How the I Pod Was Made And Developed

The iPod’s story starts with software. In January of 2001, Apple introduced the world to iTunes, which allowed users to compress music from their favorite CDs into digital files that could be stored and played on their Macs. Little did anyone, except the development team at Apple, know about what was in store for the digital music industry in the next year.

The iPod was first introduced on October 23, 2001. The original model was much simpler than the models being developed today. It was priced at $399 and could only work with Macintosh computers. This device was different from the competition in that it was smaller and used an internal hard drive to store songs, rather than a flash memory card. It could store over 1,000 songs on its 5 GB internal memory. The first unit was shipped out on November 10 of that same year. In spite of the limited users due to the fact that the device could not be used with PCs, by the end of 2001 Apple had sold 125,000 iPods. The craze had begun.

The first update to the iPod came before the PC compatible version was released. In March of 2002 Apple released the 10 GB version for a $499 price. This new version could display some contact information on the display screen.

Apple did not wait long to convert their new baby to something owners of PCs could use as well. Work on the PC version started sometime in November of 2001. However, the PC compatible software and MP3 player was not completely ready until June of 2002.

Some of the biggest changes for iPod came in July of 2002. This is when the PC version was officially released. Also, the 20 GB iPod was released at this time. Apple also introduced the touch-sensitive wheel for users to use to scroll through their songs. Finally, this month saw the first drop in prices for the iPod.

By the end of 2002, regular retailers like Best Buy and Target were selling the iPod products. Limited edition models were available with features like celebrity signatures. Many competitors were beginning to release their own versions of the iPod.

After just two years, the iPod had already undergone several changes. The music device was still simple, yet incredibly popular. Consumers enjoy being able to take their music on the go conveniently and discretely. The iPod would continue to evolve into the worlds most popular and well-known portable music player over the next several years.