The iPhone 3G blog

In late autumn 2001, when Apple launched the IPod, little could they have realised that it would go on to become the greatest selling portable music player of all time.

The first generation iPod was much smaller than its nearest rival, using a 1. 8” hard drive instead of the 2. 5” hard drive of the iPods closest competitors. It was, also, the first generation Apple IPod that introduced us to, the now familiar, scroll wheel, centre select button and the 4 outer buttons which made IPods instantly recognisable.

By the time the second generation of Apple IPod made its appearance in 2002, the scroll wheel had become a touch-sensitive wheel, the overall shape had softened and Apple had increased capacity from 5-10GB by doubling it to 10-20GB.

In 2004 Apple had moved onto the fourth generation of the IPod Classic, but, had now introduced two new products into their line up, the IPod mini, which had 4GB of storage, and the IPod Photo, which was marketed as a higher end 4th Generation Classic.

2005 saw the launch of the 5th generation IPod classic, which was widely and informally known as the IPod video because of its QVGA screen, but, this  was overshadowed by the launch of, not only, the 2nd generation of the IPod mini, but, the new babies in the Apple IPod family, the IPod Nano and the IPod shuffle. The IPod Nano was extensively tested for its ability to survive accidental damage (say, from a jogger’s pocket) and it proved itself to be pretty sturdy indeed. The shuffle was marketed as being ideal for the gym, holding a small selection of your music library, which was played randomly.

In September 2008 Apple introduced the IPod classic 6. 5. It has certainly come a long way from its inception and could comfortably hold your entire music library on its massive 120GB of storage and still fit into your pocket. The 4th generation Nano comes in a host of vibrant colours, pictures can be viewed horizontally or vertically and is the thinnest IPod Apple has ever produced. Apple has added the IPod shuffle feature to the latest Nano, where you shake to shuffle or randomly select music from your IPod library. Until Apple added this feature to its first IPod shuffle, to shake it was to break it when it came to portable music players.

From the 1st generation IPod classic to every IPod product of the present day, Apple have added features, reduced size, improved looks and continually set the pace of our portable music expectations and as long as we love to hear our favourite tunes when we are on the move, Apple will continue to do so. Apple IPod products are available from Pyramid. com, where you will find the closest thing to a huge jukebox, but, small enough to fit into the palm of your hand.