The evolution of the iPod all started with the iPod 1st Generation.

This iPod was introduced on October 23, 2001. The iPod first generation was Apple’s first iPod. Among the iPod’s innovations were its small size, achieved using a 1.8″ hard drive, whereas its competitors were using 2.5″ hard drives at the time, and its easy-to-use navigation, which was controlled using a mechanical scroll wheel, a center select button, and 4 aux. buttons around the wheel.

Specs:

Capacity: 5 – 10 GB

Connection: Firewire

Compatibility: Mac

Battery Life: 10 hours

(iPod 1st and 2nd Generation)

Next down the line of iPods is, of course, the iPod Second Generation!

This iPod was released for sale July 17, 2002.  This was very similar to the iPod First Generation.  It has the same body type so it looks pretty much the same.  Some of the new features were a new design to the “hold” switch, a cover was added to the firewire port, the mechanical wheel was replaced with a touch-sensitive wheel, it had larger capacity, and this new iPod was available for use on windows! YAY!

Specs:

Capacity: 10 – 20 GB

Connection: Firewire

Compatibility: Mac / Windows

Battery Life: 10 hours

The very next year on April 28, 2003, was the realease of the iPod Third Generation.

This iPod was a complete upgrade from the others.  This iPod’s thickness was a whole lot smaller than previous models. When this model came out they introduced the Dock Connector which replaced the Firewire port. Also introduced was the Touch Wheel with an interface that was non-mechanical; it also had four aux. buttons under the screen. The edges on the front plate were slightly rounded which gave it a more “high-tech” look. The first and second generations had a ring around the headphone port for the remote, but this generation has a four-pin jack on either side of the headphone port.  And once again the capacity of the iPod continued to increase.

Specs:

Capacity: 10 – 40 GB

Connection: Firewire / USB (limited)

Compatibility: Mac / Windows

Battery Life: 8 hours

(iPod Third Generation)

In 2004, three different iPod were released, the iPod Mini, the iPod Fourth Generation, and the iPod Photo.

The iPod Mini, released January 6, 2004, was a lot like the previous iPods, except it was more compact and it was available in five colors: silver, gold, pink, blue, and green.  This was the iPod that introduced the click wheel feature which made the iPod browsing easier and quicker.

Specs:

Capacity: 4 GB

Connection: Firewire / USB

Compatibility: Mac / Windows

Battery Life: 8 hours

(iPod Mini)

The iPod Fourth Generation was available for sale on July 19, 2004.  This iPod replaced the touch wheel from the iPod Third Generation with the Click Wheel from the iPod Mini, putting the four auxiliary buttons underneath a touch-sensitive scroll wheel, making it easier to use. The casing for this iPod was slightly slimmer and lighter.

Specs:

Capacity: 20 – 40 GB

Connection: Firewire / USB

Compatibility: Mac / Windows

Battery Life: 12 hours

(iPod 4th Generation)

The iPod Photo was a very big upgrade.  It was the first iPod that had a full color screen.  Released on October 26, 2004, the iPod Photo, positioned as a premium version of the standard iPod Fourth Generation, the iPod Photo featured a 220×176 pixel LCD capable of displaying up to 65,536 colors. The iPod photo could hold a few different types of photo format extentions including, .GIF, .JPEG, .PNG, .TIFF, and the .BMP extention. This iPod has the ability to be connected to a television which allowed photo slideshows to be shown on the T.V.

Specs:

Capacity: 30 – 60 GB

Connection: Firewire / USB

Compatibility: Mac / Windows

Battery Life: 15 hours

(iPod Photo)

Part 1: Here

Part 2: Here

Part 3: Link Coming Soon