iPod Hardware and Software Guide

[rab]

Reviewed Dec, 21 by MP4Converter.net Review Team Related Products: DVD to iPod Converter Mac, DVD to iPod Converter Windows Apple’s iPod - Four Years, sell 50 Million iPods, 1 Billion Songs. It’s hard to overstate how much the market has changed since2001: key players such as Dell, iRiver, and Rio have either fully or substantially exited the MP3 player market, while Creative Labs and Sony have considerably retrenched, posting massive losses while acknowledging Apple’s increasing dominance. Surprisingly, Apple’s biggest competitor in America has turned out to be Sandisk - a leading flash memory vendor that introduced its own iPod shuffle and iPod nano competitors - but its presence outside of the U.S. is weak; Asian competitors such as Samsung and Sony do better. YetSamsung recently boasted that it was joining Apple, to provide chips for a new series of mid-range, flash memory-based iPods, possiblywith wireless and/or video playback technology. The boasts mayhave cost Samsung the deal. What’s next? According to analysts who watch Apple, aggressive marketing of iPods in Asia, further steps into the living room, and exciting new wireless and video iPod features. If nothing else, 2006 will go down in the history books as amomentous year for Apple - the 50 millionth iPod was sold, the billionth iTunes Music Store song was downloaded, and competitors continued to fall like flies. The biggest surprise: pacing. In each case, Apple has accomplished its goals substantially ahead of anyone’s schedules, crossing the iPod sales threshold more than twice asfast as Sony sold its 50 millionth Walkman - over 10 years - and the iTunes threshold faster than the 15-some years McDonaldstook to sell its first billion hamburgers. As of the date of this Book’s publication, the iPod hasn’t even turned five years old yet - thatwill be in November, 2006 - and the iTunes Music Store has only recently celebrated its third birthday. It’s even more amazing considering that the iPod and iTunes Music Store both spent their first generations as Macintosh exclusives, essentially unable to be used by the masses of Windows PC owners. You can find more here if you are interested in it.

[CDR-Zone.COM]