The History of the Apple iPod

The iPod is currently the top selling MP3 device, and is known for its useability and consumer friendly interface. The iPod was first released on October 23rd 2001 and has been the most world renowned MP3 player selling over 240,000,000 since that release date.

The History of Computing Machines

Babbage Difference Engine No.2

The history of computing machines must begin with the “computer pioneer”, Charles Babbage, who “designed the first automatic computing engines” in 1822. Though this was just a small working model. While he invented the machine, Babbage himself, an inventor and mathematician, did not complete his design in full-scale. In 1990, the second permutation of his design, the Babbage Difference Engine No. 2 was finally built. Babbage truly was a man ahead of his time. Although his computing machine did not come to fruition in full scale, notwithstanding the attempt of two Swedes, Georg and Scheutz who made a modified version of Babbage’s design, Babbage proposed an Analytical Engine. This was to have had a memory storage bank and a central processing unit (CPU). In addition the Analytical Engine would “have been controlled by a program of instructions contained on punch cards connected together with ribbons.” Ada Lovelace worked with Babbage on the machine and posited that, “the Engine might even be capable of composing elaborate pieces of music.” A little foreshadowing of the current what the current scene is with digital/computer musical devices.

Analog Comuputer

Upon Babbage’s death in 1871 the Analog Computer became of wide use. It was James Thomson that invented and developed the “mechanical wheel-and-disc integrator that became the foundation of analog computation.” The advent of the Analog Computer led to Turing’s invention that established the foundations of the modern computer in 1936 at Cambridge University – the Universal Turing Machine. Turing developed the store-program concept that Babbage theorized about. His machine, built after the WWII, utilized electronic stored-program memory within a computing machine. This was the onset of the early digital computing machines. These computing machines were electromechanical and used ‘relays’ (mechanical switches), electrically driven. There were “electromechanical digital machines” before, during, and after WWII, by “Howard Aiken at Harvard University, George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Turing at Princeton University and Bletchley Park, and Konrad Zuse in Berlin. It is the production and development of high-speed technique via the use of vacuum tubes.

Electronic Digital Computer

Then, finally, the first electronic digital computer built in the United States, was the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC). The machine developed by Army Ordnance in order to computer ballistic firing tables in WWII. The ENIAC in comparison to today’s computers and devices was gigantic, it had “thirty separate units, plus power supply and forced-air cooling, weighed over thirty tons” and of these thirty units consisted “19,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and hundreds of thousands of resistors, capacitors, and inductors consumed almost 200 kilowatts of electrical power.” Nevertheless the ENIAC was the beginning for modern computers, “it embodied almost all the components and concepts of today's high- speed, electronic digital computers.”

Magnetic Core Memory

In turn, six-years after the ENIAC was completed, in 1951, von Neumann proposed the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC). Through this, von Neumann made the “concept of a high-speed stored-program digital computer widely known through his writings and public addresses.” Ultimately, it was through the EDVAC and the Advanced Computer Environment (ACE) proposals “both advocated the use of mercury-filled tubes, called ‘delay lines’, for high-speed internal memory.” This developed into the final major development, the magnetic core memory. This was introduced first in the Memory Test Computer in 1953. International Business Machines (IBM) quickly announced its first line of computers in October 1954, the IBM 704 and 705 computers – this in effect brought “core memory into wide use.”

Intel

Eventually, this led to Intel in the 1970s inventing a microprocessor, which is “a computer that is fabricated on an integrated circuit (IC).” Essentially it is an entire computer on a single chip or IC. Intel called it the Intel 4004, which was followed by the 8008 and 8080. The 8080 was the world’s first personal computer, which was used in the MITS Altair 8800. Though it required individuals to construct it themselves with a kit that arrived via mail. This was followed by Intel employee Ted Hoff’s introduction of a general purpose computer chip which allowed for programs to be utilized for different tasks as seen with the computers of today.

Apple vs. Microsoft

Concurrently, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the first Apple I computer in 1976. Apple followed with the Apple Lisa and developed the first graphical user interface. The Lisa became the Macintosh, introduced to the public in 1984 and has been developing computer machines ever since. In the meantime a young entrepreneur Bill Gates, a Harvard dropout, developed an Altair program interpreter, Altair BASIC for MITS . In turn IBM approached Gates to write the software, BASIC, for its upcoming computer and, after much work, and teaming up with a Seattle based company, IBM and Gates developed PC-DOS. Ever since the two giants have been in a competitive war to win-over consumers, while Microsoft and Intel led the way, Apple is now dominating with its Apple Ipod – a revolutionary handheld computing machine for music.

The History of MP3 Players

In the article “How MP3 Players Work” by Kevin Bonsor, Jeff Tyson and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. they display the following list of the evolution of music players.

The Evolution of Music Players

1877 - Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
1887 - Emile Berliner patents gramophone, using flat zinc discs.
1896 - Nikola Tesla invents radio.
1906 - First radio program of voice and music is broadcast. Reginald Fessenden broadcasts the program using a continuous wave of electromagnetic energy from Brant Rock, Mass.
1929 - Frequency Modulation (FM) radio introduced.
1934 - Semi Joseph Begun builds first tape recorder for broadcasting.
1948 - Columbia Records introduces the long-playing (LP) record, which is played at 33.3 revolutions per minute (RPM).
1949 - RCA introduces 45-RPM records.
1965 - 8-track magnetic tape introduced.
1969 - Internet created.
1979 - Sony Walkman cassette player introduced. (By 1995, 150 million sold.)
1983 - Sony and Philips introduce compact disc technology.
1986 - Sony develops MiniDisc technology, six years prior to its commercial launch in 1992.
1989 - The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany patents MP3 format.
1992 - Philips introduces the Digital Compact Cassette (DCC). Both Sony (with the MiniDisc) and Philips (with DCC) hope to takeover where audiocassettes left off.
1998 - First MP3 players introduced (Saehan's MPMan, sold in Korea).

This list shows over 100 years of technological advancements. These changes have had an enormous effect on the music industry, expanding the ability of consumers to access music at home, or on the go. This list does not include the most mainstream musical device today, the iPod. The iPod was first released on October 23rd 2001 and has been the most world renowned MP3 player selling over 240,000,000 since that release date. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs ordered this product to be designed only a year prior to its release, after Apple found digital music players today “big and clunky or small and useless” with user interfaces that were “unbelievably awful“. All of the musical devices previous to the iPod act as the older generations of such musical advancement. These older devices aided in furthering the evolution that has brought us such technologically advanced items such as the iPod. A YouTube video gives a visual presentation of this evolution throughout over a century; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4wBnSk6nYM. Another video found on Google Video gives a detailed history of the iPod and how it evolved into such significance; http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6960974522224017009. Overall, Apple created a device that used technology from previous music players, and learning from their flaws created a product that consumers worldwide were, and still are, willing to purchase.

Apple iPod

The ipod is currently being designed in apple headquarters in California. The parent company, Apple, has a manufacturing contract with Inventec Appliances in Taipai, Taiwan. Both companies have had a working relationship for a long time as they have manufactured other apple products. The ipods are physically assembled in Shanghai, China. Basically, ipods are comparable to mini digital computers that are made for playing music. They are equipped with a hard drive, battery pack, LCD screen, click wheel (or touch screen), and a circuit board with microprocessor, RAM, video chip and audio chip. All of these complex parts are packaged into a perfect approachable and useful gadget. The outer core’s components are made of different materials dependent on the model of ipod. The classic ipod is made from a special form of scratch-resistant lucite, the nano is standard lucite, and every other non-mini ipod is made of standard polyarbonate. The back plate is made of polished stainless steel. It is nearly impossible to discover where these parts are manufactured because Apple is very secretive about it. The ipod itself has progressed over time to today multi-functional players. It started as just the Ipod classic with black and white font and simple navigational tasks. It simply played music and had few other features. Slowly, it added the ability to play games, and even full length videos. Today, there is the ipod nano, which can take videos within its small case, the ipod shuffle perfect for workouts and small music libraries, and most recently, the ipod touch. It is the most current model of the ipod featuring a touch screen navigation with the capacity to choose from millions of available applications from games to books. It allows for mac computers to sync calendars and photos, and with its 3G network connection, is like a mini-computer on the go. The progression of the ipod itself speaks of today’s technological generation. The public expects more than just a simple device that plays music, it needs more functionality and purpose. With the growing industry, apple stays atop by staying in touch with the needs of its demographic. By having apps for Facebook and Twitter, it makes the ipod touch appealing for many people. In this generation, it feels like if you want a music player, the only legitimate one is the ipod. With it many different versions, it isn’t difficult to find one to suit the needs of any music lover. There are many different other types of mp3 players available, yet the ipod is dominant in its field due to its functionality, appeal, and reliability. It is widespread internationally and seems like a staple in any household. With many products to increase functionality, such as to play though portable speakers, stereo, or even while driving in the car, the ipod represents a modern and incredibly popular 21st century device.