Dino Thunder Power Rangers and IPod: Difference between pages

A white 5^th generation iPod with a sleeve and earphones.

The iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer and launched in 2001. Devices in the iPod range are primarily music players, designed around a central scroll wheel (although the iPod shuffle has buttons only). The full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices. Apple chose to focus its development on the iPod's simple user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability.

As of October 2005, the lineup consists of the 5^th generation iPod that plays videos; the smaller iPod nano; and the display-less iPod shuffle. These models were updated in September 2006.

The bundled software used for transferring music is called iTunes. As a jukebox application, iTunes stores a comprehensive library of music on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. Very little organization and no ripping or burning may be done on the iPod itself. The most recent version has additional photo and video synchronization features.

The iPod is currently the world's best-selling digital audio player and its worldwide mainstream adoption makes it one of the most popular consumer brands. Some of Apple's design choices and proprietary actions have, however, led to criticism and legal battles.

History and design

The iPod is stupid and came from Apple's digital hub strategy, as the company began creating software for the growing market of digital devices being purchased by consumers. While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, the company found digital music players lacking in user interface design and decided to develop its own. "iPod" was a name that Apple registered for Internet kiosks, but never put it to use.

Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design it, along with engineers Anthony Fadell and Stan Ng. They built the product in less than a year, and it was unveiled on 23 October 2001. CEO Steve Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1000 songs in your pocket."

Uncharacteristically, Apple did not develop the iPod's software in-house. Instead, Apple used a Design Chain and contracted with PortalPlayer, who already had a reference design (based on 2 ARM cores) with rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. PortalPlayer had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones. Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to create and refine the user interface, under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.

Once established, Apple continued to refine the software's look-and-feel. Starting with the iPod mini, the Chicago font (once used on early Macintosh computers) was replaced with Espy Sans, which was originally used in eWorld and Copland. The most recent iPods switched fonts again to Myriad — Apple's new corporate font. The iPods with color displays have adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars and brushed metal in the FM tuner and lock interfaces. With each new genaration of the iPod; the contol, feel and user-friendly features (such as volume and brightness control) get more sophisticated as the iPod evolution countinues.

User interface

File:Ipodui.PNG

The display of a 5^th generation iPod, playing the song Feel Good Inc. by the band Gorillaz

The iPods with displays use high quality anti-aliased graphics and text, with sliding animations. These iPods have five buttons and newer generations have the buttons integrated into the scroll wheel, an innovation which confers an uncluttered, minimalistic interface. The buttons are:

• Menu — to traverse backwards through the menus, and toggle the backlight on older iPods
• Center — to select a menu item
• Play / Pause — this doubles as an off switch when held
• Fast Forward / Skip Forward
• Fast Reverse / Skip Backwards

The other operations such as scrolling through menu items and controlling the volume are handled by the scroll wheel in a rotational manner. A Hold switch on the top of the unit prevents accidental button presses.

The iPod shuffle has five buttons that function differently to the larger models. It has a Play / Pause button in the center, surrounded by four buttons: Volume Up / Down and Skip Forward / Backwards.

Newer iPods automatically pause playback when the headphones are unplugged from the headphone jack, but playback does not resume when the headphones are re-inserted. An iPod that has crashed or frozen can be reset by switching 'Hold' on then off, then holding Menu and Center (Menu and Play on the 3G iPod) for 6 seconds.

Software

The iPod can play MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, Audible audiobook, and Apple Lossless audio file formats. The 5^th generation iPod can also play MPEG-4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC), .mp4 and QuickTime video formats, with restrictions on video dimensions, encoding techniques and bitrates. Apple does not support Microsoft's WMA audio format — unlike most other media players — but a converter for non-DRM WMA files is provided with the Windows version of iTunes. MIDI files cannot be played, but can be converted to audio files using the "Advanced" menu on iTunes. Alternative open-source audio formats such as Ogg Vorbis and FLAC are not supported.

Each time an iPod connects to its host computer, iTunes can synchronize music playlists or entire music libraries and the user can choose for automatic or manual synchronization. Song ratings can be set on the iPod and synchronized later to the iTunes library.

iTunes Store

Main articles: iTunes and iTunes Store

The iTunes Store (formerly iTunes Music Store) is an online media store run by Apple and accessed via iTunes. It was introduced on 28 April 2003 and it sells individual songs relatively easily and cheaply, with typical prices being US$0.99, EU€0.99, or GB£0.79 per song. iPods are the only portable music players that can play the purchased music. The store became the market leader soon after its launch and Apple announced the sale of videos through the iTunes Store on 12 October 2005. Full-length movies became available on September 12, 2006. Ranging in prices from $9.99-$14.99,USD.

Purchased audio files use the AAC format with added encryption. The encryption is based on the controversial FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) system. Up to five authorized computers and an unlimited number of iPods can play the files. Burning the files onto an audio CD removes the DRM, at a cost of reduced quality when re-compressed from one lossy format to another.

Apple added a selection of iPod Games to the iTunes Store in September 2006. Games can only be played on the iPod, and must be downloaded and copied to the iPod using iTunes. This allows iTunes to manage a copy protection system for iPod games similar in intent to the FairPlay system used for music and video downloads, but using different technology.

iPods cannot play music files from other competing music stores such as Napster or MSN Music which use rival DRM technologies like Microsoft's protected WMA or RealNetworks' Helix DRM. RealNetworks claims that Apple is creating problems for itself, by using FairPlay to lock users into using the iTunes Store. Steve Jobs stated that Apple makes little profit from song sales, but Apple uses the store to promote iPod sales.

File storage

All iPods can function as mass storage devices to store data files. If the iPod is formatted on a Mac OS X computer it uses the HFS Plus file system format. If it is formatted on Windows, the FAT32 format is used because Windows cannot access HFS filesystems. The user must use iTunes or a compatible third-party software to load audio, videos, and photos in such a way that they are playable and viewable on the iPod. Unlike PlaysForSure-compatible and other MP3 players, simply copying files to the drive will not allow the iPod to properly access them. Some third party iPod software allows this however.

An iPod formatted as HFS Plus is able to serve as a boot disk for a Mac computer, allowing one to have a portable operating system installed. The older iPods with FireWire ports could additionally function in FireWire Disk Mode. With the advent of the Windows-compatible iPod, the iPod's default file system was switched from HFS Plus to FAT32, although they can be reformatted to either filesystem (excluding the iPod shuffle which is strictly FAT32).

iTunes cannot transfer songs or videos from device to computer (although iTunes 7 allows it for music purchased online). The media files are stored on the iPod in a hidden folder, together with a proprietary database file. While the hidden content can be accessed through the host operating system, practical recovery of the audio with correct file names, tag meta-data, and playlists requires the use of third-party software.

Additional features

The larger models also have limited PDA-like functionality and can display text files. Contacts and schedules can be viewed and synchronized with the host computer, and some built-in games are available including Brick, Parachute, Solitaire and Music Quiz. Brick was originally invented by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in the 1970s.

A firmware update released in September 2006 brought several new features to 5th generation iPods including downloadable games, adjustable screen brightness, and gapless playback.

Open-source alternatives

The iPodLinux project has ported an ARM version of the Linux kernel alongside an interface called "Podzilla" to run on all iPods, although only the first, second and third generations are officially supported by the developers. The iPod shuffle is not supported.

An open-source firmware called Rockbox allows the iPod nano, mini, and all display-capable iPods after the 3^rd generation (not the latest 5.5 generation) to play Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Musepack, Wavpack, Shorten, and MIDI files, but not FairPlay-encrypted files. Rockbox also offers gapless playback and a more sophisticated equalizer but is in a testing stage as of September 2006.

Connectivity

Originally, a FireWire connection to the host computer was used to update songs or recharge the battery. The battery could also be charged with a power adapter that was included with the first 4 generations.

The 3^rd generation began including a dock connector, allowing for FireWire or USB connectivity. This provided better compatibility with PCs, as most of them did not have FireWire ports at the time. However, the device could not be charged over USB, so the FireWire cables were nonetheless needed to connect to the AC adapter. The dock connector also brought opportunities to exchange data, sound and power with an iPod, which ultimately created a large market of accessories, manufactured by third parties such as Belkin and Griffin. The 2nd generation iPod shuffle uses a single 3.5 inch jack which acts as both a headphone jack and a data port for the dock.

The 4^th generation iPod allowed recharging via USB and eventually Apple began shipping iPods with a USB to Dock connector cable instead of a FireWire cable. A FireWire cable was available seperately from Apple however. The 4^th generation iPod could use either FireWire 400 or USB 2.0.

Chipsets and electronics

Some electronic components used in iPods

Model	Storage medium	Microcontroller	Audio chip
iPod 1G, 2G, 3G	1.8 inch (46 mm) ATA hard drives (with proprietary connectors), made by Toshiba	Two ARM 7TDMI-derived CPUs running at 90 MHz.	Various audio codecs manufactured by Wolfson Microelectronics
iPod 4G, 5G		Variable speed ARM 7TDMI CPUs, running at a peak of 80 MHz to save battery life.
iPod mini 1G, 2G	1 inch Microdrives manufactured by Hitachi
iPod nano 1G	Flash memory from Samsung, Toshiba and others	2 ARM 7TDMI CPUs @ 80 MHz
iPod nano 2G		Samsung System-On-Chip, based around an ARM processor
iPod shuffle	Flash memory	SigmaTel STMP3550 chip that handles both the music decoding and the audio circuitry.

The iPod's operating system is stored on its dedicated storage medium. An additional NOR flash ROM chip (either 1 MB or 512 kB) contains a bootloader program that tells the device to load its OS from the storage medium. Each iPod also has 32 MB of RAM, although the 60 and 80 GB 5^th generation have 64 MB. A portion of the RAM is used to hold the iPod OS loaded from firmware, but the majority of it serves to cache songs from the storage medium. For example, an iPod could spin its hard disk up once and copy about 30 MB of upcoming songs into RAM, thus saving power by not requiring the drive to spin up for each song.

The current iPod models use internal lithium-ion batteries. The 1^st and 2^nd generations used lithium polymer batteries. The larger models use touch wheels provided by Synaptics.

On 26 April 2006, EE Times reported that Samsung had won the contract to provide the media processor for a future model iPod, replacing Apple's previous design supplier PortalPlayer.

iPod models

Model (and generation)		Image	Capacity	Changes introduced	Connection	Original release date	Launch price (US$)
iPod	1G		5, 10 GB	First release, with mechanical scroll wheel. First a 5GB, then later a 10GB.	FireWire	October 23, 2001	$399, $499
	2G		10, 20 GB	Touch sensitive wheel. FireWire port had a cover.	FireWire	July 17, 2002	$399, $499
	3G		10, 15, 20, 30, 40 GB	Dock Connector. Central row of buttons.	FireWire (USB for syncing only)	April 28, 2003	$299, $399, $399, $499
	4G / photo	iPod 4G	20, 30, 40, 60 GB	Buttons integrated to "touch wheel". Color display with photo viewer introduced in October 2004 and replaced the monochrome model in June 2005.	FireWire or USB	July 2004	$299, $349, $399, $599
	5G		30, 60, 80 GB	Slimmer design. Larger screen with video player and lyrics support. No AC adapter, Universal Dock, or A/V cables included. September 2006 revision: 80 GB model launched, 60% brighter display, longer battery life, music search function, new earbuds included.	USB (FireWire for charging only)	October 12, 2005	$299, $399 (later $249, $349)
iPod mini	1G	iPod Mini 1G	4 GB	First release. Available in 5 colors.	USB or FireWire	January 6, 2004	$249
	2G		4, 6 GB	Brighter color variants with longer battery life. Clickwheel lettering matched body color. No AC adapter. Gold color discontinued.	USB or FireWire	February 22, 2005	$199, $249
iPod nano	1G		1, 2, 4 GB	First release. Successor to the iPod mini. Slimmer design with flash memory, color screen and lyrics support.	USB (FireWire for charging only)	September 7, 2005	$149, $199, $249
	2G		2, 4, 8 GB	Anodized aluminum case in 6 colors. Brighter screen and longer battery life.	USB	September 12, 2006	$149, $199 $249
iPod shuffle	1G		512 MB, 1 GB	First release. The iPod without a screen or scroll wheel.	USB	January 11, 2005	$99, $149 (later $69, $99)
	2G	2G iPod Shuffle	1 GB	Aluminum case with smaller form factor, plus built-in clip.	USB (via dock only)	October 2006	$79

Timeline of iPod model releases

Each new generation usually has more features and refinements whilst typically being smaller and lighter than its predecessor. Notable changes include the touch sensitive wheel replacing the mechanical scroll wheel, color displays, and flash memory replacing hard disks. Discontinued models include four generations of the full-sized iPod, two generations of the iPod mini and the first generations of the nano and shuffle. More information about all released iPods is available on Apple's website.[2]

The first generation iPods were Mac compatible only. Apple later added limited Windows support and at this time, Windows users required third-party software such as Musicmatch Jukebox, ephPod or XPlay to manage their music. Musicmatch was included on the bundled CD. From July 2004 and onwards, every iPod was made fully compatible with either Mac or Windows, after Apple released the Windows version of iTunes on 16 October 2003.

Special edition and color variants

In December 2002, Apple unveiled its first limited edition iPods, with either Madonna’s, Tony Hawk’s, or Beck’s signature or No Doubt's band logo engraved on the back for an extra US$49.

On 26 October 2004, Apple introduced a special edition of its fourth generation monochrome iPod, designed in the color scheme of the latest album (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) by Irish rock band U2. It had a black case with a red scroll wheel and the back had the engraved signatures of U2's band members. This iPod was updated alongside the iPod photo and 5^th generation iPod.

On 13 October 2006, Apple released a special edition red 4 GB iPod Nano as part of the (PRODUCT)^RED campaign. Three weeks later (3 November 2006), an 8 GB version was released. Selling for the same price as the standard colors, US$10 from each sale is donated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS.

Apple has also released Special Edition Harry Potter iPods. These were engraved with the Hogwarts Crest on the back and were available only to purchasers of the Harry Potter audiobooks. They were discontinued when 5^th generation iPods were released.

The 1^st generation iPod nano and 5^th generation iPod were released in black and white variants. The 2^nd generation iPod nano inherited some of its case design from the mini.

Criticisms

Battery life advertising

In 2003, class action lawsuits were brought against Apple complaining that the battery charges lasted for shorter lengths of time than stated and that the battery degraded over time. The lawsuits were settled by offering individuals either $50 store credit or a free battery replacement.

Apple later complained that its competitor, Sony, had misled consumers in its advertising for Sony's music player. Apple complained that Sony had not considered real-world usage.

Non-replaceable battery

The battery in all iPods is not designed to be removed or replaced by the user. Some users have been able to pry the case open to replace the battery, as some online stores sell them. Compounding this problem, Apple initially would not replace worn-out batteries. The official policy was that the customer should buy a refurbished replacement iPod, at a cost almost equivalent to a brand new one. All lithium-ion batteries eventually lose capacity during their lifetime (guidelines are available for prolonging life-span) and this situation led to a small market for third-party battery replacement kits.

Apple announced a battery replacement program on 14 November 2003, a week before a high publicity stunt and website by the Neistat Brothers. The initial cost was US$99, but it was lowered to US$59 in 2005. One week later Apple offered an extended iPod warranty for US$59. Third-party companies offer cheaper battery replacement kits which often use higher capacity batteries. For the most recent iPods, soldering tools are needed because the battery is either soldered onto the main board, as with the nano; or attached to a metal backplate, as on the 5^th generation iPod.

Hearing loss

Critics have expressed concerns that prolonged use of iPods with the included earphones can facilitate hearing loss, since the iPod is alleged to be capable of outputting sound at unsafe levels for human hearing. While hearing loss is a potential problem with any Walkman-style tape or CD device with earphones, the iPod is particularly risky due to the fact that users often listen to the iPod for long periods of time at potentially damaging sound levels. In response to these claims, Apple introduced a volume limit option for 5th generation iPods, iPod Nanos, and iPod Shuffles.

Bass response

The 3^rd generation iPod had a weak bass response, as shown in audio tests. The combination of the undersized DC blocking capacitors and the typical low impedance of most consumer headphones form a high-pass filter which attenuates the low-frequency bass output by up to 10 dB. Similar capacitors were used in the 4^th generation iPods. The problem is reduced when using high impedance headphones and completely masked when driving high-impedance (line level) loads. The 1^st generation iPod shuffle uses a dual transistor output stage rather than a single capacitor-coupled output, and thus does not exhibit reduced bass response for any load.

Equalizer

If the sound is enhanced with the iPod's software equalizer (EQ), some EQ settings — like R&B, Rock, Acoustic, and Bass Booster — can cause bass distortion too easily.

The equalizer amplifies the digital audio level beyond the software's limit, causing distortion (clipping) on songs that have a bass drum or use a bassy instrument, even when the amplifier level is low. Notable song examples include Bob Sinclar's Love Generation and Jem's Wish I. One possible workaround is to reduce the volume level of the recorded MP3 by modifying each audio file. However, this cannot be done with DRM-encrypted music, and different tools are needed for each different file format. A simpler workaround is selecting the Treble Reducer EQ preset and raising the volume, taking advantage of the iPod's notably loud maximum audio level.

Manufacturer quality control

According to a 2005 survey conducted on the MacInTouch website, the iPod's reliability has generally improved for each new generation, although Apple did report that between September and October 2006 some iPods were made available for purchase carrying a virus. Per Apple, some 5th Generation iPods left its contract manufacturer carrying the virus RavMonE.exe, which affects Windows operating systems. The iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and Mac OS X were not affected. The virus, if present, can be cleaned using popular antivirus programs using the instructions at Apple's website.

The surface of the 1st generation iPod nano and of the 5th generation iPod can reportedly become scratched easily. Many users complained and a class action lawsuit was filed. Apple initially considered the issue a minor defect, but later began shipping these iPods with protective sleeves. Many products are available to remove scratches, such as iCleaner, AppleSauce, and the metal polish Brasso.

Worker exploitation

On 11 June 2006, the British tabloid Mail on Sunday reported that iPods are mainly manufactured by workers who earn no more than US$50 per month. The report stated that the five-story Longhua factory — owned by Foxconn — houses 200,000 workers, with most of them living in dormitories that house 100 people. The report also claimed that visitors were not allowed and that the plant is secured by police officers. These allegations were denied by Foxconn but Apple investigated and discovered that employees worked more than 60 hours a week for a third of the time and worked for more than six consecutive days for 25% of the time. The workers were not forced; they chose to work the overtime, albeit by financial necessity.

Patent disputes

In 2005, Apple Computer faced two lawsuits claiming patent infringement by the iPod and its associated technologies: Advanced Audio Devices claimed the iPod breached their patent on a "music jukebox", while a Hong Kong-based IP portfolio company called Pat-rights filed a suit claiming that Apple's FairPlay technology breached a patent issued to inventor Ho Keung Tse. The latter case also includes the online music stores of Sony, Real Networks, Napster, and Musicmatch as defendants.

Apple's application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on "rotational user inputs", as used on the iPod's interface, received a third "non-final rejection" (NFR) in August 2005. Also in August 2005, Creative Technology, one of Apple's main rivals in the MP3 player market, announced that it held a patent on part of the music selection interface used by the iPod, which Creative dubbed the "Zen Patent", granted on August 9 2005. On May 15 2006, Creative filed another suit against Apple for patent infringement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Creative also asked the United States International Trade Commission to investigate whether Apple was breaching U.S. trade laws by importing iPods into the United States.

On August 24 2006 Apple and Creative announced a broad settlement to end their legal disputes. Apple will pay Creative US$100 million for a paid-up license to use Creative's recently awarded patent in all Apple products. Creative announced their intention to produce iPod accessories by joining the Made for iPod program.

Sales

Since October 2004, the iPod has dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. During the year from January 2004 to January 2005, its high rate of sales caused its U.S. market share to increase from 31% to 65% and in July 2005, the market share was measured at 74%. The release of the iPod mini helped to ensure this success at a time when competing flash-based music players were once dominant.

In its first quarter results of 2006, Apple reported earnings of US$565 million — its highest quarterly revenue in the company's history, although how much of this was attributed to iPod sales is unknown. Apple and several industry analysts have suggested that iPod users are likely to purchase other Apple products such as Mac computers.

On 8 January 2004, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced that they would sell HP-branded iPods under a license agreement from Apple. Several new retail channels were used — including Wal-Mart — and HP-branded iPods eventually made up 5% of all iPod sales. In July 2005, HP stopped selling iPods due to unfavorable terms and conditions imposed by Apple.

iPod sales according to Apple's quarterly financial results from 2002 Q1 to currently ended 2006 Q4.

iPod quarterly sales.

Fiscal quarter	iPods sold
2002 Q1	130,000
2002 Q2	57,000
2002 Q3	54,000
2002 Q4	140,000
2003 Q1	219,000
2003 Q2	80,000
2003 Q3	304,000
2003 Q4	336,000
2004 Q1	733,000
2004 Q2	807,000
2004 Q3	860,000
2004 Q4	2,016,000
2005 Q1	4,580,000
2005 Q2	5,311,000
2005 Q3	6,155,000
2005 Q4	6,451,000
2006 Q1	14,043,000
2006 Q2	8,526,000
2006 Q3	8,111,000
2006 Q4	8,729,000
Total	67,642,000

Advertising

File:Places toronto billboard iPod.jpg

An iPod billboard in midtown Toronto, Canada.

File:Wrap advertising light rail.jpg

iPod Lightrail Wrap Advertising, Minneapolis, USA

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An example of Apple as a worldwide company: an iPod ad in Beijing, China.

Apple has promoted the iPod and iTunes with several advertising campaigns including their silhouette commercials:

November 2001

A man dances to music while demonstrating the synchronization between iTunes and the iPod.

September 2002

Switcher Campaign, Interviews with real people candidly discussing why they like their Macs and iPods and what they dislike about their PCs. The campaign includes Hamilton Morris and cult phenomenon Ellen Feiss.

April 2003

Casually dressed people giving animated silent renditions of pop songs, to promote the iTunes Music Store. Songs included Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back", the Caesars' "Jerk It Out", Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and others.

October 2003

TV commercials of the silhouette campaign. Songs included The Vines' "Ride", Steriogram's "Walkie-Talkie Man", Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl", Daft Punk's "Technologic" and many more.

October 2004

Slightly colored silhouettes of U2 band members performing their song "Vertigo".

January 2005

TV commercials of dancers as silhouettes, with an iPod shuffle symbol moving underneath them.

September 2005

Two pairs of hands fighting over an iPod nano whilst viewing it at different angles.

October 2005

A music video of U2's "Original of the Species" (from the Vertigo: Live From Chicago DVD) playing on a video iPod. Alternative ads had a sihouette of rapper Eminem over an 'urban' orange background, and a silhouette of jazz musician Wynton Marsalis over a 'cool blue' background. These backgrounds were more textured and complex than in previous ads.

March 2006

Thousands of CD covers pouring into an iPod nano, with the song "Cubicle" by the French electro-rock band Rinôçérôse.

September 2006

Bob Dylan performing the song "Someday Baby" from the album Modern Times. A dancer, also in silhouette, is shown dancing to the song.

A new ad featuring the updated iPod nano. Silhouette dancers can only be seen when they cross the paths of color generated by their iPod nano. This features the song "The Audience Is Listening Theme Song" by Cut Chemist.

Earphones

The iPod's white earphone cords have become symbolic of the brand, and advertisements feature them prominently. In fact, the earphones have such strong visual recognition characteristics that some have said they can be a liability. After a 24% rise in robbery and a 10% increase in grand larceny in the New York City subway, a spokesperson for the NYC police suggested that iPods might be behind the increases.

Accessories

Several companies produce accessories that are designed for iPods. This market is sometimes described as the iPod ecosystem.

Some accessories add extra features that other music players have, such as sound recorders, FM radio tuners, wired remote controls and audio/visual cables for TV connections. Other accessories offer more unique features like the Nike + iPod pedometer and the iPod Camera Connector. Other popular accessories include external speakers, wireless remote controls and protective cases/films that help prevent surface scratches. Notable manufacturers and resellers include Griffin, Belkin, JBL, Bose, Monster Cable and Apple.

Car integration

BMW released the first iPod automobile interface that allowed drivers of newer BMW vehicles to control their iPod using the built-in steering wheel controls or the radio head unit buttons. Apple announced in 2005 that similar systems would be available for additional vehicle brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Acura, Audi, Honda (with speech recognition), Renault and Volkswagen.

Some independent stereo manufacturers including JVC, Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine and Harman Kardon also have iPod-specific integration solutions. Alternative connection methods include using adaptor kits (via the cassette deck or the CD changer port), RCA inputs, or FM transmitters such as the iTrip, although personal FM transmitters are illegal in some countries.

See also

• Encyclopodia
• Comparison of iPod Managers
• Danika Cleary, Product Manager
• wepod, example of iPods used in popular culture

External links

• Apple iPod — Official website
• "Apple Presents iPod" — Press Release
• The First iPod advertisement
• Apple's 21st-Century Walkman — Brent Schlender writing for Fortune 30 October 2001
• iPod Nation — Steven Levy writing for Newsweek 26 July 2004
• Behind the Music — Ken Aaron writing for Cornell Engineering 2005
• The origin of the iPod — Wired article