Into Tech

Two and a half years ago, we wrote about the claims of Kane Kramer, a guy who claimed to have invented the iPod thirty years ago, and was talking to lawyers to see if he had a case against Apple. As we explained at the time, Kramer did not invent the iPod at all. He created a very early digital music player, that had much less functionality that couldn’t store more than a few minutes of music, which never got anywhere in the marketplace, and for which all of his patents had long expired. To say that he had invented the iPod would be like saying that the first guy who threw a block of ice in a box “invented” the air conditioner.

Yet, here we go again, as the DailyMail in the UK is claiming that Apple has admitted that this guy did, in fact, invent the iPod. However, again, that’s not true at all. What happened was that Apple had him provide some evidence in its dispute with Burst.com (which was eventually settled). Basically, what Apple was doing wasn’t admitting that Kramer “invented the iPod” but was showing that there was plenty of prior art (including Kramers) that predated Burst’s highly questionable patents.

That doesn’t mean that Kramer invented the iPod. It just means that his work predated Burst’s claim of a monopoly on some specific technology that it claimed Apple infringed. That’s a long way from “inventing the iPod.” Besides, there were plenty of digital music players prior to the iPod. In fact, the real revolution around the iPod wasn’t the fact that it was a digital player, but that it was the first digital player that had significant storage and could carry large collections of music at once — something that Kramer’s player never could do. So, please, can we stop repeating this myth that he somehow invented the iPod. He didn’t.

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Back in 2005, the recording industry in Japan urged the government to create an iPod tax, adding a tax to every iPod (or other digital music player) sold. The idea was that the recording industry wanted to assume that every iPod owner was obviously “stealing” music, and this tax would help pay for the supposedly “lost” revenue. Of course, as we all know, that’s a very questionable assumption. An iPod can often make people buy more music, but the recording industry has never been willing to even consider that idea. Luckily, a few months later, the Japanese government rejected the idea.

However, with the recording industry, these things always seem to have a way of popping back up again. And, indeed, there’s been another big push this year for Japan to add an iPod tax. Luckily, however, the consumer electronics lobby in Japan is a lot more powerful than the recording industry lobby, and it appears that the iPod tax proposal is dead once again. Of course, it will likely be suggested again next year, but as we start to see more and more business models built on a base of free music, perhaps more people will recognize how unfair (and damaging to the market) an iPod tax would be. It would lower the incentives for people to buy these devices, decrease music consumption habits, and hurt all these other business models.

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Apple might rule the world of music players but it’s not alone. In fact, SanDisk, better known as a memory supplier, holds second spot in the US thanks to its ability to make good players that always come in cheaper than Apple’s offerings.

The recently launched Sansa Fuze is aimed squarely at the nano. It looks like the nano and, give or take a few grams and some millimetres, there’s not much between them. We were sent a 2GB model to test, but it also comes in 4GB and 8GB versions. It’s a neat and stylish player with a glossy black front, 1.9in display with a click wheel underneath and the layout is plain and uncluttered. So far, so nano - although the nano’s display is 2in and boasts a slightly higher resolution - but the Fuze has plenty to offer that the nano does not. Let’s look at the basics.

Well, now it’s official. Microsoft has confirmed that Halo 3 will launch in the US on Sept 25, followed by Europe on Sept 26. This is earlier than predicted and points to Microsoft making an early dash to snag as many Christmas Xbox 360 console sales as possible.

The company claims that the game will ‘shatter’ one-day entertainment sales records and it’s probably right, considering 2.5m copies of Halo 2 sold in the first 24 hours. So far, over 14m copies of Halo games are in the wild. The multiplayer beta kicked off yesterday and already the signs are good.

Microsoft will be also flogging a special Halo 3 edition of the Zune music player sporting Halo music and artwork - after all, it needs all the help it can get. There will be three versions of the game on offer and I’ve only got US pricing so far: basic game $59.99 (£30), a Limited Edition for $69.99 (£35) and a Legendary Edition for $129.99 (£65). Just add around £20+ to each.

Jump now for a photo of the Legendary Edition. -Martin Lynch

games xbox console PS3 halo 3

I guess it was inevitable really but here you go, the George Foreman iGrill. Not only can you boogie while you burn stuff, the end result will make you thinner, in an ideal world.

Considering the vagaries of our climate, it’s good to know that this is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

First up, it’s a stool-shaped barby with a 200 square inch, cooking surface covered in Georgie’s non-stick coating.

The ‘i’ bit, as you’ve probably guessed comes in the form of the in-built 10W speakers and the ability to hook up your iPod or other digital music player. It costs, at least in the US, around £75.-Martin Lynch

ipod food cooking music

Regular MP3 tunes are typically converted at 128kbps, which is pretty poor compared to CD quality. The difference might be harder to hear in earphones but hook your MP3 player to a decent hi-fi system and the quality shortfall is noticeable.

Creative Labs, the force behind PC audio, has not given up its efforts to stay sharp in the digital music scene by launching some products that will put some ‘oomph’ back in your MP3 audio, without encoding tunes at a higher bitrate.

They use the company’s X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio standard. The two main features in this are X-Fi Crystalizer which enhances the audio quality and X-Fi CMSS-3D which converts audio to surround sound. Be warned, prices here are conversions so expect this bunch to cost more here by 10-20% - at least.

First up is the big boy of the bunch: the shiny X-Fi Sound System i600 [above]. This is a 2.1 speaker system for iPods, with a compact subwoofer. A pricey £198.

Jump now for details and photos of the rest of Creative’s 2007 line-up.-Martin Lynch

The Creative Xdock is an iPod dock for playing tunes in X-Fi sound quality. It also has a video output and supports DTS interactive sound, allowing you to watch iPod videos on your TV while hooking it up to your surround sound receiver. Cost: £109

Next is the Creative Xmod Wireless which can be connected to a PC or music player and the X-Fi Wireless Receiver which can be placed around the house to hear to tunes. The Receiver can also be used with the Xdock. The Xmod Wireless costs £122 and the X-Fi Wireless Receiver £53.

The Creative PlayDock i500 is a portable docking speaker system that will also charge your iPods. There are two full range speaker drivers and a sub-woofer. It comes with a remote and runs off the mains or 8 C-class batteries for up to 16 hours. It costs £99.

The compact Creative TravelSound i plays and charges and comes with a USB slot for transferring tunes, photos and data files. It boasts four full-range NeoTitanium microdrivers and uses the Creative Wide Stereo Effect for a wider sound filed. Video and photo files can be viewed by hooking it up to a TV. It run off mains or four AA batteries for up to 25 hours with music. It costs £66.

ipod creative audio hi-fi MP3

Next time you’re stocking up on caviar and Bolli in Harrods, you might want to pop into its sound and vision department for one of these.

This is a special edition of the award-winning MPS-1 personal stereo system in slut-red. Glossy too. It boasts 20W from each aluminium speaker and comes with enough inputs, and USB and Firewire ports to make it easy to hook up to a wide variety kit, from portable music players to PCs and little TVs.

I do like that skinny minimalist remote control and the presence of the new scarlet iPod is merely there to show you that the reds are a perfect match. What a coincidence. Yours for £299. -Martin Lynch

hi-fi ipod music audica