Posts Tagged ‘ Ipod Classic ’

I have seen the bestseller list of Mp3 players for several big online retailers; the iPods were crushing the competition. The biggest Mp3 players sales were for Apple iPod nano 4 GB Silver (3G), Apple iPod classic 80 GB 6G (Black), Apple iPod nano 8 GB Black (3rd Generation), Apple 80 GB iPod classic Silver (6G) and Apple iPod touch 8 GB with Software Upgrade .
Apple’s iPod has dominated the portable audio market completely over the past few years. Giants like Sony and Microsoft where insignificant players in the mp3 players market.
But what makes iPods so special? Why are people crazy about them?
First let us see the current iPod product line-up (in 2008). The line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touchscreen iPod touch, the video-capable iPod nano and the screenless iPod shuffle.
Design
“The product was elegantly designed in classic Apple fashion,” says David Carey, president of Portelligent.
Apple did product design from the outside in and that was one of the key factors for their success. This outside-in perspective helped determine a number of the components – battery, hard drive and circuit board – to be layered, one atop the next. That idea made the player look cooler and thinner.
Apple has successfully secured a design patent for its iPod digital music player. The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday issued Apple Computer a patent for the ornamental design of its third-generation (3G) iPod media player.
Functions
The new iPod includes an alarm clock function and the alarm sounds even if the iPod isn’t hooked to a stereo or headphones.
On-The-Go function allows you to listen to a particular group of songs on the iPod without connecting it to a computer.
Equalizer function. iPod software allow you to control the equalization or “EQ” of a song, you can assign that song one of 22 equalizer presets. Once you assign a preset to a song, iTunes will use it each time you play the song. When you copy the song from your computer to iPod, the equalizer preset you chose in iTunes is also copied, and iPod will play the song with the same preset.
Smart format function. If the iPod is formatted on a Mac OS X computer it uses the HFS+ file system format, which means you can use it as a boot disk for a Mac computer. If it is formatted on Windows, the FAT32 format is used.
Sound quality
iPod has one of highest sound quality for a Mp3/4 player. If you want to get better sound quality it is a smart idea to purchase optional headphones, which can deliver even more accurate sound than the recognizable white earbuds that come with an iPod.
Controls
The controls are backlit and touch sensitive. There is no longer a spinning wheel that collects dirt.
HDD
The HDDs for the iPods are huge: Apple iPod classic has an 80GB HDD; the new Apple iPod nano has an 8GB HDD and Apple iPod Video has a 30GB hard drive. The king for now is the new Apple iPod classic with 160GB (holds up to 40,000 songs).
Of course you will find iPods with smaller hard disks like iPod nano (4GB, 2GB) and iPod shuffle with just 1GB.
Battery life
The iPod uses the latest lithium ion battery technology from the leading battery manufacturers, such as Sony and Sanyo. When new and fully charged, the battery provides up to 8 or 12 hours of battery life, depending on your model.
Marketing
Apple marketing team was smart and used the iPod brand well. Apple Ipod had a successful advertising campaign comprising of magazine and television advertisements focusing on the target market (teenagers and young adults). Promotions. Apple iPod used a direct method to induce customers to purchase their product by offering any iPod accessory per customer for half the value price with every purchase of a new Apple iPod. This method allowed the business to directly measure the success of the campaign by observing the sales rate of the promotional tool.
The correct marketing approach made people fell in love with the iPod and offered a fantastic experience. Apple didn’t build just a brand, they have built a lovemark.
Conclusion
All iPods look great and use the latest technologies; they are very smart and trendy gadgets so almost everyone wants to have one.
Apple created a great product and used the correct marketing approach making iPod a lovemark.
So why are iPods so popular? The Apple Ceo, Steve Jobs has the answer: “With iPod, Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player that lets you put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go,” the Apple CEO said when he introduced the product in October 2001. “With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again.”

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The beginning

On 23 October, 2001, Apple released the first ever iPod . It appeared after less than a year’s development, and was Apple’s response to what it saw as a gap in the personal digital market. Until this point, digital music players were too large to be practical or too small to work properly. Apple changed this situation overnight with a 5GB device of modest size that held up to a 1,000 songs.

The first iPod was white with a monochrome screen. Users navigated it with a mechanical scroll wheel and a centre button. Other features included a FireWire rather than a USB connection, and a battery that held a charge for about ten hours of music playback.

The iPod made its mark instantly. Although it was only compatible with Mac computers, Windows users employed third party software to get round this problem. It was clear Apple could fill the gap in the market that the company had identified.

iTunes

iTunes became available in January 2001, nine months before the first iPod. iTunes formed part of Apple’s iLife software, and enabled users to transfer the content of CDs to their Macs, organise the music, and play it through their computers. The arrival of the iPod, together with iTunes 2.0, meant that everyone could now go one step further and copy their music from computers to portable players.

Since iTunes 2.0, Apple has introduced regular iTunes updates. The iTunes Store came online in April 2003, and six months later iTunes 4.1 made iTunes compatible with Windows. Further developments include access to music videos; podcasts; audiobooks; films; TV programmes; games; and applications. Apple has complemented these improvements with features such as Album Artwork; Cover Flow; and, most recently, Genius.

Technology

The first iPod stored music on a hard drive, a medium that the iPod Classic continues using to this day. iPod minis (January 2004 – September 2005) had one inch microdrives with either 4GB or 6GB capacities. The iPod nano, shuffle, and touch have always had flash memories.

Colour screens arrived with the fourth generation iPod, also known as the iPod photo, in October 2004. From June the following year, all iPods dropped the black and white screens and had colour displays. These developed further into the two inch, two and a half inch, and three and a half inch screens that are now part of the nano, classic, and touch respectively.

The iPod’s controls began with the mechanical scroll wheel. A touch-sensitive wheel, and then the Click Wheel, followed this. The third generation iPod, however, combined a wheel with four horizontal buttons beneath the screen from April 2003. Apple changed this layout to just a touch-sensitive wheel in July 2004.

The most significant departure from the wheel arrangement appears on the iPod touch. Released in September 2007, the iPod touch has a Multi-Touch screen that users tap and run their fingers across to control the iPod’s functions.

The Click Wheel remains, though, as one of the distinctive features of the iPod classic and iPod nano ranges. The iPod shuffle, first released in January 2005, has a five button arrangement in the shape of a circle.

Connectivity for iPods has also changed. To begin with, Apple maintained exclusive use of FireWire, the original connection for iPods. In April 2003, with the advent of the third generation iPod, Apple included USB connectivity for the first time. In September 2005, all iPod models became USB only. This move confirmed iPods as the leading portable music player, and reflected the need to link to all computers.

Storage capacity

Apple began the iPod range with 5GB of storage. Within six months, a 10GB model appeared, followed by a 20GB second generation iPod in July 2002. Storage capacity hit its peak in September 2007 with the 160GB model of the sixth generation iPod (the “classic”), although this has since been dropped. The highest capacity, with the potential to hold 30,000 songs or 150 hours of video on a 1.8 inch hard drive, is the current 120GB iPod classic.

The latest iPod shuffle offers 1GB and 2GB options for 240 or 500 songs. The nano has 8GB and 16GB, and the iPod touch gives you a choice of 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB. iPod owners also have the ability to store digital media in their iTunes libraries.

Windows

Windows users who bought first generation iPods had to obtain software such as XPlay because they couldn’t download iTunes. To ease this problem, Apple released two versions of second generation iPods in October 2002. One came with iTunes for Mac owners; the other had Musicmatch Jukebox for Windows users.

In October 2003, Apple launched iTunes for Windows, and from then on all iPods were suitable for Mac and Windows users. Today, iPods no longer come with iTunes: the software is available to everyone as a free download.

Video

One of the most significant boosts for iPods was the introduction of video. This came with the fifth generation iPod in October 2005. Originally available in 30GB and 60GB versions, the fifth generation was slimmer than its predecessor and with a larger screen.

Battery support for video playback was two hours for the 30GB model, and three hours for the 60GB. This jumped to six and half hours, however, with the arrival of the 80GB fifth generation upgrade in September 2006.

Video playback is now a standard feature on the iPod classic, the touch and the nano.

Sales

iPods are the most popular type of digital music player in the world. Their share of the market is more than 70%, and total sales have exceeded 160 million. Apple has sold around a quarter of this figure within the last year.

Driving these sales is Apple’s never-ending desire to improve and innovate. The latest models are perfect examples of this approach and represent the best that’s now available in the digital music player market.

Before I get into this hands on review, let me start out by stating that I have been on my seat patiently waiting for the launch of the iPod touch. Arrive it has, and not a moment too soon. I own a prior version of an iPod product, but I still have a dilemma of more gadgets to carry around with me than I wish for. The touch solves all this and a whole lot more.

I purchased the iPod touch 16GB and, I have to state, this thing is exceptional! The exciting and innovative features with the new Apple touch permits you to watch a video, listen to music, and browse the internet with the gliding of a finger. Everything you need when you are on the road. The stress of lugging around several gadgets is a task of the past.

Tunes on the iPod touch not only sound excellent, but it looks very snazzy as well. You can navigate through your music with the new feature called Coverflow. This option makes browsing simple so that you don’t have to waste a lot of time attempting to locate your top songs, movies, or TV programs.

The 3.5 inch screen makes it excellent for viewing movies and videos. You can view movies in the landscape mode, or watch in wide screen. The touch screen makes watching videos on the iPod touch a true pleasure. No more working your eyes to death to watch a video!

Probably the top feature of the new Apple iPod touch is that you can browse the internet. With built in wi-fi and the safari web browser, you can surf your favorite web sites, just like you would on your computer. Again, utilizing the touch screen, you can navigate the different web pages using bookmarks or the on-screen touch pad. You can also zoom in on a specific part of the page with just a touch of the finger.

Managing and viewing your photos couldn’t be easier on the new iPod touch. Photos jump out on the bigger display. With a touch of the finger, you can bring up images in full screen clicking and dragging your finger to move to the next picture or to zoom in. You can also set up a slide show with ease, adding music and transitions to make it really cool.

One would think that a device with all these features would be extremely difficult to use. But that is not the case with this iPod. Everything is straight forward and nicely laid out. So simple to use, you’ll wonder how you got along without it.

In the box

Together with your iPod classic, you have

What you also need

To use your iPod classic, you must have a computer.

Mac

A Mac requires

PC

A PC requires

Features

Your iPod classic has

To manually delete a song or other item from your iPod classic

This deletes the song or other item from your iPod classic, but retains it in your iTunes library.

To manually create a new playlist on your iPod classic

When you manage songs and videos manually, always eject your iPod classic from iTunes before disconnection.

You can add films and TV shows to your iPod classic in a similar fashion to the way you add songs (see above).

Your iPod classic syncs all videos automatically. To sync only selected videos

Select Help>iTunes Help for further details about iTunes and its features.

Your iPod classic has a built-in battery. When you charge the battery for the first time, leave it for around four hours or until the screen’s battery icon shows a full charge.

When your iPod classic’s battery runs down, it takes about two hours to reach an 80% charge, and four hours to reach a full charge.

Charge your iPod classic by

A battery icon on your iPod classic screen indicates the amount of charge you have left.

Sync your Genius playlist to the iPod classic in the same way as ordinary playlists.

Your iPod classic automatically syncs songs, playlists, audiobooks, videos, films, TV episodes, and podcasts in your iTunes library when you connect it to your computer. If you’ve deleted or added items to your iTunes library since you last connected the iPod classic, iTunes automatically updates the classic’s contents.

When you first connect the iPod classic to your computer, a message asks if you want automatic syncing. Please note that if you don’t want this, you can add items to your iPod classic manually.

Managing your iPod classic content manually allows you to delete and add songs and videos as you choose.

To set iTunes for manual management

To manually add a song or other item to your iPod classic

View lyrics while a song is playing by

With iTunes, you can make your own playlists.

You can also set up a feature known as Smart Playlists. Smart Playlists update automatically when you place songs on iTunes that match your Smart Playlist rules.

Genius automatically creates playlists of songs that go well together. To activate Genius

To set up an iTunes Genius playlist

iTunes must be able to support the song file format.

When you put music in your iTunes library, you can include the album artwork and arrange for the lyrics to come up on your iPod classic screen. You can also make playlists, and set up features such as Smart Playlist and Genius.

Any music you buy from the iTunes Store comes with the album artwork. Your iPod classic automatically displays this.

If you’ve imported music from a CD, and you have the album artwork on your computer, you can add it to iTunes.

iTunes uses the Internet to try to find the names of the songs on your CDs. If the names are not available on the Internet

To disconnect your iPod classic:

iTunes is the software that enables you to buy, arrange and transfer music, videos, TV episodes, audiobooks, podcasts, and games. When you connect the iPod classic to your computer, iTunes automatically appears.

To place digital media in your iTunes library, you can

If your iPod classic doesn’t respond to any controls, push the hold switch to the HOLD position and back again. Then, for approximately six seconds, press the Menu and centre buttons at the same time. The Apple logo will appear on your iPod classic screen.

Use the search function for songs; album titles; artists’ names; playlists; podcasts; and audiobooks. You cannot use the search function for videos; notes; lyrics; contacts; or calendars.

Cover Flow displays album artwork on your iPod classic screen. The artwork appears according to the alphabetical name of the artist or group, and provides a visual method of browsing.

Connect the iPod classic to your computer to transfer music, videos, audiobooks, podcasts, photos, and files. The connection charges your battery at the same time.

Never disconnect the iPod classic from your computer if one of the following messages is on the iPod classic’s screen:

When you see such a message, eject your iPod classic before disconnecting it.

To switch on your iPod classic, press the Click Wheel or the centre button. The main menu then appears.

To switch off your iPod classic, press and hold play/pause (?II).

To navigate the menus of your iPod classic, use the Click wheel and the centre button.