Apple Admits iPod was invented in 1979 by a Briton

skace

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
14,488
7
81
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

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
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

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
4,283
0
0
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

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
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

Diamond Member
May 12, 2001
6,960
7
81
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

Lifer
Sep 14, 2003
11,631
11
76
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.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,514
44
91
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
 
Feb 6, 2007
16,432
1
81
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

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,919
19,153
136
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

Senior member
Jul 9, 2008
781
1
0
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

Diamond Member
May 12, 2001
6,960
7
81
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.
 

geno

Lifer
Dec 26, 1999
25,074
4
0
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

Lifer
Aug 26, 2001
13,941
1
0
Apple might not owe him anything, but they should give him a little taste of the money they make on ipods.
 

Nitemare

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
35,461
4
81
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

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
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

Lifer
Jul 9, 2002
12,010
3
0
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
 

eLiu

Diamond Member
Jun 4, 2001
6,407
1
0
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

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
4,283
0
0
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

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
3
56
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.