. (That's how long it'll take me to forget.)

This new 60 gig video Ipod means you can store up to 15,000 songs. That's great. And it may even appeal to me as I could probably store 15,000 songs that I haven't heard. By the time I get around to listening to them all it would take about 10 years anyway and I'd have another 15,000 songs to add to the next generation multimedia device.

But the best thing is I could store 150 hours of video podcasts. Fantastic. There are hundreds of really interesting podcasts out there from Japanese language lessons to creative humour. And with Itunes, the Apple program that helps you to find and download them, my video Ipod could be kept up-to-date with the latest shows, and I would never have to watch any of them more than once.

Here are some technical details:

    * Stores up to 15,000 songs, 20,000 photos, or 150 hours of video playback
    * 2.5-inch (diagonal) color LCD with LED backlight
    * Up to 14 hours of music playback; up to 3 hours of slideshows with music; up to 2 hours of video playback
    * Comes with earbud headphones and USB cable
    * Compatible with Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later

Well, I think I might get one, when the price comes down. At the moment the price where I live is almost the same as buying a cheap computer. Then again, there probably aren't that many portable computers at this price.

You can check out more details about where to buy the new 60 Gig Ipod here.

-----------------------------------------

Questions
1. Do you think that the writer of this article likes music?
2. What do you think of the idea of only listening to, or reading, something once?
3. Do you listen to podcasts?
4. Would you like to create your own podcast?
5. Unlike having a website, the amount of bandwidth for a podcast is very large. This means that podcasters have to pay larger fees to host their podcasts. How would these podcasters make money?
6. What sort of podcast would you like to listen to?
7. Would you download a video podcast onto your video ipod and watch it on the train or would you only use your ipod to listen to music?
8. Do you think Ipods will be the next thing banned from international flights?
9. What type of Ipod would you prefer to have?
10. What do you think Apple should include in the next Ipod release?

If you're a teacher, these articles can be used to help you create a discussion lesson. Get the students to read an article aloud then discuss some of the vocabulary, phrases, idioms and phrasal verbs used. Discuss the issues that the article has brought up.

If you're a student, any reading is good English practice for you. Read an article on a topic you like then research any vocabulary used. If you didn't agree with what the article says, you can write your own, refuting it!

If you're wanting to Become an English language Conversation Tutor, you may be interested in the latest ebook from James here.

Have fun!

Google
 
Speakoz Discussion Forum
Online English discussion group
Japanese Language Exchange
Electronic Dictionaries
Online Store