Monday, October 24, 2011

IPod: 10 Breathtaking Years Of Industrial Design

The iPod, that well-known its 10th birthday on Sunday, might not have been the initial unstable song player, or even the initial to fool around digital song files. But it's the one that everybody remembers, and will go down in story as one of the many poignant technology launches of the 21st century.

Sure, there was the Sony Walkman. It played cassette tapes, and everybody had one, but no one fondly remembers the Walkman's industrial design. Nor was the Walkman even the initial mobile song device. That eminence goes to assorted unstable vinyl players -- yes, vinyl! -- that floated around during the pre-Walkman era.

The iPod, though, was the many radical unstable song player of all, and vividly demonstrated Apple's control as a consumer wiring manufacturer. When it launched, the iPod was able to gain from the brute song placement of peer-to-peer file-sharing services similar to Napster, and that helped give a foothold.

But the iPod's actual success enabler was iTunes, a entirely curated stage with buy-in from the song industry. And then there was the device's industrial design. The initial iPod was an intent of techno-lust, and the product line's pattern has usually turn more enchanting.

Available in a few two dozen iterations over the years, the iPod done song attainable to everyone. In partial order, there was an choice for every budget, and for every application: an iPod Classic with up to 160GB of storage (that's 40,000 songs) for loyal song aficionados and DJs; smaller, sporty shuffles and nanos, best for sportive and impassioned mobility; and finally the iPod hold for personification games and examination videos.

It's a fantastic product catalog. So let's examine how the iPod has developed over the years, and where it's headed next.

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