Making the iPod 31
ctriv writes "digitalchain.com has a real interesting article about the making of the iPod." Gosh, I am glad I am a software designer, not a hardware designer.
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." -- Vince Lombardi, football coach
Yee Haw (Score:1)
Re:Yee Haw (Score:1)
Re:Yee Haw (Score:3, Interesting)
Make vs. buy is a huge issue for people making complicated products, and this article goes through pretty thoroughly the tradeoffs Apple must have made in making these decisions.
Perhaps you just want a series of pixellated JPEGs to ooh and aah at, but face it---most chips look alike.
I thought this was a refreshing change from the usual Slashdot fare of "look at some piece of hardware get torn apart" or "look at the goofy enclosure someone has put a Beowulf cluster in."
Re:Apple's Hardware VP (Score:1)
Details gimme details. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Details gimme details. (Score:5, Informative)
EETimes' article is superior if you're looking for just hardware info, but if design process from a management point of view is your thing then the Digital Chain article is better. Either way Portelligent still provided the info for both articles.
Re:Details gimme details. (Score:4, Interesting)
The iPod is proof yet again that, wherever possible for the best, least expensive product, Apple avoids its old way of using proprietary components and uses ordinary tech and good industrial design to make extraordinary creative product.
They're not perfect in this--note the Apple Display Connector, a variant on the DVI connector except it also provides electrical power in addition to digital display data and USB signals. It's a nice connector because you only use one cable for their digital displays (no separate power or USB cables), however, it works only with Power Mac desktops and PowerBook G4s (with adapter). You can get it to work with a PC, but I think that's too much work.
Innovation doesn't always require new technology. Sometimes it only requires a repackaging of existing tech with an efficient twist. Apple's key to the iPod's success is the use of the FireWire interface for very speedy data transfer as well as using it to recharge the device, and the integration of its iTunes software to make song transfer seemless.
Note that even iTunes itself is taken from a previous Mac MP3 player product from Casady and Greene.
more technical info (Score:4, Informative)
Re:more technical info (Score:1)
Jesus, for $1950 I'll buy my own stack of iPods and take them apart myself.
Design Chain, Not "Digital Chain". (Score:1, Flamebait)
Look at the url. It says "design chain". What phrase is mentioned about 30 times in the article? "Design chain".
You should be glad you're not a proofreader.
~jeff
Ipod.. (Score:1)
Take off the shelf components (albeit very small ones) toss in a mixer, sprinkle lightly with simple software, bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees, let cool and sell for big bucks..
"entire music collection in your pocket" (Score:2)
If Apple wants to live up to their advertizing, they'll need to do a damn sight better than 10G. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the current iPod, but my music collection would fill several iPods (yeah, the "big" ones), which then would fail to fit in my pocket.