TechStuff Looks at the iPod

ignore that. That's our that's our our podcasting sprite who was joining us today. Yes, yes, because it's a magical time of year, we're recording this just before the new year. Yes, that's true. Actually, uh, it's right after the holidays in the aforementioned sprite actually has a bearing on what we're talking about, because, uh, this the the spriting question would be my daughter and she just received her very first iPod. Yeah,

and we wanted to talk today about the iPod. This actually comes to us courtesy of a little listener mail. This listener mail comes from Nick, and Nick says, Hey, guys, I love your podcast and I've been a loyal listener for a long time. Now, I really think that you guys choose good topics, and I really like that you always release episodes on time. Thanks Nick, we like that too.

I was wondering if you could do a podcast on the history of the Apple iPod line, or for another idea, you could do a podcast on how Xbox Live, PlayStation network game center work and how they compare. These are just a few ideas, and I would love for you to do one either way. Keep up the good work sent from my iPod. So we decided we were going to tackle the iPod today and kind of talk about

its history and its place in technology. Of course, there's no denying the iPod has taken a prominent place in technology today. That's true. But it wasn't. It wasn't the very first and three player on the market. In fact, it was relatively late to the game. That's true. Um although a lot of people think the very first MP three player was was from a company called Diamond, the Diamond Multimedia Rio p MP three. Yes, that was not the first shut your mouth, okay, but it's going to

be a really boring podcast. Um. No, it was the the MP three man from Sayhand, which was actually launched in Asia in the late spring. I found that out from Elliott Van Buskirk Att c NET, who then moved on to write for Wired. Indeed, um it was actually released in the United States by Igor Labs, the MP man F ten and F twenty again, and just a scant few months before Diamond released the Rio here in the United States. There was also before that there was

a device called the Listen Up Digital Audio Player. But you can argue whether or not that truly fits the MP three player model. It was definitely a digital audio player, but I would say that the MP man and the the Diamond Ultimate Multi Media Rio, those are probably more traditional MP three players the way we think of them. Uh. And so so you guys know, do you did you happen to see how many I had to look this up in another source. Did you have to see how

many megabytes of music it held? Yeah, it's funny you should say that megabytes, not gigabyte. No, No, we're not talking about gigabytes, thirty two megabytes because these were these were flash memory based and at the time when they were released, flash memory was still very a very young technology compared to hard drives, but no one had really invested in making a hard drive version of an MP

three player. Yeah, yeah, that's true. And uh as a matter of fact, it was also an expensive technology compared to what it is now. You can go into ah, go into convenience stores and pick up a gigabyte thumb drive for you know, four or five dollars now may be exaggerating, but not by much. Well, let me put

it this way. When you go to something like the Consumer Electronics Show, a lot of them will put their press kits on digital formats on a thumb drive, and the average size of those thumb drives, I would say, is two gigabytes. So these are companies that are are creating hundreds of these to give away to vendors and the press. So it's clearly not as expensive as the

old ones. That's true. But so so. The MP three player, as it was before the launch of the iPod was um a very small device as far as storage goes, there was, although it was you know, in general solid state UM, so that seemed very very high tech. Um. They also sort of resembled the cassette players of the time. Yes, they were a little clunky. They had a lot of button I will say that I in my research. I did uncover one hard drive MP three player that predated

the iPod. It was the Hango Slash Remote Solutions Portable Jukebox p j B DASH one hundred, which was released in actually and it could hold up to six gigabytes of music, but that was mainly limited to Asia. There wasn't really, there wasn't an attempt to break into the Western market. Yes, it's actually funny that you would say that, because, uh, that sounds sort of foreign, but it kind of wasn't because Van Busk points out that was actually developed by

Compact but licensed to Hango, which was Korean company. Um, and uh, you know at that point, you know, as a matter of fact, when Hewlett Packard acquired Compact, they licensed the iPod. Yeah, it's kind of funny. It's funny that they could have gotten a jump on the market in the United States, But of course there was no

way of knowing at that time. No, So why would Apple, a company that at that point was known mainly for creating computers, that did try to do some personal electronics that to one extent or another did not work out So well, Newton, I'm looking at you. I'm sorry, did you say Pippen, So why what what would lead them to invest in creating a digital music player. Actually, uh,

it's funny too, because it wasn't really Apple's idea. According to some of the information that I've read, the idea came from outside the company, from a from a guy named Tony Tony Fidel or Fatal. I'm going with Fidel. I would say that a D E. L. L yea. He he had worked with Phillips in the past and with General magic um, but basically was pitching the idea of I don't know, an MP three environment, a music player, and something where you could get your music from your

computer to the MP three player. Yeah, he was looking at an entire ecosystem, everything from the software that would live on your computer that would organize your music and let you put it into different formats or different playlists, that kind of thing, and as also a device that you would store that music on and you could play it back later. So he was definitely looking at the big picture, and he thought that no one had nailed this.

People had created some devices that you could put music on, but no one had really taken the model so that it had everything encapsulated in one big package, and so he actually shopped this idea around to several companies, yes, including a couple that probably were kicking themselves years later. Real Networks was one UM, Real being famous for providing computer software that would allow you to play streaming content,

audio and video files on your computer. UM. They were looking at the Rhapsody music service, which still exists in a form or two. UM, but also Phillips, his former employer, known for consumer gadgets of all different kinds. UM. You have thought that one or both of them would have been interested in the idea of coming out with something like this, but they weren't, and he turned to Apple instead. Yep. And strangely enough, Apple at that time said this sounds interesting.

We are going to invest in it, and essentially Fidel got hired to work on this project. He was assigned a team of about thirty people from Apple. He also had a company called portal Player that was helping UM and there were about two hundred or more people and

at portal Player who are also working on this project. UH. And then as the project went on, as they began to develop what would eventually become the iPod, a certain Mr Steve Jobs got very involved in the process to the point where I saw it described as being one involved that it became almost a daily activity for Jobs to check in on the project to and to give notes which essentially said it's not loud enough. Make it louder, which I saw was attributed according to one writer, to

Jobs having uh some hearing problems. Which is why the which is why the the iPod is louder than some of its uh some other MP three players. Why the settings go this one goes to eleven. It's one louder. But yeah, there was another fellow who was very likely heavily involved in the design of the iPod, the physical design Jonathan I've, who is the He's a senior vice president of of design over at Apple and has had

a hand in designing all sorts of Apple products. And when when you sit there and talk about how Apple products are really sleek and beautiful and they have great lines and uh you know, even the whole no buttons thing, we can we can thank Jonathan i for a lot of that. Yeah, uh, Steve Jobs as well, so Jobs and I've together they really shape the way things look coming from Apple. Yes. Indeed, so this um this project

that goes on UH. It actually comes to fruition UH and in late two thousand one, UM actually October two thousand one, the first generation iPod debuts. Yes, yeah, on the twenty three, they had the first generation iPod. Now, when they announced this UM, Apple had rented UH presentation space in California and basically all they had told the media was, Hey, we've got a big announcement coming and it's not going to be about the Mac. Yeah. It

was really really seek. In fact, they were so secretive about this that even within Apple people were not allowed to look at this. That's right. It was only the design team that had any access to what it looked like.

And if anyone was going to test it, anyone from outside that team, they would have to go into a room where the iPod would be kept in a box that had only a couple of little windows and access points for you to kind of poke your fingers in and push the different buttons and and to to play with it without getting a full look at the device. So no one from outside that team would be able to describe what it looked like. It's a great, great design method. So yes, the first generation iPod UM. There

were two versions. You know, the first one only could well could hold five gigabytes worth of music. I say only, but really, when you think about it competing NP three players at the time, we're between thirty two to sixty four megabytes, so five gigabytes was quite a lot. Yeah, and that was one of the big selling points. Um. Of course it didn't achieve this with flash memory. It used a physical hard drive, very hard drive inside a

very small hard drive. And then the later one that was added was because the very first one five gigabytes. It was shortly followed by a ten gigabyte model, but otherwise had the same specs. Uh. And this one, this iPod was a little different from all future iPods. Uh. Do you want to talk about the the the interface that was, so that's unlike all the other iPods. Yes, this, this particular iPod UM had a mechanical wheel that you

would use to scroll through the songs. Now, Um that actually the the interface was one of the things that set the iPod apart from its competition, because if you'll remember when I mentioned it a few minutes ago, Um, everybody else was still stuck in the old fashioned using buttons for play fast forward and rewind. Yeah, it was. It was making navigate. It was hard to navigate long playlists.

It's really tedious to use that kind of feature. And especially when you're talking about a player that could hold, you know, thousands of songs in comparison with the older ones, you were going to be spending a lot of time just skipping songs. So they wanted something that they could use, and they came up with the scroll wheel. But this was a mechanical scroll wheels instead of later editions where you used you know, we'll get into that in a moment,

but a touch a touch scroll wheel, um. And it did have a ring of buttons, um, you know, for the menu and for ford and back that surrounded the outside of it. And of course a black and white screen. Uh used the old Chicago font for those of us here a long time, I was wondering if you were going to go with the fonts too. Had that I had that written down as trivia at the end. Yes, you scooped me. Let you scooped me. You know what happens.

And you used a FireWire as far as the interface goes, so you could hook it up to your your Macintosh confect that's all you could hook it up to It was not Windows compatible. The very first iPod was only compatible with Mac computers that used the FireWire cable to sink and to charge. It had an arm processor. Uh, and the operating system was designed by a company called Pixel and the Do you know how much it originally cost? I believe it was four It was four hundred dollars

four hundred smackers for this thing. And uh and so the very first iPod, you can't really call it a runaway success, although it did definitely make a huge impression on everyone at the event because no one knew what was coming and no one no one really thought of Apple as a music company. You know, today it's hard to think of Apple as a computer company. Sometimes you think of it as a music company. Of course, it's changed its name since then too, since its success in

portable electronics. Now Apple is not Apple Computer, it is Apple Inc. Also, of course, there was something else that we have mentioned in a few times in the past, that being Apple's uh feud with Apple Core, the Beatles company, um, you know, over its music capabilities. Of course they were butting. The two companies butted heads for a while, whether or not they were allowed to uh to play music on a Macintosh computer or any of the other mac or the excuse me, any of the other Apple computers up

until that point. That is where uh it is famously said the so sumi uh sound came from error sound. Um. But yeah, so that that was one of those things. I mean, you know Apple a music company. Oh yeah. And and the iTunes version they ahead at the time, which was iTunes two point one. Um, it was really a music management system. It wasn't designed to um, you couldn't purchase music. There was no music store at that time. No, no, so you would you used it to manage your music,

but you didn't use it to acchoir music. Yeah, that was that was One of the things that l didn't know when he came to Apple was that Apple had already purchased a company that made a software called sound Jam. And those of us who are fans longtime fans of another at that point competing company Panic they make really awesome uh mac software. They made a program called Audience, which was in a feud that they were the two big MP three players for the Macintosh at that time.

There were others, but those were the two big ones. And UM, a lot of people were kind of upset that sound Jam ended up getting purchased by Apple, but that the acquisition was actually kept quiet and sound Jam became what you know became iTunes in its later incarnations. But it was originally a very uh simple management program and music player for the Macintosh. Right, and then let's uh, let's skip ahead a little bit. On July sevento two,

we got the second generation of the iPod. Now, this one came in ten and twenty gigabyte versions gigabytes, yes, and it worked with Windows uh to some extent. There was a new scroll wheel. It was the tactile scroll wheel that we're familiar with now. It's not no longer mechanical. Now it's like the touch screen type, well not touch screen, but the tactile like the touch pads you would find on laptops. It's a capacitive, capacitive touch surface. Um. Yeah,

and that was that was what you were familiar with. Now. The look seemed pretty similar. It still has the ring of buttons around there and they still has the black and white screen with Chicago still uses FireWire, although you can get an adapter to work with PCs and UH it also on PCs it did not use iTunes because there was still no iTunes for PC yet. It used music Match Jukebox instead, I remember them. So that was

so you could still uh. Well, now now they've opened up to a much larger market, it's still pretty expensive, um and the price will go down in the next generation. But we'll talk about why that is in a second. So this was this was a pretty big leap for Apple, and they're now taking aim at a market beyond just the Apple die hard enthusiasts, you know. Uh. So let's talk about the third generation, which comes out in April of two thousand three. Yes, a in fact, and then

this one came out in a series of sizes. They're released ten, fifty, thirty and forty gigabyte versions of this third generation iPod UM. The scroll wheel no longer had the buttons surrounding it. In fact, it had a series of buttons above the scroll wheel. But it's still black

and white, right, and it fully supported Windows. Uh. It used iTunes four point one or early on you can still use music Match Jukebox, but quickly it became iTunes uh specific, and that was the only management software you could use to to well legally used I guess you

could say or sanctionally used on your iPod. Sanctionally Yeah, it's not a real word, that's a uh so it Also they switched they changed up the battery used to be a lithium polymer battery in the first two generations, but they switched to lithium ion, which sadly meant that the playtime actually decreased from the second generation to the third generation. That went from ten hours to eight hours playtime.

But now it was a fully support Windows so you didn't have to worry about this kind of namby pamby support. And also it had a USB sinking capability, which you know that was the next big step was that that still supported FireWire, but you could also use the USB to to sink it. Now. Also, if you just throw it in water by itself, right, don't do that, they don't support it if you if you get your iPod wet, you will not get it fixed. Do not throw your iPod in water. So right around this time in two

thousand three, there was something else that was starting. It was a kind of a revolution in uh in in getting information out into the wild. Um. It was this thing that was called eventually it was called pod casting, so yeah, it's what we're doing right now. But right around the two thousand three was when Christopher lydon h began to to podcast, although at the time it wasn't called that. It was kind of called audio blogging or you know, they had a lot of different words for it.

Somebody talking into a mic and then you download it and stick it on your m P three player. Ring. Yeah. The earliest mention of the word podcasting that I could find came from an article in The Guardian called Audible Revolution, written by Ben Hammersley, and it was just in what do we call this podcasting? I had always heard it attributed to Adam Curry. It would not surprise me. But that doesn't mean it, you know, that's true. That's always what I had heard. It could very well be true.

So at any rate, that also helps propel the iPod and MP three players in general to even greater prominence because now now people are starting to use it for things beyond just managing music it. Uh So in two thousand four we get a new product in the iPod line, Yes, the iPod Mini. Yes, that's true and uh and in keeping with the uh still popular iMac series of computers at that point, which we're coming in a different, uh

line of color, the whole range of colors. They did that with the iPod Mini as well, right, because early the early iPods were only arriving in white. That was the only color that they came in, So the iPod Mini gave a little bit of a splash of color. They were of course smaller than the other iPods. That was also in the air storage capacity. They could only

hold up to four gigabytes of music. That's still, granted, more than any of the flash based players that were around at that time, although by this time there were other players on the market that also used many hard drives, um you know, like Creative had come out with a few, and there were others as well. Yeah, I think it's I think it's uh worth noting that at this point the iPod was competitive but not dominant in the market. I mean, the machines were held far more music, but

they were so expensive. I mean that's you know, at this point in two thousand four, when the iPod Mini was released, I started thinking about the possibility that maybe at some point I would actually go out and buy one of these things. But they were so darned expensive. Um. And I actually had a Sonic Blue Uh. They were the company that had acquired the Rio. Uh. I had a real volt Do you remember those? I remember seeing them. Yes, they they were CD players, UM, so you could play

regular CDs on them. But they were MP three players too. They could record a a a disc with MP three's on them if you were uh encoded in the Windows format if you don't think it would read Mac discs if I remember correctly, I no longer have it. But um, you could you know store. It was sort of iPod like for me because you could store you know, however, any CD songs you could fit on a single CD. You know, seven hundred megabytes worth of music. That was

far more than you know, the little pocket flash players. Sure, yeah, but it wasn't as much as like a you know, forty gigabyte. You still needed a disk to be able

to play stuff. I mean, but but yeah, storing stuff as a as a digital file as opposed to the audio format, you could fit a lot more onto a CD, and you could carry fewer CDs than you would if you had to say a discman, Sony's Discsman, discs men discman um so sort of in between, you know, I still was thinking someday I would actually have one of

these things. Well, and the price for the iPod was starting to go down a little bit, just because they had at this time launched the iTunes music store, which helped them generate revenue beyond just selling the devices, So by selling music, they were making money. As it turns out. The next one, the iPod fourth generation black and White eight, which released on the nineteenth of July two thousand four, was my very first and I still have it iPod. I got the twenty gig version. There is a forty

gig version that also came out. UM had a longer battery life twelve hours, amped it up, UM, and uh it was. It was really neat, except and I got a Christmas that year, so it was December of two thousand four, and I was really happy for about eight to ten months. Yeah, this seems to be a running theme with you and and Apple products. Well, actually, I think it's probably pretty safe to say with most tech products,

but you tend to adopt them. Just before they announced the next model, and the next model was a doozy. So you just talked about version four, right, Yes, the fourth generation iPod, So the fifth generation iPod, that's what

we're looking at now. Well, I'm thinking, are you looking at the stuff that they released in between the stuff that was released on October of two thousand four, At least that's the date I have, but I remember it being announced a little later than that, because that was what some people call the fifth generation was the first color iPod, uh, and it was essentially it was called the iPod photo Um, which was the first color a screen. And really other than that, other than the size and

the color screen wasn't a whole lot different. Yeah, it couldn't playback video yet, it could do photos, but not video. I was so annoyed that it was a color iPod and I had just gotten one. And right around this time actually was a real network enters the story just

briefly again. They created a software called Harmony, which reverse engineered the fair play copy protection that Apple was using so that it would allow they could they could allow Reel's Rhapsody music service to work with iPods, and an Apple released a patch that prevented iPods from interfacing with Rhapsody. Yes, and thus began the the the stories about Apple and how closed off. It was, but this was the idea from the very beginning. The idea was to create that

music ecosystem. And part of that means that you control everything. Yes, you don't let other folks jump in there. Yes. The iTunes store now is one of the biggest, if not the biggest music retailer in the world. Um. They sell millions and millions and millions of songs, uh and now video and apps and all sorts of other things. And part of uh their ability to do that hinged on, you know, having a device for you to use to play those songs. Yeah. Now, two thousand five was a

huge year for Apple. On the iPod line, the iPod Shuffle first generation came out. Uh. That one is the device that doesn't have a screen. It uses flash memory, um, and you just it just shuffles your your playlist so you you know, plays it randomly. And it came in twelve megabyte version and one gigabyte version. Because it was using the flash memory, it lasted about twelve hours of

battery life. This is the very first flash memory iPod, which the pundits had been predicting pretty early on for the iPod line, But this is the first time they actually got around a releasing one, which was four years after the first iPods debut, and then a little bit later you get the iPod Mini second generation. Uh. And then you also got the iPod Color, which came out in June of two. Then you also get the iPod Nano first generation. So the Nano was what really replaced

the Mini line. It's actually kind of funny because the Mini second generation came out February twenty, two thousand five. The iPod Nano first generation came out September seven, two thousand five. So within the same year they introduced and then replaced a line of iPods. That's pretty uh. It's

becoming very very common for devices such as these. Yeah, So the Nano had a color screen, but the nanos themselves were only available in black or white at first, which was kind of that kind of bummed out people who were used to the colorful minis. Uh. Then on in on October twelve, two five, you got the fifth generation iPod, which that a lot of people talk about that being like the real game changer for Apple as far as design goes. UM. It came in thirty and

sixty gigabyte versions. It lasted up to twenty hours on audio, but it also could playback video. At this point they dropped the SINC support for FireWire. It only charges. Now you can still use a FireWire to charge your iPod, but it won't sync with your computer. You have to use a USB to sink it. UM. And then a little bit later on they got kind of a mini many update UM where the sixty gigabyte version was dropped and an eighty gigabyte version was introduced. But people sometimes

call that generation five point five UM. So that was two thousand five and two thousand six. You see the second generation of the iPod Nano come out, and they actually have some different options for U for colors now not just black and white are back. Still no video on that, but it comes into four or eight gigabyte versions. Then you had the second generation of the iPod Shuffle. This was the one that looked like kind of like a postage stamp. I had a clip on the back

and they'll let you clip to your clothing. Still no screen or anything like that. No, that's a that's true, but I believe that was the only one to actually have a clip built in and until until later, Yes, yes, but yeah, that one had a clip built in. It was the first one and the only one at that time. Um, and then let's see, now I've lost my Oh, here we go the iPod sixth generation. Now this is uh to skip two thousand and six or did I just

talk about that? Now? We just did. Suff This is what I get for not wearing my glasses when I'm looking at my notes. I Pod sixth generation and two thousand seven, Uh, September five. Okay, So now we're getting into the point where the previous year they announced the Nano and the Shuffle on September twelve, two thousand six. This is where we're starting to get into that annual

September announcement for i hood products. Two thousand six was really the first year where they really did concentrate on that, and then two thousand seven they come out big. On September five, they released the iPod sixth generation, which really just uh gets the updates of iPod with eight and sixty gigabyte versions. Otherwise it pretty much stays the same. The iPod Nano third generation comes out. This is the first Nano that allows video playback. The iPod Touch debuts,

the first generation iPod touched. Hey, what generation iPod Touch? Did you get? First generation? All right? So anyway, first generation iPod Touch came out eight sixteen and thirty two gigabyte versions. This was the first first touch screen iPod. It was meant as sort of an alternative to people for the iPhone, for people who liked the iPhone form

factor but didn't want to get locked down into a contract. Yeah, that was That was funny because at the time in my I made jokes that the iPod Touch didn't actually exist. That when you got to the Apple store and said I want an iPod Touch, they'd say, well, you know, you can have an iPhone for just a hundred dollars more,

and they would go, oh, okay, I'll do that. So they never had to actually show that they didn't have what It did exist, and I do own one and it still it still works very well, although it could stand a battery replacement after two years. That's another thing that just just as a note, Apple does not let you replace your your battery, not not on your own anyway.

You have to you have to get service for that. Um. Yeah, that's one of That was one of the big complaints people had about the iPod line all the way from the very beginning was that you could not replace the battery. Okay, is that closed of an ecosystem? Yeah, and we're already over thirty minutes. So we're gonna zoom through the rest of these because most most of these are just updates. Well, we'll mention the ones that have the really big changes.

So in two thousand and eight September nine, two eight, they released the iPod Classic version too. Because the sixth generation was technically the first iPod Classic, I thought Classic version two just it only came in a D twenty gigabyte version, but otherwise was the same. The iPod Nano fourth generation. This was the one that was really tall and narrow and you could shake it to shuffle the music. Yeah.

The iPod Touch second generation added some stuff like the external volume control and external speaker, but other than that that really weren't a whole lot of updates to it. Uh. And then except I spent a lot of time complaining that I didn't wait for the second generation, right, I remember that? And then uh, the in March of two thousand nine, they released the iPod Shovel third generation. This was the one that um looked like a solid little

stick of aluminum gum. Yes, and there was so there's no there were no controls on the device other than a power switch. You had to control it using controls on your headphones, so you had to buy Apple headphones for it. This would not prove popular and they would change that on the next generation. So then we get to the nine nine event September nine, two nine. Yeah, this was a big one. iPod Classic version three comes out.

That's a hundred sixty gig version. Uh. You get the Nanogeneration five, which included the FM radio and the pedometer and a longer screen, different colors, and it had a camera on the back which allowed you to record video. But you know what didn't have a camera. Yeah, the iPod Touch. They improved the voice controls and they did it was about it. iPod Shuffle. Uh. Fourth generation came out the next year. Uh and uh. The Shuffle at

this point takes the square form factor. This is the one that's current where it looks like a perfect square. It's got the control or the play button in the middle. There's still no screen. It's got the voice stuff on the so you can listen to it in the headless, but they put the buttons back, Yes they did. They realized people wanted to use their own headphones, and they

just updated the firmware on that one. That's the one my daughter got for Christmas, and uh, they just updated that so that you can use the play button as a lock ah. And then they also at that same event they introduced the iPod Nanos sixth generation. This is the square one that has the touch screen interface. That was very pretty, but it confused some people because it now,

the iPod Nano doesn't have a camera anymore. It doesn't have video playback anymore, but it still has the FM radio and you can use it for data storage, and it looks like it has apps on it, but it doesn't. Right. It's confusing because it does have a little touch screen interface like the Touch and the iPhone do, but there are no apps. And then the fourth generation iPod Touch with the display and the camera and the camera finally and FaceTime capability. It also used the same processor as

the iPhone, the A four processor. So that's that's kind of where we are in now we've got um you know, like the iPod Classic hasn't really had an update since two thousand nine and probably I would doubt, I doubt that they're going to update that. They probably still support it, but you know, it's they're really pushing people for the iPod Touch, for the for the flagship product, and then

you have then and the Shuffle supporting it. Now, over the years, many many, many other people have entered the flash uh MP three player market. There are tons and tons of people that that are doing that, but there's still the iPod has come to dominate the MP three player market, even in the face of stiff competition from companies like Microsoft with the Zoom UM, which is, you know, upgrading the Zoom with every iteration and offering new features.

Now here's a twist. Uh, Samsung I saw the other day is rumored. Now that's as of this recording. It'll probably be announced by the time it actually goes live, is coming out or is expected to come out with an Android based competitor to the iPod Touch, which I imagine will be if it can run applications from the Android Store, the Android market. Uh, that will be serious

competition for the iPod Touch. Yeah, of course, you would have thought that the Zoom HD would have had some some legs on it, but Zoom it's never really I mean, it has its it has its champions, right. There are people who love the Zoom products, and it is a it is a nice MP three player. UM, I haven't quite figured out exactly why it hasn't done better than it. I think part of the problem is that the Zoom HD really really performs well against devices like the Nano.

It's when you get to the iPod Touch that you say, oh, well, this this doesn't really measure up to the Touch. And there's not you know, there's not a model above the Zoom HD that really goes toe to toe with the Touch. That's what That's what I think an objective person coming at it completely without bias would say. And you have to understand I originally I did not want to own an iPod when I when I got into MP three's I owned a creative zen Zen Touch. That thing was

a brick. Let me tell you. It was like having a brick of lead in your pocket. But it held lots and lots of music. It had a much higher hard drive capacity than anything Apple had at that time, and it wasn't as ex pensive. Then when I got my Mac, I realized how awesome iPods could be. And the reason for that is that the iTunes integration with Mac and the integration with iPods that that works great.

iTunes on the PC doesn't always work great, right, it doesn't always work great on Max either, but but it's more seamless that way. So, um, we're gonna wrap up. But you mentioned that the the iPod up to the fourth generation anyway used the Chicago font, iPod Minis used sp sands, the iPod Photo up through the fifth generation iPod used a font called Myriad, and everything else except for the latest iPod Touch uses hell Vettica. iPod Touch

fourth generation uses hell Vetica knew in EU Eui. So to all of our Neui listeners out there, thank you for tuning in. This is heard that word we're gonna well, you know, it's justifiable homicide in my opinion, put that many vowels together, it's just destined to happen. All right, guys, Well, we're gonna wrap this up. We hope you enjoyed this episode about iPods. We'll probably do others on specific technologies

in the future. If you have any suggestions or tips, or you just want to share your own iPod story. You can let us know on Twitter and Facebook are handles. There are text stuff h s W or you can shoot us an email that email. I just is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com and Chris and I will trought you again really soon. For more on this and thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com. To learn more about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of

our homepage. The How Stuff Works ipone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the Reinvented tooth Us and twelve Camry. It's ready, are you