Video on a brick: Not exactly new

Apple’s new video iPod drew the usual feeding frenzy when it was launched a couple of weeks ago. However, as PC Magazine’s Kyle Monson points out, there’s nothing new about portable MP3 players that also “do” video.

Although, the list is fairly short. Among the also-rans: the Cowon iAudio X5, which I reviewed a while back.

Apple, of course, has tightly tied the new video iPod to its iTunes application and store, making it easy to download and watch motion pictures on the run. And the Apple player gets higher marks for sound and video quality than the others.

So, why worry about the other guys if you’re thinking of buying? There are some subtle differences that might be attractive to folks who aren’t interested being “limited by the iPod's fairly restrictive format requirements,” Monson writes. Here’s the magazine’s comparison chart.