The iPod is a pocket-sized portable music-playing device produced by Apple and sold across the world. It's the best-known family of MP3 players and comes in a variety of models.
The various iPod models
- iPod Touch – full-function version with touchable screen controls and up to 64GB of space for music, photographs, apps and video.
- iPod Shuffle – tiny, lightweight clip-and-go model with no screen and just 2GB of space.
- iPod Nano – lightweight iPod with touch-screen controls and up to 16GB of space for audio files.
- iPod Classic – with up to 160GB of hard-drive storage space, plus the familiar 'click wheel' control.
Features and benefits of an iPod
- iPods can store several thousand songs, the exact number depending on the model.
- Most models can now play video, store images and run 'apps'.
- It's easy to connect to a computer and manage an iPod's music library and playlists via iTunes.
- The iPod Touch has 'FaceTime' enabled, a video-calling facility between iPod Touches and various other Apple products such as the iPad range.
- iPod Classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory, which means the devices can be smaller and thinner.
History of the iPod
- The first iPod was released to the market by Apple in 2001.
- The iTunes Store was launched in 2003, enabling users to purchase music to download and listen on their iPods.
- Introduced in 2004, the iPod Mini used flash memory to save space.
- The familiar click-wheel control that dominated the main iPod models for several years was also launched in 2004.
- The iPod Nano replaced the iPod Mini in 2005.
- 2007 saw the first of the touch-screen iPods, to match the newly introduced iPhone.
Chris Quartermaine is a Digital Unite tutor for Chester, South Wirral and north-east Wales.