IPod

The "French iPod law" is the nickname given by some English-speaking news sources to the DADVSI act.

A white 5^th Generation iPod (iPod with video) with a case and earbuds.

The iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer. Devices in the iPod family are designed around a central scroll wheel (except for the iPod shuffle) and provide a simple user interface. The full-sized model stores media on a built-in hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods can serve as external data storage devices when connected to a computer.

As of July 2006, the lineup consists of the 5^th 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 uploading music, photos and videos to the iPod 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.

Name

Apple Computer often refers to the player as iPod, without use of the definite article the. Apple's web site reflects this usage (e.g., "iPod incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini"), which resembles Apple's use of the words Apple Macintosh. When Apple first introduced the iMac, the "i" stood for Internet, meaning that the iMac shipped with everything needed for a connection. Now, many other names of Apple products start with a lowercase "i". The "i" now stands for several things, including "individual" and "independence" — as well as other words that complemented Apple's "Think Different" Campaign launched in conjunction with the first iMac. The prefix has now outlasted that particular advertising campaign, and its brand recognition has continued to yield positive effects on the sales of other Apple products. Recently, some in the media have started referring to the generation born in the late 1980s as the iGeneration, suggesting that the "i" family of products are having a far-reaching cultural impact.

History

Development of the iPod grew out of Apple's digital hub strategy, as the company was creating software applications for the growing number of digital devices being snapped up by consumers. While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established markets, the company found digital music players lacking in quality and Apple decided to develop its own. 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 principal 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."

In 2002, Apple released the 2^nd generation iPod in two versions, one for Mac users and one for Windows users. The only difference though was the bundled software; since there was no iTunes for Windows at the time, the Windows iPods came packaged with Musicmatch software. The actual iPods could work with either system (though to work with Windows, they had to use the FAT32 filesystem, Mac iPods could use either the FAT32 or HFS Plus filesystem). In 2003, Apple released 3^rd generation iPods which included a single CD that had a Windows version of the iTunes software in addition to the Mac version. The slightly thinner 4^th generation changes included the Apple Click Wheel replacing four less intuitive buttons. 2005's 5^th generation iPod married audio, photo, and video functions with a color screen on all models. 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. The iPod has sold at a tremendous rate, now past 42 million units since its release. 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.

On April 26, 2006, EE Times reported that a Samsung Electronics executive vice president had announced that Samsung had won the contract to provide the media processor for a future model iPod, replacing Apple's previous supplier PortalPlayer. PortalPlayer had announced a week before that their updated processor would not be used in upcoming flash-based iPods.

Design

iPod 3^rd generation internals. Click photo to view detailed description.

Jeff Robbin headed the team that originally developed both the iPod firmware and the iTunes program 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 provide the user interface, though the iPod photo has incorporated some visual elements from Mac OS X, such as the animated Aqua style progress bar. More recent iPods, such as the iPod nano and 5^th generation iPod, also incorporate the "brushed-metal" effect, previously used in iTunes before version 5.0, in their stopwatch, screen lock and radio features. Until the release of iPod mini, the user interface of all iPods used "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 iPod nano, color 4^th generation iPods (previously known as iPod photo) and 5^th generation iPods use Myriad, Apple's current corporate typeface.

The physical design of iPod is credited to Jonathan Ive's industrial design team at Apple. The iPod unit's case snaps together, with no screws or adhesive involved (though the 4^th generation has some adhesive holding the battery in place). The plastic front of the case has clips which lock under a ridge inside the rim of the metal case back. A servicer can pry the iPod open by carefully inserting a small non-metallic screwdriver to pull the metal away from the clips.

iPod contains a small internal speaker which generates the scroll wheel clicks and alarm clock beep sound, but this internal speaker cannot play music.

Operation

File:ClickWheel.jpg

The clickwheel of an iPod.

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 buttons are:

• Menu (to traverse backwards through the menus, and toggle the backlight)
• Center Select (this selects a menu item)
• Play / Pause (this doubles as an off switch when held)
• Fast Forward / Skip Forward
• Fast Reverse / Skip Backwards

A Hold switch on the top of the unit, when toggled, prevents unwanted behavior from accidental button presses. Newer iPods automatically pause playback when the headphones are unplugged from the headphone jack. However, playback does not resume when the headphones are re-inserted.

The iPod shuffle also has five buttons, which function somewhat differently from the iPod models with screens. The shuffle has a Play/Pause button in the center, which is surrounded by four buttons, Volume Up and Volume Down, and Skip Forward and Skip Backwards.

The older iPods with FireWire ports can function as external hard drives without any additional iPod functionality in FireWire Disk Mode. An iPod unable to start due to either a firmware or a hardware problem displays the "sad iPod" image. This is reminiscent of the sad Mac icon of earlier Macintosh computers.

Capabilities

Software

File:Ipodui.PNG

The user interface of a 5^th generation iPod, shown 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 5^th generation iPod can also play .mov, .m4v, and .mp4 MPEG-4 (namely H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) video file formats. The Microsoft Windows version of iTunes can transcode regular non copy-protected WMA files to an iPod supported format. WMA files with copy protection cannot be played in iTunes or be copied to an iPod. Reviewers have criticized the iPod's inability to play some other formats, in particular the Ogg Vorbis and FLAC formats. MIDI files cannot be played on iPods, but can be converted into a compatible audio file format by choosing the "advanced" menu on iTunes.

Apple designed the iPod to work with the iTunes media library software, which lets users manage the music libraries on their computers and on their iPods. iTunes can automatically synchronize a user's iPod with specific playlists or with the entire contents of a music library each time an iPod connects to a host computer. Users may also set a rating (out of 5 stars) on any song, and can synchronize this information with their iTunes music library.

iTunes lacks the ability to transfer songs from iPod to computer. Audio tracks and other content on an iPod are stored in a hidden folder together with an Apple-proprietary database. While the hidden content can be accessed through the host operating system, practical recovery of the audio content with proper filenames, tag information, playlists, and photos requires the use of third party software, numerous examples of which can be found by searching the web.

Using the Rockbox open source jukebox firmware iPods after the 4^th generation are capable of playing Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Musepack, Wavpack, Shorten, Midi, WAV, AIFF, M4A/AAC, and of course, MP3, but not FairPlay protected iTMS files. Rockbox also offers other benefits such as gapless playback and a more sophisticated equaliser, although it does significantly reduce battery life.

iTunes Music Store

Main articles: 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, EU€0.99, GB£0.79). The iPod is the only portable music player that can play the purchased music and this exclusivity has helped the store become the dominant online music service.

The 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.

File storage

A major feature of all iPod models is the ability to function as a mass storage device for storage of user files. This feature has been available ever since the very first FireWire iPod. At the time of the iPod's release, many MP3 players did not offer access directly to the storage medium's filesystem; some devices in fact used a custom filesystem that was not accessible except by the bundled software. The iPod, even without iTunes, functions as a standard FireWire or USB drive and can be accessed without drivers on any Mac with Mac OS 8.6 or later, or any Windows PC with Windows ME or later. The iPod shuffle is designed to be used as a flash drive as well as a music player.

Although the iPod functions as a removable disk, one must still use iTunes, or other compatible third-party iPod software, to load audio, videos, and photos onto the iPod in such a way that they are playable and/or viewable. Simply copying files to the drive will not allow the iPod to properly access them.

Additional features

In addition to playing music and storing files, iPods have limited PDA functionality and can display text files. Since January 2003, Mac users have been able to synchronize their contacts and schedules to their iPods using iSync. With the 2005 release of iTunes 5.0, Apple integrated contact/schedule syncing into iTunes and added the ability for Windows users to synchronize their contacts and schedules from Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Although Mozilla Calendar and Mozilla Sunbird both use the same file format used by iCal and the iPod, there is no way to automatically sync schedules among these programs. However the files can be manually dragged and dropped into the correct directory on the iPod.

Current iPod models (except the iPod shuffle) also include built-in games:

Brick

a clone of the Breakout arcade game from Atari. (Originally created by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak.)

Parachute

a game in which the user controls a gun turret and attempts to shoot down paratroopers and the helicopters which drop them. Parachute is similar to the Apple II game Sabotage by Mark Allen.

Solitaire

a simple card game resembling the Klondike solitaire card game.

Music Quiz

an interactive music quiz featuring the user's own songs. The game plays a portion of a random song in the iPod's library and prompts the user to identify it from a list of 5 (or of 4 on the iPod mini) choices. A song drops off the list every few seconds. The less time the user requires to correctly identify the song, the more points he or she earns. Music Quiz became available through a free firmware update for 3^rd generation iPods released in October 2003 and later came standard with the iPod mini and 4^th generation iPods. No record is kept of the score, and there is no limit on the number of songs played. However, the songs begin to repeat after the first 100. Music Quiz requires rapid disk seeking and therefore uses a lot of battery power.

Hardware

Originally iPod connected to a user's computer to update songs and recharge its battery solely through FireWire. It could also be charged using a power adapter which shipped for free with the first several generations. The now standard dock connector was not added until the 3^rd 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 plug into the wall 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 iPod accessories manufactured by third-parties such as Belkin and Griffin.

The 4^th generation iPod could be charged using USB, and eventually Apple started shipping iPods with USB cables instead of FireWire ones. Many Macs shipped before 2004 had only USB 1.1, which has a transfer speed of 11 Mbit/s, as opposed to FireWire's 400 Mbit/s and USB 2.0's 480 Mbit/s. Later iPod generations continued to lessen the reliance on FireWire. iPod shuffle, released in January 2005, plugs directly into a USB port, without a dock connector and has no FireWire support. The iPod nano, released in September 2005, uses a dock connector that allows a FireWire cable to be plugged in to charge the device, but not to transfer data. With the 5^th generation iPod, Apple dropped all support for data transfer over FireWire to any model iPod. Like the nano, the 5^th generation iPod's dock connector will accept a FireWire cable and can draw power from it, but only the USB connection, not the FireWire one, will support data transfer - a message stating this appears on the iPod screen. This 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.

The first three generations of iPod used two ARM 7TDMI-derived CPUs running at 90 MHz, while later models have variable speed chips which run at a peak of 80 MHz to save battery life. The iPods use 1.8 inch (46 mm) ATA hard drives (with a proprietary connector) made by Toshiba. The iPod mini used 1 inch Microdrives manufactured by Hitachi. The iPod has a 32 MiB flash ROM chip which contains a bootloader, a program that tells the device to load the operating system from another medium (in this case, the hard drive). All iPods, except for the 60 GB 5^th generation iPod, have 32 MiB of RAM, a portion of which holds the iPod OS loaded from the firmware and the vast majority of which serves to cache songs loaded from the hard drive. For example, an iPod could spin the hard disk up once and copy about 30 MiB of upcoming songs on a playlist into RAM, thus saving power by not having the drive spin up for each song. (The 60 GB 5^th generation iPod holds 64 MiB of RAM, to further extend battery life.)

iPod originally used a grayscale display but current models use color displays instead. iPod photo (in addition to the functionality of the 4^th generation iPod released in late 2004) introduced a color display, while iPod shuffle (released January 2005) has no display at all. When iPod mini was replaced with iPod nano it received a color display (and photo capability) and starting with the 5^th generation all full size iPods have color displays and photo capability.

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. Many other brands also make white headphones, due to their popularity. Although they are stylish, many people claim the iPod earbuds to be uncomfortable. Despite the fact that new generations of the iPod now appear in black as well as white, the headphones remain white, as do the USB cables, chargers, docks, and remotes.

The distinctive earphones have such good recognition characteristics that it has been suggested that they may 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.

Compatibility

The original iPod was designed for use with Macintosh computers running Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X but Apple began selling a Windows-compatible iPod on July 17, 2002. Apple released a Windows version of iTunes on October 16, 2003; previously, Windows users needed third-party software such as Musicmatch Jukebox (included with Windows iPods before the release of the Windows version of iTunes), ephPod, or XPlay to manage the music on their iPods.

iPods originally shipped formatted with Apple's native filesystem, HFS Plus, and consequently would only work with Apple's Mac OS because Windows does not support HFS Plus. An iPod formatted with HFS Plus is able to serve as a boot disk for a Macintosh computer, allowing one to have a usable, portable operating system installed on their iPod. With the advent of the Windows-compatible iPod, Apple switched iPod's default file system to FAT32 because FAT32 is the only file system that can be used natively with both Mac OS and Windows. 4^th generation and earlier iPods could still be made to boot a Macintosh by reformatting their hard disks with HFS Plus.

The iPodLinux project has successfully ported an ARM version of the Linux kernel to run on iPods. It currently officially supports 1^st through 3^rd generation iPods, but has been successfully installed on all iPods (except the shuffle), and features simple installers for Mac OS X and Windows. The Linux interface is known as "Podzilla". The interface will run on all iPods, however the development team does not support its usage. The iPod uses standard USB and FireWire mass-storage connectivity, and therefore any system with mass-storage support can mount it and use it as an external hard drive. The iPod will also charge from any powered USB or FireWire port, regardless of software support.

Video

The 5^th Generation iPod is capable of displaying .m4v ,.mp4 and .mov MPEG-4 video, with resolutions of up to 480x480 and bitrates of up to 2.5 Mbps, and .m4v, .mp4 and .mov H.264 MPEG-4 video with resolutions of up to 320x240 and bitrates of up to 768 Kbps. Since the introduction of these 5G video-capable iPods, there have been several entries into the so-called iPod Ecosystem with offerings designed to enable user creation of video files compatible with the iPod. These devices and programs stand alongside the number of individuals and firms involved in producing and providing video intended for the iPod, including Apple.

Video Content

The 5^th generation iPod seems to have led the market for consumption of portable video to a certain extent. Likewise, there has been a corresponding development of applications used to convert video into a compatible format. Several popular software applications offer presets or are specialized completely for the iPod format, which exhibits the ongoing extension of the iPod Ecosystem. Some hardware video devices have also been developed with the iPod video in mind. Generally, they focus on conversion of analog video directly to 5^th Generation iPod-playable files.

On October 12, 2005, Apple announced the launch of video available for purchase through the iTMS. Since then, the available content has expanded to include several TV shows, short films and other works, many from major industry names . Several independent sites have also joined the fray, offering a variety of iPod-compatible video for download, both free and not. So-called ‘vlogs’ are also a rising phenomenon, with thousands of creators offering videos in a format analogous to Podcasts.

Models

Model		Image	Capacity	Changes introduced	Connection	Release date
iPod	1G	iPod 1G iPod 1G	5 GB	First release.	FireWire	October 2001
	2G	iPod 2G	10, 20 GB	Touch sensitive wheel.	FireWire	July 2002
	3G	iPod 3G	10, 15, 20, 30, 40 GB	Dock Connector. Middle row of buttons.	FireWire (USB for syncing only)	April 2003
	4G / Photo	iPod 4G iPod 4G	20, 30, 40, 60 GB	Color screen with photo viewer. Buttons integrated to "touch wheel".	FireWire or USB	July 2004
	5G / Video	iPod 5G	30, 60 GB	Slimmer design. Larger screen with video player. No AC adapter.	USB (FireWire for charging only)	October 2005
iPod mini	1G	iPod Mini 1G	4 GB	First release. Available in several colors.	FireWire (USB for syncing only)	January 2004
	2G		4, 6 GB	Brighter color variants. Clickwheel color matches body color. No AC adapter.	USB or FireWire	February 2005
iPod nano		The iPod nano	1, 2, 4 GB	Successor to iPod mini. Slimmer design with color screen and flash memory.	USB (FireWire for charging only)	September 2005
iPod shuffle		The iPod Shuffle	512 MB, 1 GB	First release. 1st iPod without screen.	USB	January 2005

Timeline of iPod models
Sources: Apple press release library, Mactracker Apple Inc. model database

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. From July 2004 and onwards, every iPod was made fully compatible with either Mac or Windows.

When the iPod Mini was introduced, it did not come with an AC power adapter, and this has continued for later models. Apple has also released special edition variants for some models.

U2 Special Edition iPod

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: a distinctive black case with a red scrollwheel. On the back were the engraved signatures of all of U2's band members. Although the iPod didn't come with anything preloaded, it included a coupon for USD $50 off the complete U2 back catalog (The Complete U2) on the iTunes Music Store. With the introduction of the iPod Photo, the U2 iPod was updated to include the new color screen. On June 6, 2006, Apple announced the fifth-generation 30GB iPod U2 Special Edition. This latest edition of the U2 iPod features an all-black stainless steel enclosure and a coupon for a 30-minute U2 video. The video contains concert and interview footage. Songs included are: "I Will Follow" - Queen's Universtiy, Belfast, 1981; "God Part II" - Sydney, Lovetown Tour, 1989; "Until the End of the World"; "Where The Streets Have No Name" - Sydney, ZOO TV Tour, 1993; "Mofo" - Mexico City, Popmart Tour, 1997; "Beautiful Day" - Boston, Elevation Tour, 2001; "City of Blinding Lights" - Milan, Vertigo Tour, 2005.

Harry Potter Special Edition iPod

Apple has released Special Edition Harry Potter iPod. These iPods 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.

Criticisms

Battery life

The current iPod models use internal lithium-ion batteries. (The 1^st and 2^nd generations used lithium polymer batteries.) 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.

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.

Bass response

The 3^rd 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 4^th and 5^th generation iPods, but not in the iPod shuffle. The problem is reduced when using high impedance headphones.

Equalizer bass distortion

If the sound is enhanced with the iPod's software equalizer (EQ), many users (since 2002), 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 (or clipping) on songs that have a bass drum or use a bassy instrument, even when the amplifier output level is very low. Notable 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 doesn't work with DRM-encrypted music. Also, different tools are needed for each different file format.

Alleged worker exploitation

On 11 June 2006, the British tabloid Mail on Sunday reported in a story that Apple's iPods are mainly made 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. Also, the report claimed that visitors are not permitted and that the plant is secured by police officers. These allegations are denied by Foxconn. Apple launched an investigation into these claims which is still underway.

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 Hong Kong-based IP portfolio company Pat-rights filed 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 in 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 suit against Apple for patent infringement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The company 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.

Sales

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.

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. The iPod currently dominates the digital audio player market in the US, frequently topping best-seller lists. According to the latest financial statements, iPod's market share accounts for 74% in the US in July 2005. Within one year from January 2004 to January 2005, its US market share tremendously increased by 34% from 31% to 65%. 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 US market share that 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.

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 and "iPod" label. 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 sales according to Apple's yearly financial results:

iPod yearly sales according to Apple.

Fiscal year	iPods sold
2002	381,000
2003	939,000
2004	4,416,000
2005	22,497,000
Total	28,233,000

iPod sales according to Apple's quarterly financial results:

iPod quarterly sales according to Apple.

Fiscal quarter	iPods sold
2002 Q4	140,000
2003 Q1	219,000
2003 Q2	80,000
2003 Q3	304,000
2003 Q4	336,000
2004 Q1	733,000
2004 Q2	807,000
2004 Q3	860,000
2004 Q4	2,016,000
2005 Q1	4,580,000
2005 Q2	5,311,000
2005 Q3	6,155,000
2005 Q4	6,451,000
2006 Q1	14,043,000
2006 Q2	8,526,000
2006 Q3	8,111,000
Total	58,912,000

Accessories

Made for iPod logo

Made for iPod logo

The large accessories market that has built up around the iPod is sometimes described as the iPod ecosystem. A host of different companies produce accessories that are designed to work with the iPod. Companies such as JBL, Bose, Altec Lansing, and Kensington all make speakers that are designed specifically to work with the iPod, using the iPod's Dock Connector. Other companies, such as Griffin Technology and Monster Cable, make add-ons that allow the iPod to record sound, recharge "on the go," play music over the radio, or be used wirelessly with a remote.

Apple FM Radio remote accessory.

Besides technological peripherals there are also cases. iPod owners buy these accessories not only to protect their iPods but also to make fashion statements. Cases are available from many third party companies, but Apple also makes some cases. Along with the introduction of the nano, Apple introduced nano tubes (a pun on nanotubes), a silicone case with no screen, Dock Connector, or headphone port protection, but a cover over the Click Wheel and the hold switch. Accessories for the iPod have also been added to the skiing and snowboarding industry. Burton developed a jacket and a backpack with Softouch. This is a panel on a jacket sleeve or on a backpack strap that allows the user to control his song selection from that panel. It makes use of the iPod outdoors safer and much more convenient.

At Macworld Expo 2006, Steve Jobs introduced a new wired remote control for the 5^th generation iPod and iPod nano. Named "iPod radio remote," it uses an iPod shuffle-like interface to control these iPods. It also adds radio tuning capability, with station details being displayed on the iPod screen. Support for this accessory was added in iPod firmware 1.1. The remote is connected via the iPod Dock Connector (as the remote port seen on previous iPods is not included on the 5^th generation iPod or iPod nano), and also includes a shorter pair of white headphones to reduce clutter.

iPod A/V cable and alternatives

The headphone connector on the 5^th generation iPod (iPod with video) accepts an Apple-branded A/V cable with RCA connectors for composite video and stereo analog audio. Apple sells this compatible cable for US$19. In what is seen as an attempt to force users to purchase the costly cable, (this is actually due to concerns about the iPod's compatibility with all standard 3.5 mm audio jacks) 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 audio because the equipment will attempt to render the audio stream as video and vice versa. This is simple to bypass by swapping the RCA connector ends appropriately on the video input device.

iPod Camera Connector

The iPod Camera Connector allows the transfer of digital photo files from a digital camera or media card reader to a full-size color screen iPod using a small adapter attached to the dock connector.

iPod Hi-Fi

Main article: iPod Hi-Fi

File:IPod Hi-Fi.png

An iPod Hi-Fi with its box and with its speaker grill removed and an Apple Remote beside it.

At Apple's "Fun Products" Day (February 28, 2006), Steve Jobs announced the iPod Hi-Fi for immediate sale at the price of US$349. The iPod Hi-Fi is an amplified loudspeaker system that docks with the iPod. The dimensions of the Hi-Fi are 17 x 6.6 x 6.9 inches. The unit can either be plugged into the wall or run on six D-cell batteries. The Hi-Fi weighs slightly under 17 pounds. Integrated carrying handles allow for easier transportation of the Hi-Fi. The Hi-Fi utilizes two 80 mm wide-range cones and one 130 mm woofer cone.

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 through the built-in steering wheel controls and the radio head unit buttons. The iPod attached to a cable harness in the car's glove compartment and allowed the driver to create up to five unique "BMW playlists" that were 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. With these deals Apple now has 15 car companies worldwide planning to offer iPod integration. 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, an iPod can be thus integrated into many vehicles which do not otherwise allow it. Almost any vehicle that has a factory CD changer controller port on the stereo can be integrated with an iPod using this kit. Adaptation, though not integration, can be obtained through the use of a cassette adaptor plugged into a vehicle cassette deck. This allows the vehicle to play the iPod's music, but not to control the iPod directly, such as the above mentioned methods allow. Finally, any after-market car 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 1/8th inch stereo headset jack on the iPod.

Another common method of adaptation to a car can be achieved by using an FM transmitter, such as the iTrip. These allow the player to broadcast an FM signal, playable by car radios. Some FM transmitters also integrate charging from a car's cigarette lighter or power outlet. In some countries, these transmitters have fallen foul of official broadcast regulations and have been removed from the shelves.

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.

Advertising

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An iPod billboard in midtown Toronto.

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iPod Lightrail Wrap Advertising, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Apple 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 alongside iPod 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 informally dressed persons 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 popular 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 iPod with video, a new commercial was released 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 - to an orange 'urban' theme 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 Rinôçérôse. However, Apple has not entirely abandoned the distinctive dancing silhouettes and they can still be seen on the company's website.

See also

• Comparison of iPod Managers
• Digital audio player
• Foxconn
• iPhone
• iPodLinux
• List of iPod model numbers
• Motorola ROKR E1, the first iTunes-enabled mobile phone
• Motorola SLVR L7, the latest iTunes-enabled mobile phone
• Rockbox

References

• Scott Kelby (October 25, 2005). The iPod Book : Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store. Peachpit Press. p. 288. ISBN 0321422287. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Jude Biersdorfer (March 20, 2006). iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly Media. p. 328. ISBN 059652675X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Tony Bove, Cheryl Rhodes (September 30, 2005). iPod & iTunes For Dummies, 3rd Edition. For Dummies. p. 390. ISBN 0471747394. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Yasukuni Notomi (September 13, 2004). iPod Fan Book. O'Reilly. p. 112. ISBN 0596007760. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Leander Kahney (November 1, 2005). Cult of iPod. No Starch Press. p. 160. ISBN 1593270666. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Gilles Dounès, Marc Geoffroy (September 22, 2005). iPod Backstage - Les coulisses d'un succès mondial. Dunod, Paris, France. p. 214. ISBN 2100495348. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

External links

• Apple iPod — Official website
• Apple iPod Specs/Comparison — Official website (Specs)
• Inside Look at Birth of the iPod
• Apple's 21st-Century Walkman — Brent Schlender writing for Fortune October 30, 2001
• iPod Nation — Steven Levy writing for Newsweek July 26, 2004
• Behind the Music — Ken Aaron writing for Cornell Engineering 2005