Ipod!
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As of August 2006, the lineup consists of the 5th generation iPod with a video player; the iPod nano with a color screen; and the iPod shuffle. All three models were released in 2005. Discontinued versions include two generations of the iPod mini and four generations of the full-sized iPod, all of which had monochrome screens (except for the iPod photo).
The bundled software used for transferring music, photos and videos is called iTunes. As a music jukebox application, iTunes stores a comprehensive library of the user's music on their computer and can play, burn and rip music from a CD. The most recent version of iTunes has video organization features.
The iPod is currently the world's best-selling digital audio player, and its worldwide mainstream adoption makes it one of the most popular consumer brands. Some of Apple's design choices and proprietary actions have however led to criticism and legal battles.
Ipod History and design
The iPod came from Apple's digital hub strategy, as the company began creating software for the growing market of digital devices purchased by consumers. While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established markets, the company found digital music players lacking in quality and decided to develop its own.Hardware design of the 3rd generation iPod.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 main 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." Apple often refers to the player as iPod, without using the definite article the, and this is reflected on Apple's web site.
Jeff Robbin headed the team that originally developed both the iPod firmware and the iTunes software at Apple. His team integrated the core firmware from PortalPlayer with the user interface library developed by Pixo. The founder of Pixo had worked on the Apple Newton, a personal digital assistant formerly produced by Apple.
The Pixo libraries provided the original user interface, though the iPod photo incorporated some visual elements from Mac OS X, such as the animated Aqua-style progress bar. More recent iPods incorporate the "brushed-metal" effect (previously used in iTunes) in their stopwatch, screen lock and radio features. Until the release of the iPod mini, the display font was "Chicago", the font used on the original Macintosh computer from 1984, designed by Susan Kare. The iPod mini used the "Espy Sans" font (previously seen in eWorld, the Newton, and Copland), while the most recent iPods use Myriad which is now Apple's corporate typeface.
The physical design of all iPods is credited to Apple's internal industrial design team, led by Jonathan Ive.
Ipod Software
The user interface of a 5th generation iPod, playing Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz The iPod can play MP3, WAV, M4A/AAC, Protected AAC, AIFF, Audible audiobook, and Apple Lossless audio file formats. The 5th generation iPod can also play .mov, .m4v, and .mp4 MPEG-4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) video file formats. Apple does not support Microsoft's WMA audio format, unlike most other media players, and provides a WMA converter with the Windows version of iTunes. Encrypted WMA files cannot be converted however. Some free and open-source audio formats such as Ogg Vorbis and FLAC are not supported. MIDI files cannot be played, but can be converted to audio files using the "Advanced" menu on iTunes.Each time an iPod connects to a host computer, iTunes can automatically synchronize music playlists or entire music libraries. Song ratings can be set on the iPod and synchronized later with the iTunes library.
Ipod iTunes Music Store
iTunes and iTunes Music Store The iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is an online music store run by Apple and accessed via iTunes. It was introduced on April 28, 2003 and sells individual songs relatively easily and cheaply (e.g., US$0.99, AUS$1.69 EU'0.99, GB'0.79). iPods are the only portable music players that can play the purchased music, and this exclusivity has helped the store become the dominant online music service. On October 12 2005, Apple announced the launch of video available for purchase through the iTMS.Purchased audio files use the AAC format with added encryption. The encryption is based on the controversial FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system. Up to five authorized computers and an unlimited amount of iPods can play the files. Burning the files onto an audio CD removes the DRM, at a cost of reduced quality when re-compressed from one lossy format to another.
iPods cannot play music files encrypted with other rival DRM technologies, such as Microsoft's protected WMA or RealNetworks' Helix DRM. RealNetworks claims that Apple is creating problems for itself, by using FairPlay to lock users into using the iTunes Music Store. Steve Jobs has stated that Apple makes very little profit from song sales, but Apple uses the iTMS to promote iPod sales.
Ipod File storage
All iPods can function as mass storage devices to store data files. If the host computer runs Windows, the iPod uses a FAT32 file system format. If the host computer runs Mac OS X, the HFS-Plus format is used. Windows cannot access HFS filesystems. Although the iPod functions as a removable disk, the user must still use iTunes or a compatible third-party software to load audio, videos, and photos in such a way that they are playable and viewable by the iPod. Simply copying files to the drive will not allow the iPod to properly access them.iPods originally shipped formatted with Apple's native file system, HFS-Plus, and therefore would only work with Apple's Mac OS. An iPod formatted with HFS-Plus is able to serve as a boot disk for a Mac computer, allowing one to have a portable operating system installed. The older iPods with FireWire ports could function in FireWire Disk Mode. With the advent of the Windows-compatible iPod, Apple switched the iPod's default file system to FAT32 because FAT32, despite its shortcomings, is the only file system that can be used natively with both Mac OS and Windows. 4th generation and earlier iPods could still be made to boot a Mac by reformatting their hard disks as HFS-Plus.
At the time of the iPod's release, many MP3 players did not offer direct access to their filesystems; some devices in fact used a custom filesystem that was not accessible except by the bundled software.
iTunes lacks the ability to transfer songs from device to computer. Audio and media files are stored in a hidden folder together with a proprietary database on the iPod. While the hidden content can be accessed through the host operating system, practical recovery of the audio content with correct file names, tag meta-data, playlists and photos requires the use of third-party software.
Ipod Additional features
In addition to playing music and storing files, iPods have limited PDA-like functionality and can display text files. Contacts and schedules can be viewed and synchronized with the host computer using either iSync, iTunes, Outlook or Outlook Express. The larger iPod models have some built-in games such as Brick, Parachute, Solitaire and Music Quiz. Brick was originally invented by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak in the 1970s.Ipod Open-source alternatives
The iPodLinux project has successfully ported an ARM version of the Linux kernel to run on iPods. It currently supports 1st through 5th generation iPods, but has been successfully installed on all iPods (except the shuffle), and features simple installers for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. The Linux interface is known as "Podzilla". The interface will run on all iPods, however the development team does not support its usage on the latest iPods.Using the Rockbox open-source firmware, the iPod Nano, iPod Mini, and all iPods after the 3rd generation can play Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Musepack, Wavpack, Shorten, and MIDI files, but not FairPlay-encrypted files from the iTunes Music Store. Rockbox also offers gapless playback and a more sophisticated equaliser. Rockbox will not be officially released for these targets until the release of Rockbox 3.1 which is due in November.
Ipod Operation
All full-size, mini, and nano iPods have five buttons. Newer generations have the buttons integrated underneath the scroll wheel, an innovation which confers an uncluttered, minimalistic interface.The iPod shuffle has five buttons which function differently to the larger models. The shuffle has a Play/Pause button in the center, surrounded by four buttons: Volume Up/Down and Skip Forward/Backwards.
Ipod Connectivity
Originally, a FireWire connection to the host computer was used to update songs and recharge the battery. The battery could also be charged with a power adapter that was included with the first 4 generations. The dock connector was not added until the 3rd generation in April 2003, allowing users the option of using FireWire or USB for connectivity, although the device could still not be charged by USB and the USB cable was not included. As few non-Apple computers had FireWire ports at the time, this move effectively opened the Windows market to iPod, although USB-only Windows users had to keep their FireWire cables to connect to the AC adapter. The dock connector also made it possible to transfer data, sound, and power back and forth to iPod accesories, which created an explosive market of accessories manufactured by third-parties such as Belkin and Griffin.The 4th generation iPod could be charged with USB, and eventually Apple started shipping iPods with USB cables instead of FireWire ones. Later iPod generations continued to lessen the reliance on FireWire. For example, the iPod shuffle, released in January 2005, plugs directly into a USB port and has no FireWire support. The transition from FireWire to USB has drawn some criticism from the Mac community, since FireWire has been a standard feature on Apple Macs for many years, while USB 2.0 support was only added in October 2003. Previously, all Macs had USB 1.1, which had a transfer speed of 11 Mbit/s, as opposed to FireWire's 400 Mbit/s and USB 2.0's 480 Mbit/s.
Each iPod has a 32 MiB flash ROM chip which contains a bootloader, a program that tells the device to load its operating system from its storage medium. Each iPod also has 32 MiB of RAM (the 60 GB 5th generation iPod has 64 MiB). A portion of the RAM is used to hold the iPod OS loaded from firmware, but the vast majority of it serves to cache songs loaded from the storage medium. For example, an iPod could spin its hard disk up once and copy about 30 MiB of upcoming songs into RAM, thus saving power by not having the drive spin up for each song.
The current iPod models use internal lithium-ion batteries. The 1st and 2nd generations used lithium polymer batteries. The larger models use audio circuitry provided by Wolfson Micro-electronics and use touch wheels provided by Synaptics. The iPod shuffle uses the SigmaTel STMP3550 chip which handles both the music decoding and the audio circuitry.
On April 26, 2006, EE Times reported that Samsung Electronics had won the contract to provide the media processor for a future model iPod, replacing Apple's previous supplier PortalPlayer. Portal Player had announced a week before that their updated processor would not be used in upcoming flash-based iPods.
Ipod Earphones
All iPods come with earbud headphones with distinctive white cords and earbuds, a color chosen to match the design of the original iPod. The white cords have become symbolic of the iPod brand, and advertisements for the devices feature them prominently. Some other brands have started using white headphones, due to their popularity.The distinctive earphones have such good visual recognition characteristics that some have said they can be a liability. After a 24% rise in robbery and a 10% increase in grand larceny in the NYC subway system, a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department suggested that iPods might be behind the increases.
Timeline of iPod models
Apple has evolved the iPod line from the original model and each new release generally has more features, whilst being smaller and lighter than its predecessor. Notable changes include the touch sensitive wheel (replacing the mechanical scroll wheel), color displays with anti-aliased text, video capability and flash memory in place of hard disks.The first generation iPods were Mac compatible only. Apple later added limited Windows support to the 2nd and 3rd generation. At this time, Windows users required third-party software such as Musicmatch Jukebox, ephPod or XPlay to manage the music on their iPods. Musicmatch was included on the bundled CD.
From July 2004 and onwards, every iPod was made fully compatible with either Mac or Windows, after Apple released the Windows version of iTunes on 16 October 2003.
Ipod Special Edition and Color Variants
In December 2002, Apple unveiled its first limited edition iPods, with either Madonna's, Tony Hawk's, or Beck's signature or No Doubt's band logo engraved on the back for an additional $49. At a total price of $548, these limited edition iPods were the most expensive ever sold by Apple.On October 26, 2004, Apple introduced a special edition of its fourth generation monochrome iPod, designed in the color scheme of the latest album (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) by Irish rock band U2. It had a black case with a red scrollwheel. On the back were the engraved signatures of all of U2's band members. With the introduction of the iPod photo, the U2 iPod was updated to include the new color screen, and on 6 June 2006, it was updated again to complement the 5th generation iPods.
Apple has also released Special Edition Harry Potter iPods. These are engraved with the Hogwarts Crest on the back, and come preloaded with the Harry Potter audiobooks. Like the U2 iPod, the Harry Potter iPod is updated with each new generation of iPods.
The iPod Nano and 5th generation iPod were released in black and white variants.
Ipod Criticisms
Ipod Battery life advertising
Apple states that the 60 GB and 30 GB iPods have battery lives of "up to 20 hours" and "up to 14 hours" respectively. Many users report average battery lives of less than 8 hours, for the 30 GB video iPod. In 2003, class action lawsuits were brought against Apple complaining that the battery charges lasted for shorter lengths of time than stated and that the battery degraded over time. It should be noted that all lithium-ion batteries lose capacity during their lifetime. Guidelines are available for prolonging life-span and maximizing playback time.Ironically, Apple once complained that its competitor, Sony, had used misleading advertising for Sony's music player. Apple complained that Sony had not considered real-world usage.
Ipod Non-replaceable batteries
The battery in all iPod models cannot be removed or replaced by the user without levering the unit open. This is unusually difficult for a consumer device, although some rival products have a similar enclosed battery. Compounding this problem, Apple initially would not replace worn-out batteries. The official policy was that the customer should buy a refurbished replacement iPod, at a cost almost equivalent to a brand new iPod. This situation led to a small market for third-party battery replacement kits.Apple announced a battery replacement program on 14 November 2003, a week before a high publicity stunt and website by the Neistat Brothers. The initial cost was US$99, but has since been lowered to US$59. One week later Apple offered an extended iPod warranty for US$59. Third-party companies offer cheaper battery replacement kits which often use higher capacity batteries. For the most recent iPods, soldering tools are needed because the battery is either soldered onto the main board, with the nano, or attached to a metal backplate, on the video iPod.
Ipod Bass response
The 3rd generation iPod had a weak bass response, as shown in several audio tests. The combination of the undersized DC blocking capacitors and the typical low impedance of most consumer headphones, form a low-frequency rejection filter, which attenuates the low-frequency bass output by up to 10 dB. The same undersized capacitors are used in the 4th and 5th generation iPods, but not in the iPod shuffle. The problem is reduced when using high impedance headphones.Ipod Equalizer bass distortion
If the sound is enhanced with the iPod's software equalizer (EQ), many users have noticed that some EQ settings like R&B, Rock, Acoustic, and Bass Booster can cause bass distortion too easily.The equalizer amplifies the digital audio level beyond the software's maximum level, causing distortion (clipping) on songs that have a bass drum or use a bassy instrument, even when the amplifier output level is low. Notable song examples include Bob Sinclar's Love Generation and Jem's Wish I. One possible workaround is to reduce the volume level of the recorded MP3 by modifying the audio files. However, this can take several hours with a large music collection, and it cannot be done with DRM-encrypted music. Also, different tools are needed for each different file format.
Ipod Alleged worker exploitation
On 11 June 2006, the British tabloid Mail on Sunday reported that iPods are mainly manufactured by female workers who earn no more than US$50 per month. The report stated that the five-story Longhua factory which belongs to Foxconn houses 200,000 workers, with most of them living in dormitories that house 100 people. The report also claimed that visitors are not allowed and that the plant is secured by police officers. These allegations were denied by Foxconn. Apple launched an investigation into these claims which is still underway.Ipod Patents and patent disputes
In 2005, Apple Computer faced two lawsuits claiming patent infringement by the iPod and its associated technologies: Advanced Audio Devices claimed the iPod breached their patent on a "music jukebox", while a Hong Kong-based IP portfolio company called Pat-rights filed a suit claiming that Apple's FairPlay technology breached a patent issued to inventor Ho Keung Tse. The latter case also includes the online music stores of Sony, Real Networks, Napster, and Musicmatch as defendants.Apple's application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on "rotational user inputs", as used on the iPod's interface, received a third "non-final rejection" (NFR) in August 2005. Also in August 2005, Creative Technology, one of Apple's main rivals in the MP3 player market, announced that it too held a patent on part of the music selection interface used by the iPod, which Creative dubbed the "Zen Patent", granted on August 9 2005. On May 15, 2006, Creative filed another suit against Apple for patent infringement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Creative also asked the United States International Trade Commission to investigate whether Apple was breaching U.S. trade laws by importing iPods into the United States.
Ipod Sales
Since October 2004, the iPod has 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. It frequently tops the best-seller lists. The iPod has sold at a tremendous rate and within one year from January 2004 to January 2005, its US market share tremendously increased by 34% from 31% to 65%. According to the latest financial statements, iPod's market share accounts for 74% in the US in July 2005. This success was especially based on the introduction of the iPod mini, part of Apple's attempt to take market share from the mainstream Flash player market in the US. Flash players at the beginning of 2005 accounted for less than half the U.S. market share than they did in 2004. (Their market share decreased from 62% in January 2004 to 29% in January 2005.) In other countries, the iPod market share is significantly lower, mostly due to high import taxes and less ubiquitous marketing, so flash memory players, or hard disk based players from competitors like Creative are dominant. Apple and several industry analysts have suggested that the iPod has encouraged users of non-Apple products to switch to other Apple products, such as to Macintosh computers.Fortune magazine reported on June 27, 2005 that Apple had sold over 15 million iPods, including 5.3 million in the first quarter of that year. At the Macworld Expo keynote speech on January 10, 2006, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reported sales of over 42 million iPods total, and 14 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006. This equates to 100 iPods sold every minute throughout the quarter.
In its first quarter results of 2006, Apple reported earnings of US$565 million its highest revenue in the company's history. Apple shipped 6.16 million iPods during the quarter that ended on June 25, 2005, a 616% increase over the same quarter in 2004. Apple shipped 14.04 million iPods during the quarter that ended on December 31, 2005, a 207% increase over the same quarter one year prior.
On January 8, 2004, Hewlett-Packard announced that they would license the iPod from Apple to create an HP-branded digital audio player based on the iPod. The HP models were the same as the Apple iPod except for the inclusion of an "HP" logo on the back under the Apple logo. They were sold as the "Apple iPod + hp". Retailers of this model included (among others) the retail giant Wal-Mart, which included a disclaimer explaining that it would not work with Wal-Mart's online music service. In July of 2005, HP reversed its decision and announced they would stop reselling the iPod by September 2005, when existing stock were projected to be depleted. Sales by Hewlett-Packard made up 5% of all iPod sales.
Ipod Advertising
iPod Lightrail Wrap Advertising, Minneapolis, MinnesotaApple has promoted the iPod and iTunes brands in several successful advertising campaigns, a large number of which are part of their series of silhouette commercials. The first iPod ad, featuring the tagline "A thousand songs, in your pocket" was launched in November 2001. The ad can be viewed on Apple's web site.In April 2003, Apple introduced a new ad campaign in conjunction with the launch of the iTunes Music Store. The ads featured casually dressed people wearing iPods and giving animated silent renditions of popular songs, accompanied by dancing, air guitar and other performances. The commercials featured a wide range of music, including The Who's My Generation, Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back, The Caesars' Jerk It Out, Pink's There You Go, and Eminem's Lose Yourself.
In October 2003, Apple released their first TV commercial of the silhouette campaign, which had already been featured for some time in print. It featured silhouettes dancing to music while listening to iPods. These commercials featured pop songs such as The Vines' Ride, The Caesars' Jerk It Out, Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc., Steriogram's Walkie-Talkie Man, Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Propellerheads' Take California, Ozomatli's Saturday Night, N*E*R*D's Rock Star (Jason Nevin's Mix), Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out, Daft Punk's Technologic, and many more. To commemorate the launch of the U2 iPod, Apple released an ad featuring a music video of Vertigo, featuring the band as characteristic iPod silhouettes.
The iPod shuffle was released alongside TV commercials featuring silhouettes dancing on a green background with Apple's shuffle symbol moving underneath them, showing their intent on incorporating their silhouette campaign with each of their products. At the release of the iPod nano, a commercial was aired depicting pairs of hands turning over and examining the device, emphasizing its small size, and fighting over it.
With the release of video iPod, a new commercial was aired showing the new iPod's video playing capabilities. The ad featured U2's Original of the Species from the Vertigo: Live From Chicago DVD. Two more ads were released featuring Eminem and Wynton Marsalis. Although the ad still featured the silhouettes, the backgrounds were more textured and had patterns or identifiable backgrounds as opposed to the flat colours used previously. An orange 'urban' theme was used in the Eminem version, and a 'cool' blue jazz look to the Wynton Marsalis variant.
On March 17, 2006, Apple released another new iPod ad. This ad departed from the traditional silhouette style, and featured thousands of CD covers pouring into an iPod nano. The ad again uses the tagline "1,000 Songs in Your Pocket", in reference to the original iPod launch ads. This commercial features the song Cubicle by the French electro rock band Rin'e'r'se from their album "Schizophonia."
Ipod Accessories
Logo of certification.Many different companies produce accessories that are designed to work with the iPod. The large accessories market that has built up is sometimes described as the iPod ecosystem.Several Popular iPod Accesories Accessory Image Functionality Offered Manufacturer External speakers
(including the iPod Hi-Fi, pictured) Loudspeakers (designed specifically for iPods). JBL, Bose, Altec Lansing, Kensington, Apple
Sound recorders Record analog audio from a line-in source or microphone. Griffin Technology, Monster Cable
Portable battery rechargers Recharge the internal battery "on the go".
FM radio tuners Listen to FM radio, in-line control of iPod
Wireless remote controls, control the iPod from a distance
Wired remote control Control the iPod from a distance. Apple
Winter sports jacket and backpacks with SoftTouch. Control panel attached to apparel for remote control.
Burton Cases Protect the iPod from surface scratches. Apple and many third party companies iPod Camera Connector Transfer digital photo files from a digital camera or media card reader to a full-size color screen iPod Apple.
Ipod Audio and Visual output cable
The headphone connector on the 5th generation video iPod accepts an Apple-branded A/V cable with RCA connectors for composite video and stereo analog audio. In what is seen as an attempt to force users to purchase Apple's cable, Apple deviates from standard A/V cables by swapping the composite video connector (usually yellow) and right channel audio connector (usually red). Users attempting to connect a conventional mini A/V cable will only see corrupted video and right channel audio because the iPod will render the audio stream as video and vice versa.Apple's rationale for this violation of the standard is due to concerns about the iPod's compatibility with all standard 3.5 mm audio jacks. Apple sells its cable for US$19. A standard A/V cable can be used by swapping the RCA connector ends appropriately on the video input device.
Ipod Car integration and accessories
BMW released the first iPod automobile interface to come from an automotive company. The interface allowed drivers of late-model BMW vehicles to control their iPod using the built-in steering wheel controls and the radio head unit buttons. The iPod attaches to a cable harness in the car's glove compartment and allows the driver to create up to five "BMW playlists" that are displayed through the vehicle's radio head unit.Apple announced at Macworld Expo in January 2005 that Mercedes-Benz USA, Volvo, Nissan, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari would offer similar systems.
Apple announced in September 2005 that they now have deals with Acura, Audi, Honda, and Volkswagen to integrate iPod into their car stereos during the year. More than thirty percent of the cars in the United States now include iPod support. Honda will be the first to include speech-to-text capabilities that allow drivers to search for playlists, artist and album names, or genre.
Using adaptor kits, iPods can be connected to many vehicles that do not have specific iPod integration. Almost any vehicle that has a CD changer controller port can have an iPod connected. Cassette adaptors also allow audio input to the car stereo. Any after-market stereo with RCA inputs can play the audio from an iPod by use of a "Y-adapter" that connects the RCA inputs on the stereo to the 3.5 mm headset jack on the iPod.
Another method of adaptation to a car can be achieved with an FM transmitter, such as the iTrip. These allow the player to broadcast an FM signal, which is then received by the car radio. Some FM transmitters also integrate charging from a car's cigarette lighter or power outlet. In some countries, personal FM transmitters are illegal.
Many aftermarket stereo manufacturers including Pioneer, Kenwood, and Alpine have iPod integration solutions to allow one of their head units to control and play music from an iPod.
Other companies also produce dedicated iPod controllers which can interface the iPod with any head unit (either via an auxiliary input on the head unit, or an FM transmitter). One such unit is the Harman Kardon Drive + Play, which offers a separate, dedicated display screen and hand controller (both of which can be mounted anywhere in the car). This has the added benefit of not requiring the driver to look away from the road while changing songs (the controller mimics the iPod controls, and can be mounted anywhere within easy reach; the display screen negates the need to look at the head unit display, and can also be mounted anywhere, such as at eye level).
