iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched on
October 23, 2001. The line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based flagship iPod classic,
the high-end touchscreen iPod touch, the mid-level video-capable iPod nano, and the entry-level
screenless iPod shuffle. Former products include the compact iPod mini (replaced by the iPod nano)
and the high-end spin-off iPod photo (re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). iPod classic
models store media on an internal hard drive,
while all other models, aside from the Microdrive-based mini, use flash memory to enable their
smaller size. As with many other digital music players, iPods can also serve as external
data storage devices.
Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a jukebox application,
iTunes stores a music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD.
It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them.
Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use,
rather than on technical capability. As of October 2007, the iPod had sold over 119 million
units worldwide (stated in "The Beat Goes On" conference) making it the best-selling digital
audio player series in history.
iPods with color displays use anti-aliased graphics and text, with sliding animations.
Classic iPods have five buttons and the later generations have the buttons integrated
into the click wheel — an innovation which gives an uncluttered, minimalist interface.
The buttons perform basic functions such as play, next track, etc. Other operations such
as scrolling through menu items and controlling the volume are performed by using the
click wheel in a rotational manner. iPod shuffle does not have a click wheel and instead
has five buttons positioned differently from the larger models. iPod touch uses no buttons
for any of these functions, instead relying on a Multi-touch input style similar to that
of the iPhone.
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