2008 Woodie Awards
Paper Clip Plays Music!
By Konrad Klett
3/28/07 - Science & Technology
The first iPods came out in 2001 with five gigabytes (GB) for four hundred dollars or ten GB for five hundred dollars. The little music players have come a long way since then, now taking photos and playing videos for less money and with more memory. The iPod was first born when specific members in Apple's development team were unsatisfied with either the large size of so called "portable" devices or the relative uselessness of smaller units. The name iPod came from freelance copywriter who exclaimed; "Open the pod bay door, Hal!" in reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apple already owned but had never used the name iPod. The ease of use can largely be attributed to Pixo, a company that iPod outsourced for user interface. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and CEO of Pixar before Disney's buy out, directly oversaw the development of the user interface.
Although just about any music format is acceptable to the iPod, Microsoft WMA is not allowable and songs must be converted to "itunes" to be played. In July of 2002 the touch sensitive wheel for controlling the iPod's functions replaced the buttons on the first model. The new model also had ten and twenty GB for the same prices as the previous units respectively. January of 2004 saw the first iPod minis. The minis had four GB initially but later six and cost two hundred fifty. In September of 2006, the nano was introduced with one, two, and four GB capacities and ranged from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars. The latest ones cost the same but come with two, four, and eight GB. The first shuffle had 512 MB for one hundred dollars and one GB for one hundred fifty dollars. The latest shuffle is a one GB paperclip that plays music for eighty dollars. While the regular iPods have internal hard drives, the shuffles and nanos have flash drives. The latest standard iPods, called the Video iPod, come in sixty and eighty GB for two fifty and three hundred dollars. After the purchase of an iPod, there are further ways to burn money on the excessive number of accessories. Among the more useful accessories are car chargers, various cases to prevent damage, and car adapters. BMW was the first car company to offer iPod connections followed by many others such as Ferrari, Acura, Audi, Honda, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Scion, Nissan Alfa Romeo, and Volkswagen. The iPod now comes in several different colors and can even be ordered with a name engraved on it if bought online.
Although just about any music format is acceptable to the iPod, Microsoft WMA is not allowable and songs must be converted to "itunes" to be played. In July of 2002 the touch sensitive wheel for controlling the iPod's functions replaced the buttons on the first model. The new model also had ten and twenty GB for the same prices as the previous units respectively. January of 2004 saw the first iPod minis. The minis had four GB initially but later six and cost two hundred fifty. In September of 2006, the nano was introduced with one, two, and four GB capacities and ranged from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars. The latest ones cost the same but come with two, four, and eight GB. The first shuffle had 512 MB for one hundred dollars and one GB for one hundred fifty dollars. The latest shuffle is a one GB paperclip that plays music for eighty dollars. While the regular iPods have internal hard drives, the shuffles and nanos have flash drives. The latest standard iPods, called the Video iPod, come in sixty and eighty GB for two fifty and three hundred dollars. After the purchase of an iPod, there are further ways to burn money on the excessive number of accessories. Among the more useful accessories are car chargers, various cases to prevent damage, and car adapters. BMW was the first car company to offer iPod connections followed by many others such as Ferrari, Acura, Audi, Honda, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Scion, Nissan Alfa Romeo, and Volkswagen. The iPod now comes in several different colors and can even be ordered with a name engraved on it if bought online.
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