The beginning
On 23 October, 2001, Apple released the first ever iPod. It appeared after less than a year's development, and was Apple's response to what it saw as a gap in the personal digital market. Until this point, digital music players were too large to be practical or too small to work properly. Apple changed this situation overnight with a 5GB device of modest size that held up to a 1,000 songs.
The first iPod was white with a monochrome screen. Users navigated it with a mechanical scroll wheel and a centre button. Other features included a FireWire rather than a USB connection, and a battery that held a charge for about ten hours of music playback.
The iPod made its mark instantly. Although it was only compatible with Mac computers, Windows users employed third party software to get round this problem. It was clear Apple could fill the gap in the market that the company had identified.
iTunes
iTunes became available in January 2001, nine months before the first iPod. iTunes formed part of Apple's iLife software, and enabled users to transfer the content of CDs to their Macs, organise the music, and play it through their computers. The arrival of the iPod, together with iTunes 2.0, meant that everyone could now go one step further and copy their music from computers to portable players.
Since iTunes 2.0, Apple has introduced regular iTunes updates. The iTunes Store came online in April 2003, and six months later iTunes 4.1 made iTunes compatible with Windows. Further developments include access to music videos; podcasts; audiobooks; films; TV programmes; games; and applications. Apple has complemented these improvements with features such as Album Artwork; Cover Flow; and, most recently, Genius.
Technology
The first iPod stored music on a hard drive, a medium that the iPod classic continues using to this day. iPod minis (January 2004 - September 2005) had one inch microdrives with either 4GB or 6GB capacities. The iPod nano, shuffle, and touch have always had flash memories.
Colour screens arrived with the fourth generation iPod, also known as the iPod photo, in October 2004. From June the following year, all iPods dropped the black and white screens and had colour displays. These developed further into the two inch, two and a half inch, and three and a half inch screens that are now part of the nano, classic, and touch respectively.
The iPod's controls began with the mechanical scroll wheel. A touch-sensitive wheel, and then the Click Wheel, followed this. The third generation iPod, however, combined a wheel with four horizontal buttons beneath the screen from April 2003. Apple changed this layout to just a touch-sensitive wheel in July 2004.
The most significant departure from the wheel arrangement appears on the iPod touch. Released in September 2007, the iPod touch has a Multi-Touch screen that users tap and run their fingers across to control the iPod's functions.
The Click Wheel remains, though, as one of the distinctive features of the iPod classic and iPod nano ranges. The iPod shuffle, first released in January 2005, has a five button arrangement in the shape of a circle.
Connectivity for iPods has also changed. To begin with, Apple maintained exclusive use of FireWire, the original connection for iPods. In April 2003, with the advent of the third generation iPod, Apple included USB connectivity for the first time. In September 2005, all iPod models became USB only. This move confirmed iPods as the leading portable music player, and reflected the need to link to all computers.
Storage capacity
Apple began the iPod range with 5GB of storage. Within six months, a 10GB model appeared, followed by a 20GB second generation iPod in July 2002. Storage capacity hit its peak in September 2007 with the 160GB model of the sixth generation iPod (the "classic"), although this has since been dropped. The highest capacity, with the potential to hold 30,000 songs or 150 hours of video on a 1.8 inch hard drive, is the current 120GB iPod classic.
The latest iPod shuffle offers 1GB and 2GB options for 240 or 500 songs. The nano has 8GB and 16GB, and the iPod touch gives you a choice of 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. iPod owners also have the ability to store digital media in their iTunes libraries.
Windows
Windows users who bought first generation iPods had to obtain software such as XPlay because they couldn't download iTunes. To ease this problem, Apple released two versions of second generation iPods in October 2002. One came with iTunes for Mac owners; the other had Musicmatch Jukebox for Windows users.
In October 2003, Apple launched iTunes for Windows, and from then on all iPods were suitable for Mac and Windows users. Today, iPods no longer come with iTunes: the software is available to everyone as a free download.
Video
One of the most significant boosts for iPods was the introduction of video. This came with the fifth generation iPod in October 2005. Originally available in 30GB and 60GB versions, the fifth generation was slimmer than its predecessor and with a larger screen.
Battery support for video playback was two hours for the 30GB model, and three hours for the 60GB. This jumped to six and half hours, however, with the arrival of the 80GB fifth generation upgrade in September 2006.
Video playback is now a standard feature on the iPod classic, the touch and the nano.
Sales
iPods are the most popular type of digital music player in the world. Their share of the market is more than 70%, and total sales have exceeded 160 million. Apple has sold around a quarter of this figure within the last year.
Driving these sales is Apple's never-ending desire to improve and innovate. The latest models are perfect examples of this approach and represent the best that's now available in the digital music player market.
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