The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful," so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Jonathan Ive. The product was developed in less than one year and unveiled on 23 October 2001. Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket."
Apple did not develop the iPod software entirely in-house, instead using PortalPlayer's reference platform based on 2 ARM cores. The platform had rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. PortalPlayer had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones. Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs. As development progressed, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel. Starting with the iPod Mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans—a font similar to Apple's corporate font, Myriad. iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal meant to evoke a combination lock. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod Classic and third-generation iPod Nano by changing the font to Helvetica and, in most cases, splitting the screen in half by displaying the menus on the left and album artwork, photos, or videos on the right (whichever was appropriate for the selected item).
In September 2007, during the course of a lawsuit with patent holding company Burst.com, Apple drew attention to a patent for a similar device that was developed in 1979. Kane Kramer patented the idea of a "plastic music box" in 1979, which he called the IXI. He was unable to secure funding to renew the US$ 120,000 worldwide patent, so it lapsed and Kramer never profited from his idea.
Meet a musical Genius.
Say you’re listening to a song you really like and want to hear other tracks that go great with it. With a few clicks, the Genius feature finds the songs in your library that go great together and makes a Genius playlist for you. You can listen to the playlist right away, save it for later, or even refresh it and give it another go. Count on Genius to create a mix you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.
Click to enjoy.
Finding exactly what you want to watch or listen to is easy. Use the Click Wheel to browse by album art with Cover Flow or navigate your songs and videos by playlist, artist, album, genre, and more. You can also search for specific titles and artists. Want to mix things up? Click Shuffle Songs for a different experience every time.
Hold everything.
iPod classic gives you 160GB of storage capacity, good for up to 40,000 songs, 200 hours of video, 25,000 photos, or any combination. And you get up to 36 hours of battery life, so you can keep on rocking for a long, long time.1
Watch movies and TV shows.
The vivid 2.5-inch display makes video come alive. Purchase or rent movies, buy TV shows, and download video podcasts from the iTunes Store, then sync them to your iPod classic to watch anywhere, anytime.
Play iPod games.
Put hours of fun at your fingertips. iPod classic comes with three games — Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike — and you can purchase games such as Cake Mania from the iTunes Store. All iPod games are designed specifically for the iPod interface.
Share your photos.
iPod classic uses iTunes to sync the photos you have in iPhoto on a Mac. You can view photo slideshows complete with music and transitions on iPod classic, or play them on a TV using an optional Apple component or composite AV cable.
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iPod touch
Official site for Apple's iPod touch, with music, video, photos, and web browsing capabilities.www.apple.com/ipodtouch -
Apple - Download music and more with iTunes. Play it all on iPod.
Learn about iPod, Apple TV, and accessories. Download iTunes software free and purchase iTunes Gift Cards. Check out the most popular TV shows, movies, and music.www.apple.com/itunes -
iPod Classic
Official site of the Apple iPod Classic, which can hold up to 120 GB of music, videos, photos, and games.www.apple.com/ipodclassic -
iPod nano
Official site for Apple's iPod nano, a pencil-thin iPod digital music player with the capability to store thousands of songs and play video.www.apple.com/ipodnano -
iPod and Portable MP3 Players at the Official Apple Store
Buy your new iPod touch, iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod shuffle at the Official Apple Store & get fast, free shipping & personal engraving. Get your new iPod today.store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipod -
iPod - Wikipedia
Article describing Apple's iPod, including hardware and software features, history, models, criticisms, sales, and other aspects.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod -
Amazon.com: iPod: Electronics
Find, shop for and buy Electronics at Amazon.com ... Music downloads from Amazon MP3 work with any MP3 player, including the iPod.www.amazon.com/iPod-Computers/b?ie=UTF8&node=13660271 -
iPods and MP3 Players - Best Buy
Offers hard drive as well as flash-based MP3 players and accessories, including the iPod.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=abcat0201000&type=category -
iPod MP3 Players - Yahoo! Shopping
Find the best price for iPod MP3 Players at Yahoo! Shopping. Compare prices, read reviews and ratings for iPod MP3 Playersshopping.yahoo.com/s:MP3 Players:4600-Product Line=iPod -
Apple iPod reviews, news and videos - CNET.com
Get the latest iPod reviews, news and videos. ... The iPod is everywhere, perhaps even in your pocket. ... Apple iPod Touch accessories ...www.cnet.com/ipod
