The iPod: How Did it Happen?

A free article on Technology

By: Miles Higgens

The digitalization of music became very widespread with the introduction of MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, commonly known as MP3. It is an encoding format for sound storage using lossy data compression, which just means audio signals beyond most human hearing are not included to minimize storage levels. MP3 became the rave of the time.

Along with the growth of the MP3 came the popularization of personal digital gadgets like the camera, video cameras and organizers. But critics of the MP3 format said it lacked the fine audio characteristics of music recording and playback present in 3 rpm records. Apple Corporation found most MP3 players as not handy or inadequate and their interface undesirable. This critique made possible the development of the device that became the standard of audio storage and playback: the iPod. Introduced in October 23, 2001, the iPod was a "Mac-compatible 5GB HDD of 1,000 songs".

Apple engineers Tony Fadell, Michael Dhuey and Jonathan Ive conceptualized and created the iPod on the instructions of CEO Steve Jobs and under the aegis of Jon Rubinstein, the engineering chief. The concept for it began when Apple launched iTunes, a online program capable of compressing CD music to digital form, organize the stored music, play video and radio. Creating a gadget to interface with this, Apple unveiled the iPod in less than a year, and followed up its rapid development with various models. The iPod line comprised of the iPod Classic, Nano, Mini (replaced by Nano), Shuffle and Touch.

First to be marketed was the iPod Classic on October 23, 2001, the subsequent issues appearing annually from July 17, 2002 to September 5, 2007. The Mini, a short-lived device only had two generations, marketed January 6, 2004 and February 22, 2005. The iPod Nano was released three times, September 7, 2005; September 12, 200 and September 5, 2007. Meantime the iPod Shuffle appeared first in January 11, 2005 and again in September 12, 2006 while the iPod Touch was released in September 5, 2007.

The term iPod itself was an idea by Vinnie Chieco who was reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey film when he saw the device. It turned out the name was being used by Joseph Grasso who patented it for his Internet kiosks in 2003. Grasso eventually transferred the name to Apple in 2005.

Seeking massive storage capacity, power and ease of use, Apple intended the iPod to be simply a 'mass storage device' very similar to a computer hard disk drive. The Mini even used a micro-hard disk, later discontinued. Programming depends on the initial computer system used: if formatted on a MacIntosh, the HFS+ format is used; if on Windows, FAT32, which, however, was becoming the format more widely used.

In terms of connectivity, the iPod initially used the FireWire cable, but eventually shifted to the USB for ease of loading. For storage, the first iPod can load only a thousand songs with a 5GB disk, but following models, such as the 6th generation iPod Classic, have 160 GB disks. This means the user can completely use up the battery twice yet not play all the stored songs in the iPod, perhaps an overkill, but then who recoded sound genre today, garnering over 90% of hard-drive devices and more than 70% total.

It has garnered several awards including those on engineering excellence, most inventive product, and best computer product. Reviews mention the iPod for its simple lines, superb design and ease of operation, and has 'altered the landscape of portable audio players.' Such is the iPod.