The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on November 10, 2001, about 8+1⁄2 months after the Macintosh version of iTunes was released. Apple sold an estimated 450 million iPod products as of 2022. Apple discontinued the iPod product line on May 10, 2022. At over 20 years, the iPod brand is the oldest to be discontinued by Apple.
Various iPod models. From left to right: iPod 5th generation in a case, iPod 4th generation, iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle
Four iPod wall chargers for North America, all made by Apple. These have FireWire (left) and USB (right three) connectors, which allow iPods to charge without a computer. The unit second-to-left appears to be a model number A1102 unit. The units have been miniaturized over time.
Two early designs of iPod earphones
Apple EarPods, introduced 2012
A portable media player (PMP) or digital audio player (DAP) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored on a compact disc (CD), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), Blu-ray Disc (BD), flash memory, microdrive, SD cards or hard drive; most earlier PMPs used physical media, but modern players mostly use flash memory. In contrast, analogue portable audio players play music from non-digital media that use analogue media, such as cassette tapes or vinyl records.
Two flash memory type pocket-size PMPs: Sony's Walkman A810 and Apple's iPod Nano (late 2000s)
A larger sized, hard disk memory type PMP: the Archos 605 (2000s)
A small DAP: the SanDisk Clip Jam (2010s)
A flash-based player (Creative MuVo)
