Portable media player

Increasing sales of smartphones and tablet computers have led to a decline in sales of portable media players, leading to most devices being phased out, though flagship devices like the Apple iPod and Sony Walkman are still in production. On 23 October 2001, Apple Computer unveiled the first generation iPod, a 5 GB hard drive based DAP with a 1.8" Toshiba hard drive and a 2" monochrome display.

The iPod is a line of portable media players and multi-purpose pocket computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about 8 1⁄2 months after the Macintosh version of iTunes was released.

On 23 October 2001, Apple Computer unveiled the first generation iPod, a 5 GB hard drive based DAP with a 1.8" Toshiba hard drive and a 2" monochrome display.

The iPod Classic (stylized and marketed as iPod classic and formerly just iPod) is a portable media player created and formerly marketed by Apple Inc.

British scientist Kane Kramer invented the first digital audio player, which he called the IXI.

In 1981 Kramer filed for a UK patent for his newly conceived Digital Audio Player, the IXI.

In December 2000, some months after the Creative's NOMAD Jukebox, Archos released its Jukebox 6000 with a 6GB hard drive. In 2002, Archos released the first "portable media player" (PMP), the Archos Jukebox Multimedia with a little 1.5" colour screen. Manufacturers have since implemented abilities to view images and play videos into their devices. The next year, Archos released another multimedia jukebox, the AV300, with a 3.8" screen and a 20GB hard drive.

Archos manufactures tablets, smartphones, portable media players and portable data storage devices.

In 2002, Archos released the first "portable media player" (PMP), the Archos Jukebox Multimedia with a little 1.5" colour screen. Manufacturers have since implemented abilities to view images and play videos into their devices. The next year, Archos released another multimedia jukebox, the AV300, with a 3.8" screen and a 20GB hard drive.

The Archos AV series is a line of portable media players from the company called Archos that was released through 2003 to 2005.

The Microsoft Zune series would later be based on the Gigabeat S, one of the PMC-implemented players.

Zune included a line of portable media players, digital media player software for Windows PCs, a music subscription service known as a "Zune Music Pass", music and video streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie sales, and desktop sync software for Windows Phone.

In 2007, Apple introduced the iPod Touch, the first iPod with a multi-touch screen. Examples of such devices are Android OS devices by various manufacturers, and iOS devices on Apple products like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The display, if the unit even has one, can be anything from a simple one or two line monochrome LCD display, similar to what are found on typical pocket calculators, to large, high-resolution, full-color displays capable of displaying photographs or viewing video content on. The controls can range anywhere from the simple buttons as are found on most typical CD players, such as for skipping through tracks or stopping/starting playback to full touch-screen controls, such as that found on the iPod Touch or the Zune HD.

Similarly to an iPhone, it can be used as a music player, digital camera, web browser, note-logger, and handheld gaming device.

In May 2005, flash memory maker SanDisk entered the PMP market with the Sansa line of players, starting with the e100 series, and then following up with the m200 series, and c100 series.

The SanDisk Sansa is a line of 2- to 32-gigabyte flash memory-based portable media players produced by SanDisk.

In 2004, Microsoft attempted to take advantage of the growing PMP market by launching the Portable Media Center (PMC) platform.

Portable Media Center (PMC) is a defunct hard drive-based portable media player (PMP) platform developed by Microsoft.

The rapid rise of the media player in phones was quoted by Apple as a primary reason for developing the iPhone. Examples of such devices are Android OS devices by various manufacturers, and iOS devices on Apple products like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

An iPhone can shoot video (though this was not a standard feature until the iPhone 3GS), take photos, play music, send and receive email, browse the web, send and receive text messages, follow GPS navigation, record notes, perform mathematical calculations, and receive visual voicemail.

In October 2000, South Korean software company Cowon Systems released their first MP3 player, the CW100, under the brand name iAUDIO.

In 2000, with the introduction of the iAUDIO CW100, Cowon expanded into the portable media player industry, which is now the core of their business.

Flash-based players: These are non-mechanical solid state devices that hold digital audio files on internal flash memory or removable flash media called memory cards. Due to technological advances in flash memory, these originally low-storage devices are now available commercially ranging up to 128 GB. Because they are solid state and do not have moving parts they require less battery power, are less likely to skip during playback, and may be more resilient to hazards such as dropping or fragmentation than hard disk-based players. There are USB flash drives available that include basic MP3 playback capabilities.

Some devices combine the functionality of a portable media player with USB flash storage; they require a battery only when used to play music on the go.

In some players, features of a personal organiser are emulated, or support for video games, like the iriver clix (through compatibility of Adobe Flash Lite) or the PlayStation Portable, is included.

The iriver clix is a micro-sized portable media player from iriver with a 2.2-inch (55 mm), 18-bit (262,144 colors) QVGA (320 x 240) TFT LCD screen covering most of its faceplate.

Increasing sales of smartphones and tablet computers have led to a decline in sales of portable media players, leading to most devices being phased out, though flagship devices like the Apple iPod and Sony Walkman are still in production.

Mobile operating systems combine features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use; usually including, and most of the following considered essential in modern mobile systems; a touchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Protected Access, Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System (GPS) mobile navigation, video- and single-frame picture cameras, speech recognition, voice recorder, music player, near field communication, and infrared blaster.

The immediate predecessor in the market place of the digital audio player was the portable CD player and prior to that, the personal stereo.

Portable CD players are declining in popularity since the rise in popularity of Portable media players that play digital audio files including the iPod and smartphones.

In 2000, Creative released the 6GB hard drive based Creative NOMAD Jukebox.

In April 1999, the firm launched the NOMAD line of digital audio players that would later introduce the MuVo and ZEN series of portable media players.

Examples of such devices are Android OS devices by various manufacturers, and iOS devices on Apple products like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

An iPad can shoot video, take photos, play music, and perform Internet functions such as web-browsing and emailing.

Increasing sales of smartphones and tablet computers have led to a decline in sales of portable media players, leading to most devices being phased out, though flagship devices like the Apple iPod and Sony Walkman are still in production.

In turn, the Walkman and Discman are ancestors of digital audio players such as Apple's iPod.

Newer PMPs have been able to tell time, and even automatically adjust time according to radio reception, and some devices like the 6th-gen iPod Nano even have wristwatch bands available.

The iPod Nano (stylized and marketed as iPod nano) is a portable media player designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, using flash memory for storage.

For later players, however, these are usually available online via the manufacturers' websites, or increasingly natively recognised by the operating system through Universal Mass Storage (UMS) or Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).

Whereas PTP was designed for downloading photographs from digital cameras, Media Transfer Protocol allows the transfer of music files on digital audio players and media files on portable media players, as well as personal information on personal digital assistants.

In contrast, analogue portable audio players play music from non-digital media that use analogue signal storage, such as cassette tapes or vinyl records.

Since the rise of cheap CD-R discs, and flash memory-based digital audio players, the phenomenon of "home taping" has effectively switched to recording to a Compact Disc or downloading from commercial or music sharing Web sites.

For later players, however, these are usually available online via the manufacturers' websites, or increasingly natively recognised by the operating system through Universal Mass Storage (UMS) or Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).

Digital audio and portable media players

In December 2000, some months after the Creative's NOMAD Jukebox, Archos released its Jukebox 6000 with a 6GB hard drive. In 2002, Archos released the first "portable media player" (PMP), the Archos Jukebox Multimedia with a little 1.5" colour screen. Manufacturers have since implemented abilities to view images and play videos into their devices. The next year, Archos released another multimedia jukebox, the AV300, with a 3.8" screen and a 20GB hard drive.

The Jukebox Multimedia is Archos's first multimedia player and considered the first ever portable media player (PMP).

The display, if the unit even has one, can be anything from a simple one or two line monochrome LCD display, similar to what are found on typical pocket calculators, to large, high-resolution, full-color displays capable of displaying photographs or viewing video content on. The controls can range anywhere from the simple buttons as are found on most typical CD players, such as for skipping through tracks or stopping/starting playback to full touch-screen controls, such as that found on the iPod Touch or the Zune HD.

The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009 by Microsoft.

Most portable media players are equipped with a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which users can plug headphones into, or connect to a boombox or hifi system.

Headphones connect to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player, portable media player, mobile phone, video game console, or electronic musical instrument, either directly using a cord, or using wireless technology such as Bluetooth, DECT or FM radio.