QandAs: Tech

What is an iPod?

Answer:
"iPod" is a term given to a family of small, portable electronic devices

originally designed to store and playback digital audio files compressed to MP3 or similar format.

The latest iPods even offer video storage and playback and include small viewing screens. Designed and manufactured by Apple, Inc. (formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc.), of California, the iPod group of devices has caught on with people of all ages and from all walks of life.

Since its debut in 2001, the iPod has undergone several size and style changes. Some current descendants of that first chrome and white plastic Apple are smaller than a key chain charm, yet they still pack and play a pile of music files through the furnished stereo earbuds...or, you can even get attachable stereo mini-speakers for more public playback. The iPod has become the "boom box" of the new millenium, it seems.

Some iPods use a miniature hard-disk drive to store and replay the MP3 (or otherwise compressed) files, others use flash memory. Many are capable of storing thousands of files.

To think of having that much music or video available in your purse or shirt pocket is incredible in itself, but to think it's really just the beginning is even more fantastic!

More and more similar gadgets are flooding the market, and it appears that cell phones are fast becoming one of the "does it all devices" that will likely wrap up all the current portable gadgetry into one simple to use, easy to carry (or wear) device (Apple's iPhone?). After all, just how many of these things can a person carry, y'know?