Nowadays, there are six generations of iPod Classic, including a spin-off named iPod Photo which was later reintegrated into the iPod Classic line. All the generations of iPod Classic use a 1.8 inch hard drive for storage.The retronym "Classic" was introduced with this iPod line when the sixth generation was announced,as before this it has been simply referred to as the iPod.The sixth generation was announced on September 6, 2007. The iPod Classic is available in silver and black replacing the white iPod signature.
Apple introduced the first generation of iPod (later known as the iPod Classic) on October 23,2001 using the slogan "1000 songs in your pocket".This first iPod had a storage capability of 5 GB that could roughly store 1000 MP3 encoded songs. Apple priced its media player at US$399.The iPod presented some innovations for the music player industry, such as its size because it was known to use a 1.8 inch hard drive when their competitors used a 2.5 inch hard drive.
Another innovative detail was its control, as the iPod turned out to have a very easy to use set of controls. This involved a mechanical wheel located under the LCD black and white screen. Later on, iPods would present touch sensitive click wheels. The mechanical wheel on the first generation iPod had a select button in the middle, and some auxiliary buttons around the wheel. The battery life was estimated to be of 10 hours.
On March 20, 2002, Apple introduced a 10 GB model of the first generation of iPod priced at US$499 ($100 more than in the case of the first model) which included vCard compatibility features.This allowed users to sync their business card on their iPods from a Mac.The second model carried over the first generation's body style. However,Apple had the hold switch redesigned,added a cover for the FireWire port and replaced the mechanical wheel with a touch sensitive wheel and worked on the iPod's image,adding rounded corners and edges.
This model was available with two storage capacity options, a 10 GB model priced at $399 and a 20 GB model priced at $499.The 5 GB model was also carried over but the price was dropped at $299.The second iPod Classic model was the first iPod that presented Windows compatible features as they came with a 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire adapter which Apple bundled with MusicMatch Jukebox instead of iTunes. On December 2002, Apple released its limited edition iPods and for an extra $50, you could have received Maddona' s signature carved on the back of the device.
The options included Tony Hawk, Beck, and No Doubt. In 2003, Apple introduced a brand new, redesigned iPod device which presented several improvements and changes. For example,the FireWire port was replaced with a dock connector,and the device itself was thinner than previous models.The Touch Wheel was also introduced,which used a non mechanical control method,with four auxiliary buttons in the row between the wheel and the screen.