Monday, October 24, 2016

The Ipod fills the fifteen-year – 99mac

On 23 October 2001, showed Apple ceo Steve Jobs up the portable music player #Station. It means that the Ipod during Sunday celebrated 15 years, and 99mac would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to the groundbreaking of the product.

The first version of the Ipod only worked with Mac, and was connected via a Firewire cable. The product has been flaunted with a battery life of 10 hours and 5 gigabytes of storage space, which according to Apple was 1 000 songs. The unit, however, were anything but cheap – the first model cost 399 dollars (in today’s exchange rate, corresponding to 3 500 sek, excluding vat). It is as much as an Iphone SEE the cost today.

According to Steve Jobs meant Ipod three revolutions for the music: it was extremely portable and went down in a pants pocket, it was very easy to use and, finally, could the Ipod automatically sync with Itunes on a Mac when it was connected.

today we are thinking, of course, on the Ipod as a success story, but success was not obvious when it was launched. Many were sceptical about the high price, and thought that the functionality was too limited. Several Apple owners were sold directly, and the following year came a second version with limited support for Windows. 2003 was released, however, the third-generation Ipod with a new slimmer design and better support for Windows. At the same time launched nokia music store, the Itunes Store, and now, sales started to take off in earnest. The third-generation Ipod scrapped the mechanical skrollhjulet and had instead a touchbaserat wheel and four buttons in a row above. The battery life was only eight hours, and it was possible to choose between 10, 15 or 30 gigabytes of storage.

In February 2004 it launched the Ipod Mini, which was a physically smaller variant with more limited storage. The Ipod had 31 percent of the market for portable mp3 players. The purpose of the Ipod Mini was to take additional units to compete with the flash-based models from other manufacturers. The introductory price was 249 dollars (about 2 200 sek) which by many was considered to be too high for a player with 4 gigabytes of space. Still got the Ipod Mini, a proper success, in part because of the handy size and that it was offered in five different colors. While it was sold was the Ipod Mini is one of the most popular elektronikprodukterna on the market, and demand was sky-high. Later the same year, the fourth generation of the full-sized Ipod, retroactively called the Ipod Classic. It once again became thinner, the price went down and the Ipod had better battery life (12 hours), and the improved skrollhjulet from the Ipod Mini. During the autumn, released a special version of the fourth-generation Ipod, in collaboration with the rock group U2, and a premium version with colour screen called the Ipod Photo. In January 2005, was struck this variant together with the usual Ipod that had color screen. The Ipod was now with 60 gigabytes of storage for 399 dollars – the same price as the first model of Ipod cost.

An updated version of the Ipod Mini was released in February 2005 with better battery life (18 hours), new colors, and 6 gigabytes of storage options. This product was short-lived, however, for just a few months later, in september, replacing Steve Jobs Mini, with an even smaller player Ipod Nano. It had a completely flash-based storage memory, and were from the outset available with 2 or 4 gigabytes. Later, he released a model with only 1 gigabyte of storage. Ipod Nano weighed only 42 grams, and had a battery life of up to 14 hours. It was in the colors black or white, and had just as the larger Ipod models with a color screen. It soon turned out that the first generation Ipod Nano was extremely repkänslig, and most copies that still exist today has a very scratched front. Second-generation Ipod Nano came in september 2006 and had instead a chassis in more scratch-resistant aluminum.

At this point, Apple was in some circles more famous for their portable music devices than their home computers, and that the Ipod has become an increasingly important product for the company was illustrated by the fact that Apple Computer Inc. in January 2007 changed its name to Apple Inc. In the same year launched the mobile phone the Iphone that would come to completely overshadow all other Apple products, and the golden age for the music player, the Ipod was thus over.

It, however, continued to be released new Ipod models. The Ipod Touch came in september 2007, and was in most respects an Iphone but without telefondelen. Ipod Touch ran IOS and had a touch sensitive screen for navigation. Thus had the support for apps, and was a very popular game machine for many younger people who couldn’t afford an Iphone. The “regular” Ipod model was supported for video playback with the fifth generation in 2005, and began to be called the Ipod Classic with the sixth generation which was launched in september 2007. It went now to purchase with all 160 gigabytes of storage for 349 dollars (about 3 100 sek in today’s exchange rate).

Slide show: the Station during 15 years

Ipod Nano continued to come in the new models virtually every year. The third generation came in 2007 and received support for video. Compared with the earlier models were shorter and wider. The fourth generation came in 2008 and reverted to a long, narrow design. The fifth generation with camera and built-in FM radio. The sixth generation was launched in 2010 and got a tryckskärm and an interesting design with a built-in clip for attaching to clothing. The seventh generation wasn’t until 2012, and changed again the design to resemble a small variant of the Ipod Touch. The ran, however, not IOS and the Ipod Nano version, which is still there today, although it has been released the new color variants.

Worth mentioning is also the Ipod Shuffle, launched in 2005 and last updated in 2010. The Shuffle lacks the display screen, something that was marketed as a way to surprise the listener with the music. Later variants have support for voice control with the help of the tool the Voice Over. The Ipod sold still, even if it was long ago the product had any prominent role at Apple. Ipod Classic retired for good in 2014, and today, sold the sixth-generation Ipod Touch, seventh generation Ipod Nano and fourth-generation Ipod Shuffle.

Today’s Ipod range, which, however, live a bortskymd existence of the Apple.

Today the music listening the Apple users to a large extent been transferred to the Iphone, and storage space has become less important through streaming music services like Spotify and the Apple Music. It seems thus unlikely that the Station will survive another fifteen years. But the little music player still has a prominent place in the history books.

Congratulations to the fifteen year, the Ipod!

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