The iPod is a popular brand of portable media devices owned by the US Company Apple. In 2008, Apple acknowledged that the basis for the popular iPod technology is devised by the British inventor Kane Kramer, 52, who created a prototype at the age of 23.
Apple was forced to admit that Britain is the parent's iPod, after the company was sued by Burst, who claimed that it holds the patent for the music player on the technology. The device invented by the British 30 years ago, called the IXI, could store only 3.5 minutes of music on a chip. Its drawings showed a player the size of a credit card with a rectangular screen and a central menu, very similar to those of the iPod.
The first iPod was launched in October 2001 with a storage capacity of about 1,000 songs in MP3 or 5 GB data. PC connectivity was provided by a fire wire interface type with a speed of 400 Mb/s, available as standard on Apple computers. The years 2002 and 2003 have brought new generations, in addition to increased storage capacity of up to 40 GB, came with a sensory wheel that revolutionized the user interface. Also, since the third generation, synchronization with your PC could be done using USB interface. The end of 2004 marks the first appearance of the color-screen iPod called the iPod Photo. Also on the market in 2004 Apple introduced a new line of small devices under the name of iPod Mini. Like the standard iPod model, iPod Mini is equipped with a hard disc, but with a capacity of 4 GB. The Mini version has proved a market success. Early 2005 brings a new concept called the iPod Shuffle, which had limited functionality. But the iPod Shuffle Apple allowed entering the market cheap MP3 devices. IPod Shuffle with a capacity of 512 megabytes was launched on the United States market at a price of $ 99, with a variant of 1 GB with a price of $ 149. Note that the iPod Shuffle has no screen, atypical for an MP3 device.
In February 2005 a second generation of Apple launches iPod Mini, but towards the end of this model is abandoned. IPod Mini is officially replaced by a new series called “iPod Nano”. Nano is characterized by a technology-based flash memory with a storage trap of1, 2 or 4 gigabytes. At the end of 2005, Apple replaced the Photo model with a new model called iPod Video. Video is equipped with a color screen, more powerful, has a resolution of 320x240 pixels, a diagonal 6.3 cm (2.5 inches) and can not only plays audio but also video.