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The iPod is a line of portable media players and multi-purpose pocket computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first line was released on October 23, 2001, about 8½ months after iTunes (Macintosh version) was released. The most recent iPod redesigns were announced on July 15, 2015. There are three current versions of the iPod: the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle, the compact iPod Nano and the touchscreen iPod Touch. Like other digital music players, iPods can serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model, ranging from 2 GB for the iPod Shuffle to 128 GB for the iPod Touch (previously 160 GB for the iPod Classic, which is now discontinued). Apple's iTunes software (and other alternative software) can be used to transfer music, photos, videos, games, contact information, e-mail settings, Web bookmarks, and calendars, to the devices supporting these features from computers using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=iTunes system requirements. Apple iTunes software runs on Mac OS X 10.3.9 or OS X 10.4.9 or later and on Microsoft Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or later )〕 Before the release of iOS 5, the iPod branding was used for the media player included with the iPhone and iPad, a combination of the Music and Videos apps on the iPod Touch. As of iOS 5, separate apps named "Music" and "Videos" are standardized across all iOS-powered products. While the iPhone and iPad have essentially the same media player capabilities as the iPod line, they are generally treated as separate products. During the middle of 2010, iPhone sales overtook those of the iPod. In mid-2015, a new model of the iPod Touch was announced by Apple, and was officially released on the Apple store on July 15, 2015. The sixth generation iPod Touch includes a wide variety of spec improvements such as the upgraded A8 processor and higher-quality screen. The core is over 5 times faster than previous models and is built to be roughly on par with the iPhone 5S. It is available in 5 different colors: Space grey, pink, gold, silver and Product (red). ==History== Though the iPod was released in 2001, its price and Mac-only compatibility caused sales to be relatively slow until 2004. The iPod line came from Apple's "digital hub" category, when the company began creating software for the growing market of personal digital devices. Digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, but the company found existing digital music players "big and clunky or small and useless" with user interfaces that were "unbelievably awful,"〔Kahney, Leander.(Straight Dope on the iPod's Birth ), ''Wired News'', October 17, 2006. Retrieved on October 30, 2006.〕 so Apple decided to develop its own. As ordered by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design the iPod line, including hardware engineers Tony Fadell and Michael Dhuey, and design engineer Sir Jonathan Ive.〔 Rubinstein had already discovered the Toshiba disk drive when meeting with an Apple supplier in Japan, and purchased the rights to it for Apple, and had also already worked out how the screen, battery, and other key elements would work.〔Steve Jobs by Walter Issac page 865〕 The aesthetic was inspired by the 1958 Braun T3 transistor radio designed by Dieter Rams, while the wheel based user interface was prompted by Bang & Olufsen's BeoCom 6000 telephone. The product ("the Walkman of the twenty-first century" 〔Simon, William L.; Young, Jeffrey S. (2005). iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-72083-6〕) was developed in less than one year and unveiled on October 23, 2001. Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put "1,000 songs in your pocket." Apple did not develop the iPod software entirely in-house, instead using PortalPlayer's reference platform based on two ARM cores. The platform had rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. PortalPlayer had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones.〔 Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.〔 As development progressed, Apple continued to refine the software's look and feel. Starting with the iPod Mini, the Chicago font was replaced with Espy Sans. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans—a font similar to Apple's corporate font, Myriad. iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, and brushed metal meant to evoke a combination lock. In 2007, Apple modified the iPod interface again with the introduction of the sixth-generation iPod Classic and third-generation iPod Nano by changing the font to Helvetica and, in most cases, splitting the screen in half by displaying the menus on the left and album artwork, photos, or videos on the right (whichever was appropriate for the selected item). In 2006 Apple presented a special edition for iPod 5G of Irish rock band U2. Like its predecessor, this iPod has engraved the signatures of the four members of the band on its back, but this one was the first time the company changed the colour of the metal (not silver but black). This iPod was only available with 30GB of storage capacity. The special edition entitled purchasers to an exclusive video with 33 minutes of interviews and performance by U2, downloadable from the iTunes Store. In September 2007, during a lawsuit with patent holding company Burst.com, Apple drew attention to a patent for a similar device that was developed in 1979. Kane Kramer applied for a UK patent for his design of a "plastic music box" in 1981, which he called the IXI.〔Boffey, Daniel (Apple admit Briton DID invent iPod, but he's still not getting any money ) ''Daily Mail'', September 8, 2008. Retrieved on September 8, 2008.〕 He was unable to secure funding to renew the US$120,000 worldwide patent, so it lapsed and Kramer never profited from his idea.〔 The name ''iPod'' was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (with others) was called by Apple to figure out how to introduce the new player to the public. After Chieco saw a prototype, he thought of the movie ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' and the phrase "Open the pod bay door, Hal!", which refers to the white EVA Pods of the Discovery One spaceship. Chieco saw an analogy to the relationship between the spaceship and the smaller independent pods in the relationship between a personal computer and the music player.〔 Apple researched the trademark and found that it was already in use. Joseph N. Grasso of New Jersey had originally listed an "iPod" trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in July 2000 for Internet kiosks. The first iPod kiosks had been demonstrated to the public in New Jersey in March 1998, and commercial use began in January 2000, but had apparently been discontinued by 2001. The trademark was registered by the USPTO in November 2003, and Grasso assigned it to Apple Computer, Inc. in 2005.〔Serial No. 78018061, Registration No. 2781793, records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. InPub, LLC, filed an "IPOD" trademark on June 1, 1999, for "computer software and hardware." The trademark was abandoned May 18, 2000, without commercial use.〕 The earliest recorded use in commerce of an "iPod" trademark was in 1991 by Chrysalis Corp. of Sturgis, Michigan, styled "''i''POD".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.trademarkia.com/ipod-74132201.html )〕 In mid-2015, several new color schemes for all of the current iPod models were spotted in the latest version of iTunes, 12.2. Belgian website Belgium iPhone originally found the images when plugging in an iPod for the first time, and subsequent leaked photos were found by Pierre Dandumont. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「IPod」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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