Apple Admits iPod was invented in 1979 by a Briton

[AccruedExpenditure]

Apple admit Briton DID invent iPod, but he's still not getting any money

Best line from inventor - "?I can?t even bring myself to buy an iPod for myself,? he said. ?Apple did give me one but it broke down after eight months.?"

 

[waggy]

that sucks.

 

[skace]

1979 wtf?

His invention, called the IXI, stored only 3.5 minutes of music on to a chip ? but Mr Kramer rightly believed its capacity would improve.

Check out my iPod, it holds 1 song.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: skace
1979 wtf?

His invention, called the IXI, stored only 3.5 minutes of music on to a chip ? but Mr Kramer rightly believed its capacity would improve.

Check out my iPod, it holds 1 song.

Dude, you'll never get Bohemian Rhapsody on that!

 

[ahurtt]

This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: skace
1979 wtf?

His invention, called the IXI, stored only 3.5 minutes of music on to a chip ? but Mr Kramer rightly believed its capacity would improve.

Check out my iPod, it holds 1 song.

man i hope it had a repeat function. most likely only had a shuffle though

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Originally posted by: ahurtt
This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

Did you read the story? He did patent the idea
-AE

 

[torpid]

I don't get it. Seems like he invented a portable music player and not the iPod itself. I suspect the company that sued Apple was trying to claim that they were the first to market on a portable digital music player and Apple found this guy as a defense.

 

[ViviTheMage]

his rendition is pretty cute, haha.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: ahurtt
This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

Did you read the story? He did patent the idea
-AE

Did you read the article? He couldn't afford the cost to maintain the patent and lost it in 1988.

ZV

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: ahurtt
This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

Did you read the story? He did patent the idea
-AE

Did you read the article? He couldn't afford the cost to maintain the patent and lost it in 1988.

ZV

Did you read the article? Apple cited him in their defense, claiming he invented the idea first, but still refuses to give him any money.

Actually, legally they don't have to give him squat, I just wanted in on the whole "did you read the article" game.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: skace
1979 wtf?

His invention, called the IXI, stored only 3.5 minutes of music on to a chip ? but Mr Kramer rightly believed its capacity would improve.

Check out my iPod, it holds 1 song.

You have to remember punk was pretty big in 1979, so that would actually hold five songs.

 

[DarrelSPowers]

jeez, anyone read how crappy the guy is doing at the moment? had to sell his house because his furniture business failed?

Apple should really break him off a decent chunk of that 5.5bil they made off the ipod last christmas...

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: ahurtt
This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

Did you read the story? He did patent the idea
-AE

Did you read the article? He couldn't afford the cost to maintain the patent and lost it in 1988.

ZV

Yes, I did. Initial post suggests that the inventor never patented the invention, which as you've stated, isn't the case.

 

[BladeVenom]

Apple citing him as the Father of the iPod will at least look good on his resume.

 

[geno]

Originally posted by: DarrelSPowers
jeez, anyone read how crappy the guy is doing at the moment? had to sell his house because his furniture business failed?

He's as good with furniture as he is marketing portable music devices.

 

[BeauJangles]

Apple might not owe him anything, but they should give him a little taste of the money they make on ipods.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: torpid
I don't get it. Seems like he invented a portable music player and not the iPod itself. I suspect the company that sued Apple was trying to claim that they were the first to market on a portable digital music player and Apple found this guy as a defense.

We stole it fair and square...lol

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Apple might not owe him anything, but they should give him a little taste of the money they make on ipods.

If apple wanted to really spin this they hire him as a spokesman and put a TV ad out with him showing his drawing and saying "I came up with this in 1979..." and say the Ipod "is the best thing for MP3's, and I should know I invented it..."

That way apple saves face and alos gets him for defense if anybody sues apple again.

 

[dquan97]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Apple might not owe him anything, but they should give him a little taste of the money they make on ipods.

If apple wanted to really spin this they hire him as a spokesman and put a TV ad out with him showing his drawing and saying "I came up with this in 1979..." and say the Ipod "is the best thing for MP3's, and I should know I invented it..."

That way apple saves face and alos gets him for defense if anybody sues apple again.

I'm going to steal that idea and sell it to Jobs for millions! Muhahahaha

 

[biggestmuff]

I don't see a problem. Lesson learned.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: waggy
that sucks.

What sucks about it? It says right in the article that Apple settled with the guy for an undisclosed amount of money.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: skace
1979 wtf?

His invention, called the IXI, stored only 3.5 minutes of music on to a chip ? but Mr Kramer rightly believed its capacity would improve.

Check out my iPod, it holds 1 song.

Actually I'm a bit confused by this. 3.5min in what format? mp3 didn't exist then, so unless he whipped up a custom compression algorithm (or maybe just applied something basic like a huffman or lz-ish thing), his player held 3.5min of uncompressed, .wav music.

That's a few MB... seems like a lot for 1979

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure

Originally posted by: ahurtt
This should come as no surprise. The history of the IT/computer industry is riddled with stories like this. He should have patented the idea but didn't so somebody else capitalized on it. And it's not even like the iPod was the first portable MP3 player ever to hit the market. It was just the most wildly successful one because of marketing.

Did you read the story? He did patent the idea
-AE

Well, whatever. . .the iPod is sufficiently evolved and advanced from his original idea back in 1979 that it is a different beast. The only concept they have in common is audio on a non-volatile memory chip with built in firmware for playing it. MP3 certainly didn't exist as an audio format back in 1979 because MP3 was touted as being the first compressed CD quality audio file format and there were definitely no CD's in 1979. Technology is just like that. . .one idea evolves into another and the predecessor is quickly forgotten and obsolete. . .That's the whole story of the graphical operating system user interface, which you're probably using now. . .everybody knows the story of how that concept was stolen from Xerox way back when by Apple also. . .or was it Microsoft. . .and how Microsoft bought DOS from some guy who programmed it in his garage for a pittance then turned around and sold it to IBM for like gazillions of dollars. . .It's just par for the course.

 

[Nik]

But in 1988, after a boardroom split, he was unable to raise the £60,000 needed to renew patents across 120 countries and the technology became public property.

DOH. Guess he's screwed.