 |
The History of the iPod
In October 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a portable digital music player.
Its signature features included an LCD, easy to use interface, and a large capacity drive (initially 5 GB) which was enough to hold approximately 1,000 songs.
It was quite large when compared to the 20-30 songs of Flash-based players of the time.
Apple has since revised its iPod line several times, introducing a slimmer, more compact design, Windows compatibility (previous iPods only interacted with Macintosh computers), AAC compatibility, storage sizes of up to 80 GB, and easier connectivity with car or home stereo systems. On October 26, 2004, Apple released a color version of their award winning iPod which can not only play music but also show photos. In early 2005, Apple unveiled its smallest iPod yet: the iPod shuffle, which is about the size of a pack of gum.
Apple has revolutionized the computer and music industry by signing the five major record companies to join its new music download service, the successful iTunes Music Store, now known as iTunes Store.
Unlike other fee-based music services, the iTunes Store charges a flat $0.99 per song (or $9.99 per album). Users have more flexibility than on previous on-line music services. For example, they can burn CDs including the purchased songs (although a particular playlist containing purchased music may only be burned seven times), share and play the songs on up to five computers, and, of course, download songs onto an iPod. The iTunes Music Store commercial model is one-time purchase, which contrasts with other commercial subscription music services where users are required to pay a regular fee to be able to access musical content (but are able to access a larger volume of music during the subscription). If these services begin to gain traction in the marketplace, it is arguable if Apple will not reshape the iTunes Music Store in some way to stay competitive. The iTunes Music Store was launched in 2003 with 2 million downloads in only 16 days; all of which were purchased only on Macintosh computers. Apple has since released a version of iTunes for Windows, allowing Windows users the ability to access the store as well. Initially, the music store was only available in the United States due to licensing restrictions, but there were plans to release the store to many other countries in the future. On December 16, 2004, Apple sold its 200 millionth song on the iTunes Music Store to Ryan Alekman from Belchertown, Massachusetts. The download was The Complete U2, by U2.[15] Just under three months later Apple sold its 300 millionth song on March 2, 2005.[16] On July 17, 2005, the iTunes Music Store sold its 500 millionth song.[citation needed] At that point, songs were selling at an annualized rate of more than 500 million -- and that rate was growing.
A month later, on October 12, 2005 Apple introduced the new 5th generation iPod with video playback capabilities. The device is also 40% thinner than a 4th generation iPod and has a larger screen.
On February 23, 2006, the iTunes Music Store sold its 1 billionth song. The iTunes Music Store changed its name to iTunes Store on September 12, 2006 when it began offering video content (TV shows and movies) for sale. Since iTunes inception it has sold over 2 billion songs, 1.2 billion of which were sold in 2006. Since downloadable TV and movie content was added 50 million TV episodes and 1.3 million movies have been downloaded. Click the Link below for how to Reset Your iPod.
|
