1. Why Flip?

At the risk of appearing to gratuitously promote my other books, The iPod & iTunes Pocket Guide and The iPhone Pocket Guide, I’d like to cite those titles to help explain why a book like this one is necessary. After all, like Apple’s iPod and iPhone, the Flip cameras couldn’t be much easier to operate. The FlipShare software that accompanies these cameras can be used without a lot of background in video editing. And it’s not like Pure Digital has cornered the market on pocket camcorders. (As I write this chapter, some perfectly fine high-definition pocket camcorders are for sale from companies such as Kodak and Creative Technology. And because high definition in your pocket is so popular, it’s likely that we’ll see more of these kinds of cameras before too long.)

So, as this chapter’s title asks, why Flip? Because, like the iPod and iPhone, the Flip camcorders are about more than just functionality. Like Apple, Pure Digital understands the notion that personal technology can be personal. In the case of a pocket camcorder, it can not only serve perfectly utilitarian purposes such as shooting a birthday party or a night on the town, but also reflect the personality of the owner. Unlike any other company that makes pocket camcorders, Pure Digital pushes this personality angle in a couple of interesting ways: