The iPod is Apple's new portable digital audio player. The iPod was officially announced on the 23th October 2001, following much hype, rumour, and speculation regarding exactly what it was.
Apple achieved this hype by stating they were releasing a new product that was "not a Mac", and then scheduling an invite-only product announcement on the 23rd.
Between rumours of the return of the Newton, PDA stories, possible home CD/DVD players, and AirPort-powered iTunes devices, many many theories were put forth.
However, Steve put those theories to rest on Tuesday afternoon.
The iPod is the about the "size of a deck of cards" It fits in the palm of your hand, is about the size of a credit card and less than an inch high.
Size and weight: (First generation)
Height: 4.02 inches / 102 mm
Width: 2.43 inches / 61.8 mm
Depth: 0.78 inches / 19.9 mm
Weight: 6.5 ounces / 185 g
It holds thousands of audio files with its hard drive, and can also be used as a portable, bootable, FireWire disk.
Lithium polymer battery that fully charges in just over an hour.
Plays up to 10 hours with 20 minute skip protection.
Synchronizes with iTunes for the Macintosh, and Musicmatch Jukebox for Windows. Yes, there is now an official 'Windows Edition' iPod formatted to FAT32 as opposed to the Macintosh addition's HFS+.
Can transfer a CD's worth of mp3s between a Mac and itself in less then 10 seconds (FireWire is simply cool).
Has a scroll wheel for interacting with the UI.
Can be changed via the included power adapter or over FireWire.
Also, you can get laser engraving on the back.
The iPod is available now!
If your iPod has the 1.0.4 (or earlier) software
About
If your iPod has the 1.1 software (which was released on March 21st 2002 at MacWorld Tokyo)
Settings
Legal
If your iPod has the 1.2 software* (which was introduced on July 17th, 2002 at MacWorld New York City)
Extras
Game
Note: Steve Jobs (Apple's current CEO) and Steve Wozniak (all around nice guy) created the original Breakout prototype for Atari. Similar Breakout game easter eggs have appeared in (Mac OS) System 7.5 and Casady & Greene's Conflict Catcher 8.
***
* The iPod v1.2 software (approx 6.77MB) is available for free download from http://www.apple.com/ipod/download. The update adds support for iTunes 3 Sound Check (so that all of your MP3s play at a similar volume), as well as support for spoken word content (books on MP3) from Audible.com. New menus in v1.2 add the ability to browse your MP3s by genres and composers (in additon to already being able to do so by artists, albums, and song titles). The new software also give your iPod a clock (with alarm) and a calendar which will sync with iCal (set to be released in September of 2002 for OS X version 10.2).
http://www.apple.com/ipod/download
The v1.1 software added improved audio playback, an equalizer (hello bass booster!), a Contacts menu (for storing names, addresses, phone numbers), the ability to zip to a spot in a song using the scroll wheel, and now shows both the "time elapsed" and "time remaining" counters at the same time.
Contacts
I got one for Christmas. All your objections to its features vanish when you actually get to turn one on and use it for a while.
It really is smaller than you picture it, a deck of cards, extremely easy to fit in your pocket. And it's so light, as good as a minidisc player, but with a better buffer and 20-minute skip-protection. Besides, it actually holds more than the advertised 1000, 2000, or 4000 songs, if a good deal of your mp3 collection is 128kbps. (What you find more often online than ripping yourself)
The interface is just so incredibly easy to use. Moby put it best when he said he could figure it out in less than 45 seconds. And not just the basics, the whole thing is that simple. Pixo designed the built-in OS and licensed it to Apple.
What's best is how my family and friends can use it instantly, they don't have to ask me what to do, except how to turn it off (Hold down the Play/Pause Button). It automatically syncs to your mp3 library with iTunes, and functions as a firewire Hard drive.
People keep ranting about how pricey it is compared to an Archos Jukebox. A couple of things swayed my decision. First, it's beautiful. The front is this polycarbonate, clear plexiglass. I've dropped it with nary a scratch. (Mine gets scratched anyway, but from use and pockets and keys, not from drops). The back is polished metal, it's like the hood of a car or a polished motorcycle. Beautiful. Archos Jukebox is this dull metal with plastic combination.
Second, the interface. The iPod's jog dial looks better, and the screen is far easier to read. I can get to a song with the iPod's menus faster. Also, the iPod connects with one Firewire cable. It charges over that cable, and copies music over it. Plug it in, and the computer does the rest without you, even charges it as you leave it in.
The third is Firewire and USB 2.0 support. I have to mention this again because it's so much better than any other mp3 player out there. Aside from the charging, it's blazingly fast. I copied almost all 5 gigs to the drive in 10 minutes, while it takes hours for any USB 1.0 player, including the Nomad. My Nomad owning friend said he only loads it once, and that's not an issue. Well, I've managed to boot off the iPod's hard drive, by copying my System Folder over to it. I can boot off the iPod and repair my internal drive, all while charging the iPod. It took about the same amount of time to boot, versus the 5-10 minutes you'd get with a USB 1.0 drive.
At Macworld New York 2002, Apple announced three types of iPods, the 5GB, the 10GB with remote and a belt clip (1mm thinner), and the 20GB with the same remote and case (1mm thicker). Also, they all have upgraded 1.2 software that allows you to copy an address book and calendar to your iPod.
Later on, they announced a special U2 Edition iPod, all in black and pre-loaded with U2's albums. They also released an iPod photo, with perhaps more to come.
For those of you who can't afford one, you can make your own at http://boingboing.net/2003_10_01_archive.html#106502088793444933
Apples new, funky iPod mp3 players are just about the closest you get to the perfect sound machine, except for a few very slight flaws.
Apart from limited hard disk size (curently 20 GB) - the largest flaw is that it is white. Only the newest Apple products conform to that new snow-white colouring sceme. And so, if you are the unlucky owner of some older apple equipment, such as a pre- tiBook Powerbook or one of those translucent-cased G3 or iMacs, you are pretty much fucked.
Sure, the iPod is as good no matter what colour your computer is, but if you are going out of your way to get the coolest of the cool mp3 players, you might as well do it in style.
That is why some genius came up with the ultimate solution:
You might laugh, but the solution is brilliant. Condoms actually come in iMac colours (which is quite sad, really, but it is a fact - have a look in your local sex shop...)
In other words - get some non-lubricated (I suppose lubricated ones could work as well, but that might get a bit messy, and they tend to smell worse*) condoms in the colour of your computer, and put your iPod inside.
Instant fashion statement!
bol says re iPod: but..but..but how do you see the menus? SharQ says: Use translucent iMac coloured condoms - they are available! (sad, sad world)
*) just a little anecdote here: I caught a friend having phone sex once, and the next day, I stuffed her cell phone inside a lubricated condom (safe sex, get it?). It was fun, until we realised that lubrication was rather difficult to get off. As far as I know, her phone still smells like lubricant - 6 months later.
-30-
There are some new features that have been added to the iPod in recent months.
There are now three tiers of iPods, ranging from five gigabytes to twenty gigabytes in hard drive size. The ten gigabyte ones are ten percent thinner from front to back and include a wired remote, as does the twenty gigabyte one (although the twenty gigabyte one is thicker than both the five and ten gigabyte iPods).
The five gigabyte iPods are simply refurbished iPods, as far as I have heard.
Anyway, now with the new OS (version 1.2), the interface has been streamlined. Now the main screen has been divided thus:
The clock is large on the screen and allows one to see the... time. It synchronizes the time with the computer when they are hooked up. The calendar shows entire months at a time, and with the program iCal, it allows calendar information to be transferred to the iPod.
One thing the most people are thankful for is the new headphones. They are still pod-shaped but now are made of Neodymium magnets and have better bass response and better quality sound all around. They are also smaller, which should make everybody happy (in fact, MacAddict made fun of this by showing the "maker of the iPod" who was Scottish and had ginormous ears, according to them...).
In addition, the iPods now come with a carrying case that is surprisingly compact. The case I currently have, made by Xtreme Mac, is somewhat bulky and the plastic on it sticks to the screen in patches. This one is both smaller and allows for at least some of the iPod to be seen through it. Ah yes, and there is now a sliding door for the Firewire port.
Windows users will be happy to know that there is now a Windows iPod which has the same functionality but is formatted for PC drives. It is compatible with Macs, but Mac iPods are not functional with Windows machines. I believe it is formatted FAT32 and works through Musicmatch JukeBox Plus. Like the Mac version it still has only Firewire (or IEEE1394), which could pose problems with some machines, as most Wintel computers, as far as I have seen, seem to prefer USB 2 over IEEE1394. YMM(aW)V.
I am very happy with the iPod I have (the five gigabyte one) and would definately reccommend one to anybody. I think they are actually inexpensive for what they do (and they likely will become a full-fledged PDA within a short time), and of the mp3 players I have listened to, it has the best quality, partially due to the great headphones that are bundled with it.
Pros:
Cons:
In November of 2003, Apple released another series of upgrades to its iPod line. Now, iPods are available in 10GB, 20GB, and 40GB. Respectively, they hold somewhere around 2,500; 5,000; and 10,000 songs in MP3, AAC, AIFF, or WAV format.
Notable differences in the third generation: Third-generation iPods are the first to come with the iPod Dock, which carries power and an audio signal. Also new to these third generation iPods is the ability to connect to various accessories: the Belkin Voice Recorder, the Belkin TuneCast, and the Belkin Media Reader for iPod are among the most popular.
Of equal importance to Apple's iPod sales, which climbed 141% (ipodhead.com) in 2003, is the cross-compatibility factor. The generation 3 iPods are both Mac and Windows compatible; there are no pre-formatting differences anymore. This allows any iPod to connect to iTunes effortlessly on either platform.
Personally, I have a 30GB iPod, named Roland of Gilead, which was part of the third generation's first wave. Although it's a few months old, the battery still holds at least an 8 hour charge as well as all of my music. I've heard of other people having problems maintaining their lithium polymer battery, but I'm not very worried because Apple offers a comprehensive two-year warranty. Being able to walk around with a constant soundtrack playing in my head is definitely worth the price. I would recommend one of these to anybody.
I got my windows-compatible iPod last week. I'm refering to it as the FAT32 iPod because the difference between the windows and mac verisons are:
I strongly hate Musicmatch JukeBox. It crashes every time I sync with my iPod. It is the worst windows program I've used in a long time. Of course, I only boot windows to play games. (I'm usually a linux man.)
The other reason I call it a FAT32 iPod is that I hope to get it to work with linux as soon as possible. I'd prefer a nice command-line utility. (Yes, I know about sumipod.)
As far as I can tell, the FAT32 iPod has most of the features of the mac version.
It also works as an external firewire hard drive.
Update (Ocotber 2002): using the default kernel that shipped with RedHat 8.0, I was able to mount the iPod as an external hard drive under linux.
Xenex says re FAT32 iPod:
There are actually official utilties that can convert (well, format) an iPod from Win/FAT32 version to the Mac/HFS+ version. Although, supposedly a Mac can deal with the FAT32 ones fine... The only feature I know of that is missing in the so-called Windows version of the iPod is keeping track of playcounts. However, you can't actually check that on the iPod anyway, but via iTunes, so it's no great loss.
There are actually official utilties that can convert (well, format) an iPod from Win/FAT32 version to the Mac/HFS+ version. Although, supposedly a Mac can deal with the FAT32 ones fine...
The only feature I know of that is missing in the so-called Windows version of the iPod is keeping track of playcounts. However, you can't actually check that on the iPod anyway, but via iTunes, so it's no great loss.
The iPod "for windows" E2 Writeup, Copyright 2002 Frank Grimes. This writeup is dedicated to the public domain. Do with it what you will. (For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ ) --Frank Grimes, 2007
The iPod "for windows" E2 Writeup, Copyright 2002 Frank Grimes.
This writeup is dedicated to the public domain. Do with it what you will. (For details, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ )
--Frank Grimes, 2007
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Slashdot's CmdrTaco, expressing his disinterest in the iPod's release, on Oct. 23, 2001
The iPod is both Apple's hard-drive-based digital music player, and the name for their line of mp3 players. While the iPod wasn't the first hard drive mp3 player, let alone the first standalone mp3 player, it is, without a doubt, the most popular and successful. In less than four years, it has not only taken up the lion's share of the dedicated mp3 player market (with 2004 estimates of market share running along the lines of 90% of hard-drive-based players and 70% of all players), but helped to revitalize Apple Computer both financially and in the minds of consumers and geeks.
Plus, it's a damn fine little gadget.
If you've missed the last four years of geek news (or are reading this in the far future), the iPod plays music. It's a plastic and metal pocket-sized box and super-slick UI wrapped around a very small hard drive. You connect it to your Mac or PC with a Firewire or USB cable, and it synchronizes with your iTunes library of digital music. Not counting the iPod Shuffle or iPod Mini, they run from $299 up to $600, depending on the hard drive size and generation.
The iPod is about the size of an American pack of cigarettes (4" by 2.4" by 0.75" in its first incarnation, and less in later ones) and the weight of a cigarette box filled with coins (6.5 ounces in the first generation.) (The iPod Mini and iPod Shuffle are a bit different, however.) The front is glossy white plastic, with a rectangular LCD screen dominating the upper half and the lower half dominated by a circular scroll wheel. The headphone jack is on the top, and other ports depend on the specific generation of iPod. Inside is a standard 1.5" hard drive (same as you might find in a type II CompactFlash microdrive) holding between 5 and 60 gigabytes. Current iPods can hook up to Macs and PCs, can connect via Firewire or USB 2.0, and can play mp3, AAC, wav, AIFF, Apple Lossless, and Audible files. (They can also keep track of address book entries and to-do lists, but this is a tertiary function.)
The Original - the first-generation iPod
Because Apple abandoned model numbers after Steve Jobs's return, iPods are separated into four generations by hardware revision. Third-gen iPods actually saw a capacity increase midway through their life, but the generations are separated by outward appearance, not size. The iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iPod Photo are separate from this generation scheme, due to their different model names.
The original iPod had a 5 gigabyte hard drive originally developed for use in type II CompactFlash cards, which dwarfed the 128 meg capacity of the flash players that were typical at the time. It used a unique "scroll wheel" to control the surprisingly intuitive menu interface, and had an (at the time) impressive ten-hour battery life. Despite being Mac-only (not counting clever hacks like ephPod or XPlay), it sold 125,000 units between its mid-November 2001 release and the end of the year.
Besides the size, these first-generation iPods had an actual spinning scroll wheel instead of a laptop-like touchpad circle, and had standard Play, FF, Rewind, Stop buttons built into a thick rim around this circle. It also has a Firewire/IEEE 1394 port on the top, for transferring files.
Windows Support - the second-generation iPod
In July of 2002, Apple updated their iPod. It was slightly slimmer, and the mechanical scroll wheel is replaced with a touchpad-like touch-sensitive circle, it was offered in 10 gig and 20 gig capacities, and had better firmware that allowed for basic PIM functions. (The firmware update was available for free for all iPod owners, a trend that Apple carries to this day.)
More important than minor updates to the hardware and software was the addition of FAT32+ formatted iPods packaged with MusicMatch Jukebox for Windows users. The addition of a Windows version and the increasing popularity of the iPod convinces even mainstream retailers like Best Buy and Target to stock the iPod.
Blades and Razors - the third-generation iPod
In May 2003, Apple unveils a new iPod and a compatible downloadable music store, called the iTunes Music Store. (The iTMS would go on to sell a million songs in a week, before even the release of the Windows version of iTunes.) This third-gen iPod can be used with both Macs and PCs, and by October, works with the brand-new iTunes for Windows.
This new iPod is even slimmer, and has the Play/FF/Rewind/Stop buttons in a row in between the screen and scroll wheel. More importantly, it has a dock connector instead of a Firewire plug, and adapters for both Firewire and USB 2.0 are available for this dock connector. It was initially available in 10, 15, and 30 gig capacities, and a later update would add 20 and 40 gig capacities.
Who'd pay $250 for 4 gigs? - the iPod Mini
Apparently, a lot of people.
The iPod Mini was debuted in January of 2004, and was even smaller and slimmer than the iPod, and sported a 4 gig hard drive. It had a similar, smaller screen, and the 'click wheel' scroll wheel, with the buttons actually built into the scroll wheel. Instead of being white plastic, it came in five metallic colors, and cost $250, only $50 less than the cheapest regular (15 gig) iPod. As such, critics pointed out its poor price-capacity ratio, and doubted if anyone would be willing to pay so much.
The demand ended up delaying the international release of the iPod Mini for two months. It was a massive success, and would be much-imitated by other companies selling similar small, mid-capacity players.
A March 2005 update would upgrade the iPod Mini to 6 gig hard drives, along with brighter case colors and a new chipset that offered longer battery life. The gold-colored case was dropped, however.
What do Motorola, U2, and Hewlett-Packard have in common? - the fourth-generation iPod
In July 2004, after having sold more than 3 million iPods and 100 million songs over iTMS, the fourth generation of iPods was released. The 'click wheels' from the iPod Mini replaced both the scroll wheel and the buttons, and the hard drives came in 20 gig and 40 gig capacities.
By this time, the iPod is such a success that Apple even advertised the iMac G5 as "From the creators of iPod." This sort of success encourages partnerships, and the first came in August 2004, with Hewlett-Packard. HP licensed the fourth-generation iPod (although not the iPod Mini) and sold a cobranded version, known as the "Apple iPod from HP" (or "iPod+HP.") This iPod would make it into even Radio Shack and Wal-Mart.
U2, too, got a special iPod. The
