iPod MP3 players – a short story
Almost everyone has heard of an iPod. What is an iPod? Well, it’s a portable media player, it was designed by the company named Apple and its launch date was in the year 2001 on the 23rd of October. The line of products is a large one. It includes the hard-drive based iPod Classic, iPod Touch which has a touch screen, iPod Nano which can also play videos and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPhone can also be used as an iPod but it’s usually treated as a different product.
Other iPod products that aren’t produced anymore are the iPod Mini and the iPod Photo. The iPod Classic has an internal hard drive where all the media is stored, but on other products, a flash memory is used especially because of their smaller size. Other than a portable media player, an iPod can also be used as external data storage devices. The capacity of an iPod differs from model to model; it can go from 2GB, which is usually the storage an iPod Shuffle has, to 160GB for an iPod Classic.
It can be said that one of the disadvantages of an iPod is that the only way one can store music, videos or photos one it is through the iTunes application. Of course there are several alternatives for users who chose not to use Apple’s software, but we all know how alternatives seldom work. Besides music, photos and videos, an iPod can also save contact information, e-mail settings, web bookmarks and calendars.
iPod - 9 yeas of history
An iPod can be connected to a computer through a FireWire and it can also be a way to recharge the battery. There is also the possibility to recharge the battery with a power adapter. Beginning with the third generation of iPods, Apple has included the possibility of USB connectivity.
Because they became very popular, lots of iPod accessories started to be produced, such as sound recorders, audio/visual cables for TV connections, speakers, FM radio tuners. Some of them can even be used as accessories for iPad, so you get more bang for the buck. There can also be found different accessories for cars so that a driver can control an iPod using the built-in steering wheel controls. This kind of accessory was first released by BMW, but in time many other car producers started to use it when producing cars, such as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan and many more.
There are also fashionable accessories, such as iPod cases, speakers, headsets and many more like them.
So expect more from the iPods. Next year there will be 10 years since they first debuted, so Apple should celebrate this with a new in innovation. What it might be? We don’t know, but perhaps you do?
Mike is an Editor at Gadgetroad.com. He's the 'let him write' type of guy, with a great focus on getting the job done and, like all of us, a passionate gadget lover with many years of tech background.
