Nielsen Media Research recently announced that it has begun gathering information on usage of Apple’s iPod, and has found that most iPod owners spend far more time using them to listen to music or audio podcasts than they do using them to watch TV or movies.

This report, which is of qualified significance because its focus is on mainstream media content, has resulted in some coverage that can only be characterized as interesting:

• CNET says that video a no-go on iPods a-go-go
• Smarthouse News’ reaction is that the video iPod is a dismal failure
• Laptop Logic says watching video on iPods is not popular
• The Inquirer says video iPods are a waste of money

According to Nielsen’s report, video iPod owners use them to view video 11% of the time, or nearly half an hour, if you use your iPod 4 hours a day.

How much more video could iPod owners watch?

You can use an iPod to listen to music when you’re working, when you’re exercising, when you’re commuting – a large portion of your day.

On the other hand, you probably won’t use an iPod to view video at home, where you have a computer and television available; in your car; or at work.

Nielsen’s media tracking is also limited to mainstream media content. This ignores video podcasts, ripped content and video downloads that make up much of the content that video iPod users view.

Video iPod owners may not spend a lot of time watching mainstream media content on their iPods. But with the wealth of short-form video content that is freely available via the Internet, many video iPod owner are already maxing out the time they have available to use the devices for viewing video.