The first iPod was released only 5 years ago but the difference between that one and the one released earlier in 2006 is really quite astounding as you will now see.
1st Generation iPod
The 1st Generation iPod was launched at the end of October 2001 with dimensions to rival the established competition. It stood 4inches high and less than 3inches wide with a weight of around 6ounces. This initial iPod had a 5GB memory which could hold up to 1000 songs. It also had a high resolution screen and a revolutionary type of control system – the scroll or click wheel. However at $400 it was considered a major purchase and at this point the software needed to use the iPod was only available on the Mac.
2nd Generation iPod
The 2nd Generation iPod had the advantage of being compatible with PCs through a FireWire cable. There was also now software for use with Windows which opened the iPod up to a lot more users. The actual iPod itself changed very little. The scroll wheel became a solid fixture as apposed to a spinning wheel and there was an extra port for the attachment of a FireWire cable.
3rd Generation iPod
The spring of 2003 saw iPod sales really take off as the 3rd Generation was launched. One of the biggest changes to this new model was the ability to link it to a PC with a USB cable; the USB port was a lot more common on PCs than the FireWire port and so many more people could successfully use an iPod with their home computer. In addition the 3rd generation iPod had a bigger memory (20GB) and solid function buttons below the screen.
At the same time Apple launched the iTunes Music Store around the world which provided a legal source for 1000s of songs. iPod sales went through the roof and the brand became a household name.
4th Generation iPod
However Apple continued to release newer and more advanced models and at the end of 2003 the first of the 4th Generation iPods was launched. The iPod mini took the iPod in a whole new direction – small is beautiful. It was only half the size of the original iPod and because of its compact size the face changed quite dramatically in that the function buttons were rendered obsolete and everything was controlled by the scroll wheel. It also had to have a smaller screen.
The next step was to make the screen colour and this emerged with the iPod photo. This model had a larger hard drive and a longer battery life in addition to the ability to display colour photos and album covers.
By now Apple had pretty much conquered the digital audio device market but their next release proved to be a step towards taking over the flash drive market as well. This happened in January 2005 and was named the iPod shuffle. The shuffle was the smallest model yet and didn’t include an LCD screen on the face. However it’s 512MB memory was at least twice the size of its nearest competitor and the fact that it actually shuffled the songs so that the user never knew what was coming next and its very low price of $99 meant that the little iPod sold just as well as every other model before it.
The last of the 4th Generation iPods entered the market in July 2005 and was the tiniest to date. The iPod nano made use of a high capacity flash memory chip which enabled it to have the considerable memory of 4GB but still be…well, nano! The nano had new features as well such as calendars, address books, world times and games.
5th Generation iPod
The newest iPod is the 5th Generation iPod video. This has the capability of playing music videos, TV programmes and films downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. It has all of the features of the nano but as its full colour screen is bigger the overall dimensions are also slightly bigger (not too much though).
As you can see Apple has kept the changes coming and people have carried on buying and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence to say their latest release is their last.
For more information, tips and reviews about the iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, accessories and iTunes, visit Timothy Michell's website iMegaWorld.com, the complete online reference guide for anything related to the iPod.
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