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An iPod is many things to many people, but most people think of it as a pocket- size music player that holds 1,000 songs, 10,000 songs, or more, depending on the model. Like the original Sony Walkman, which revolutionized the personal listening experience when it was introduced in 1979, Apple's announcement of the original 5-gigabyte iPod in the fall of 2001 caught the music world's ear. "With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again," intoned Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. But even out of the Hyperbolic Chamber, the iPod was different enough to get attention. People noticed it, and more importantly, bought it. By the end of 2003, Apple had sold over two million of them. The iPod was the single bestselling music player on the market, the dominant player; for the first time in its history, Apple got to feel like Microsoft. And no wonder . The iPod was smaller, lighter, and better-looking than most of its rivals ”and much, much easier to use. Five buttons and a scroll wheel could quickly take you from ABBA to ZZ Top, and every song in between. Gleaming in a white and chrome case slightly larger than deck of cards, the original iPod could hold at least 1,000 average-length pop songs (or six typical Grateful Dead live jams), and play them continuously for ten hours on a fully charged battery. The black-and-white LCD screen offered the song information in type large enough to actually read, and a bright backlight allowed for changing playlists in the dark. And with its superfast FireWire connection, the iPod could slurp down an entire CD's worth of music from computer to player in under 15 seconds. Beyond the MusicInside the iPod spins a hard drive, rather than the memory chip found in most music players. That hard drive, of course, is the secret to its massive capacity ”but it's also the secret to a whole raft of surprising, little-known features like these:
You know how Macintosh computers inspire such emotional attachment from their fans? The iPod inspires similar devotion: iPod Web sites, iPod shareware add-ons, an iPod accessory industry ”in short, the invasion of the iPod People. If you're reading this book, you're probably a Podling, too ”or about to become one. Welcome to the club. |
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