The birth of the iPod

I guess I don't really care who invented the iPod , but moreso who owns it now. I live in Australia and unlike the USA and the fact that apple stores are almost everywhere , here in Aussie it is hard to find an apple store , and when I do and try to get a less than 1 year old iPod replaced it is like trying to get blood from a stone. It took 6 weeks with going backwards and forwards to a distant apple store to get my stuffed ( screen issue) iPod touch replaced. I also have a battery issue with my iPod 160gb classic , in that after a full overnight charge the battery icon only shows half full and I only get 1-1-1/2 hours out of it use time. ( any advice on this would be greatly appreaciated) but here in Australia apple stores just keep fobbing me off saying that the batterys have a limited life span, my classic is only 6 months old!!!!!!!!. And I am told to just buy a new one. The service in apple stores in australia sucks. I'm sure if I had the same problem in america , my iPod would be replaced straight away as I also have my origional proof of purchase. So even though apple own iPods now, there customer support at there apple stores ( if you can find one within a 3-5 hour drive ) sucks and there staff are often unpleasant to deal with and know very little about the iPods , even at the genious bar( if that's what you can call it) Apple need to smarten up there game here and treat all iPod problems equal to the service in the good old US of A .... Again any help or advice to my problem listed would greatly appreciated. Sorry for sounding like a winger but I'm sure there are some people that would agree with me

but but but. this article is from 2004?

USB 1.0 was just to slow and Apple had a base of firewire users. Remember uploading MP3's with USB1.0

Was also about firewire speed.

There's also the Panic Software angle, and how they almost became iTunes...

http://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/

Is it just me, or is that article from 2007?

I was sure I had read it before!

Im quite sure that no product or idea is completely new. Product development by it's very nature builds on, or relates to in some way what has come before it (even if it is a reaction against something). In my opinion Apples Skill lies in seeing the potential of underdeveloped ideas and in being the company that not only makes them work but takes them several steps beyond what you may expect. Im quite sure Its not about technology, its about products people can use. Lots of great technology exists that just hasn't caught on yet because no one has really made it useable for the masses. I often wonder how mp3 players would be now if the iPod wasn't developed, and if Apple hadn't been inspired by an interface developed by Xerox we probably wouldn't have Mac OSX or Windows. Im also quite sure that OS X and Windows would not be anywhere as good as they both are if one existed without the other. As for Suing, forgive me but it seems to be the American way, almost a part of daily business.

"Knauss stayed on until near the end of the iPod's development, but quit shortly before it was released because he had no confidence it would be a success.
"It was probably a mistake, but then you have to go with what you think at the time," he said.
Knauss, 33, is now contracting for Microsoft."

Dumb-ass.

I had one of the old ipods before they had a click wheel. I remember the first time I was listening to it at my job on campus when I was in college. All these people were asking me what it was. iPods used to be a much better deal than they are now. That first iPod came with the doc, in-line remote that could connect to your headphones, carrying bag, and a wall charger. You have to pay extra for all that stuff now.

they forgot to mention Apple stole the design from Creative