Portable how-to videos will be big business 20 Oct 2005

19 comments Latest by SEO Melbourne

Russ is on to something here. Portable how-to videos will be a huge business. It’s an industry waiting to happen.

The problem with most how-to videos is that you often watch them in one place and use their lessons in another. But videos are often most useful when you can pause, scrub back, and resume. It’s a real hassle trying to fix the lawnmower when the “How to fix the lawnmower” video is in the family room.

The new iPod with video playback will usher in a new era of mini how-tos that will put DIYers at a major advantage. Now you can take mini how-to movies with you — to the garage, to the yard, to the basement, to the roof, to the studio. Same applies to exercise videos — take your Billy Blanks with you to the gym or the park.

I wonder who’s going to jump on this first. Imagine professionally produced mini how-to videos on iTunes. Indie how-tos as well. Seems like a great place for Make to blaze a trail.

19 comments so far (Jump to latest)

misuba 20 Oct 05

Excellent news, counterbalanced by the horrifying thought of portable how-to porn.

Dan Boland 20 Oct 05

I alluded to this in a previous post on this blog. Channels like Food Network and DIY Network could really tap into a huge new market by selling not only episodes of their television programs, but also specific how-tos produced by the networks themselves specifically for the portable video market.

Rob Poitras 20 Oct 05

I am surprised that more sites don’t have online video tutorials. Using something like macromedia’s captivate to record on-screen actions. Going from blogging to podcasts isn’t that big of a jump. Most people can figure out how to record audio and slice out the unwanted junk. Making a video tutorial that truely teaches might not be as easy.

evan 21 Oct 05

This is a brilliant idea.

If I had a video with me on how to change the brake pads on my car while I was in the process… whoa, that’d be slick.

Craig 21 Oct 05

Not entirely sure why the iPod will be ushering it in considering portable video players have been around for quite some time though…

not sure I agree... 21 Oct 05

Portable video has been around for a long time as have video how-tos. Why would it become “big business” now?

JF 21 Oct 05

Portable video has been around for a long time as have video how-tos. Why would it become �big business� now?

There will now be millions and millions and millions of people with portable (truly portable) players.

busse 21 Oct 05

I wonder how that scroll wheel wheel works with hands coated in 90 weight gear oil.

Seriously though, I tend to think that part of the allure of the video is that you watch it, remember what you see, maybe re-watch a few parts, write down what you need to do, supplies to buy, etc, then go do it, remembering what you saw.

For more complex things, I still think a dead-tree how-to (a diagram printed off, a Haynes manual, etc) is best.

When you are in the thick of working on something that requires such a level of instruction that the instruction needs to be right there infront of you, then you need a way to reference it in a non linear manner — flipping back and forth between pages to make sure you haven’t missed something — and a way to make the reference static — leave it on the page/diagram you need at the moment.

Eddie 21 Oct 05

There is a difference in the amount of time needed. If I’m stuck on changing my brakes- I could go to my computer, download and be up and running in minutes vs. actually locating the DVD.

Jason is right- people will be buying the iPod now because it’s the iPod and it’s a music player. The fact that I can use it to help me change my brakes is a nice bonus.

Josh Williams 21 Oct 05

On a similar note (no pun), I also just noticed that iTunes is selling “instrumental” backup tracks for popular Christian music — ready for Sunday morning solos.

Bring your iPod to church, plug in, sing your Gospel special, pay Apple a cut. Brilliant.

Ken B. 21 Oct 05

Just to add to the “why now” question is in addition to the availability of players there is now the beginning of a distribution channel that provides instant gratification. In a way it is similar to how digital music has made it possible for me to hear a song or about a song and get it with very little investment of time or money. With the how-to videos, the problem to the customer is likely to be much more immediate, meaning uh oh moment where you didn’t realize you needed the video until you got the project started.

As for the need for schematics, a pdf can easily be included so the learning process taps into the three fundamental ways people learn (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic). I’ve been thinking about similar applications since Apple’s announcement and I’m excited by the potential of short niche videos that are closer to solving specific problems for people with delivery at the point of need.

Steven Aves 22 Oct 05

I’d really like to see sales videos ready for the PDA/Ipod world. Shoot, I’ve been looking for a way to “easily” convert short sales videos to my PDA — either they take way too long to convert or too much trial and error for each one to make it worth my time.

Steve

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Gordy Wray 26 Jun 06

I couldn’t agree with you more. The potential for the iPod to become a useful tool for do-it-yourselfer is tremendous! We’ve started a website,with the intention of doing just that.

www.viewdo.com

Users are able to browse our library for instructional content that they can download in an mpeg4 format to be played on their iPods. Users are also encouraged to contribute their own materials to help the us build the library.

Please check it out and let us know what you think.

Gordy

Gordy Wray 26 Jun 06

I couldn’t agree with you more. The potential for the iPod to become a useful tool for do-it-yourselfer is tremendous! We’ve started a website with the intention of doing just that.

www.viewdo.com

Users are able to browse our library for instructional content that they can download in an mpeg4 format to be played on their iPods. Users are also encouraged to contribute their own materials to help the us build the library.

Please check it out and let us know what you think.

Gordy