The iPod is a brand of portable digital media player designed and marketed by Apple Computer. Devices in the iPod family provide a simple user interface designed around a central scroll wheel (with the exception of the iPod shuffle). The standard iPod model stores media on a built-in hard drive, while the smaller iPod shuffle and iPod nano use flash memory. Like most digital audio players, an iPod can serve as an external data storage device when connected to a computer.

Discontinued versions of the iPod include two generations of the popular iPod mini and four generations of the full-sized iPod, all of which had monochrome screens except for the fourth-generation iPod with color screen (previously sold as iPod photo before it replaced the monochrome iPod in the top line). As of March 2006, the lineup consists of the fifth-generation iPod, which has video playback capabilities, the iPod nano which has a color screen, and the iPod shuffle; all three versions were released in 2005. The iPod is currently the world’s best-selling digital audio player. The bundled software used for uploading music, photos, and videos to the iPod is called iTunes. A music jukebox application, iTunes stores a comprehensive library of the user’s music on their computer, and can play and rip music from a CD. The most recent incarnations of iPod and iTunes have video playing and organization features. The iPod was a decision of Steve Jobs, this has now become very popluar among teens and even adults, this is considered as one of Apple’s best products.

Name

Apple Computer often refers to the player as iPod, without use of the definite article the. Apple’s web site reflects this usage (for example, “iPod incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini”), which resembles Apple’s use of the words Apple Macintosh (note: Apple no longer refers to their personal computers as Macintosh, but rather “Mac”) or iMac. The company has many other products with a lowercase “i” in front of the name, including iSight, iChat, iTunes, iDVD, iBook, and many more. When Apple first introduced the iMac, the “i” stood for Internet, meaning that the iMac shipped with everything needed for a connection. The “i” also stood for “individual” and “independence” –as well as other words that complemented Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign launched in conjunction with the first iMac, but the prefix stuck, as the brand recognition associated with it has positive effects on the sales of Apple products. Recently, some media have started referring to the generation primarily born in the late 1980s, and which in particular has made the iPod popular, as the iGeneration, suggesting that the “i” family of products may have a far-reaching cultural impact.

History

Development of the iPod grew out of Apple’s digital hub strategy, as the company was creating software applications for the growing number of digital devices being snapped up by consumers. While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established markets, the company found digital music players lacking in quality and Apple decided to develop its own. Apple’s Hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design and build the first iPod in less than a year, with Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey as the principal hardware engineers. It was unveiled by CEO Steve Jobs on October 23, 2001 as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put “1,000 songs in your pocket.”

In 2002, Apple released the second-generation iPod in two versions, one for Mac users and one for Windows users. The only difference though was the bundled software, since there was no iTunes for Windows at the time, the Windows iPods came packaged with Musicmatch software. The actual iPods could work with either system (though to work with Windows, they had to use the FAT32 filesystem, Mac iPods could use either the FAT32 or HFS Plus filesystem). In 2003, Apple released third-generation iPods that included a single CD that included a Windows version of the iTunes software along with the Mac version. As of October 2004, iPod dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard-drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. The iPod has sold at a tremendous rate, now past 42 million units since its release. Apple and several industry analysts have posited that the iPod has a “halo effect”, encouraging users of non-Apple products to switch to other Apple products, such as to Macintosh computers.