iPod

iPod is a brand of portable digital audio players designed and marketed by Apple Computer. (Hewlett-Packard also markets the product under the name Apple iPod + HP, but announced on July 29, 2005 they would stop reselling it in September 2005, when existing stock is projected to be depleted). Devices in the iPod family offer a simple user interface designed around a central scroll wheel. Most iPod models store media on a built-in hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like most digital audio players, an iPod can serve as an external data storage device when connected to a computer.

The software that uploads music and photos to the iPod is iTunes. iTunes is a music 'jukebox' application that keeps records of what music is where on the hard disk, as well as playing and ripping it. Other data can be added to the iPod as if it were any other data storage device connected to the computer.

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 Macintosh or iMac. The company has other products with a lowercase "i" in front of the name. These include: iSight, iChat, iTunes, iDVD, and iBook. When Apple first introduced the iMac, the '"i" stood for internet, meaning that the iMac shipped with everything you would need for a connection, but it 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

Tony Fadell first conceived the iPod outside Apple. When he demonstrated his idea to Apple, the company hired him as an independent contractor to bring his project to the market, putting him in charge of assembling the team that developed the first two generations of the device. Apple's Industrial Design Group, working under the direction of Jonathan Ive designed the subsequent incarnations.

Apple originally released the iPod on October 23, 2001 as a Mac-compatible product, but the company later released a format compatible with Microsoft Windows, before finally releasing a Windows version of the iTunes software that updates the iPod. 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, moving close to twenty million units in a total of four years. Apple has 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.