Inside the iPod, Past and Present

We mentioned the iPod Shuffle dissection a couple of days ago. Reader UtahSaint writes "Electronic Design have got a neat little article giving non-Apple employees an insight into the makings of the original iPod and the revisions made (on a technical level) with the 2nd and 3rd generation iPods. The third-generation iPod contains two power-management chips from Royal Philips Electronics, a TEA1211 and a PCF50605. The TEA1211 is a dc-dc converter that can switch automatically between step-down and step-up operation in response to changing input voltage. The PCF50605, a single-chip power-management unit (PMU), can adjust power-supply voltages to the lowest thresholds needed for functions in a particular power domain." And finally, sammykrupa writes "PC Mag has a great review of Apple's iPod Shuffle. It covers the quality of the audio output saying that it is has dead-flat frequency response, less harmonic distortion, and most notably, better bass response than its bigger siblings. The older iPods, especially the Mini, have been rightfully criticized for being somewhat deficient in bass, and although the bigger players have flat frequency response, they have trouble sustaining big bass notes."

Comments

Re:Overrated

[mapmaker]

Perhaps because the iPod has all the features I want

So you prefer having to fire up the ol' workstation to recharge your mp3 player rather than just plugging it into the wall?

Seems to me Apple left out several basic features in order to hit that $99 price point...

iPoD - Core designed in India

[afarhan]

The article mentions a company called Portal Player. This is 'headquartered' in the USA, but it is in effect run from India. They run out of a couple of bunglows down my road and employ a few hundred people. It is now called PINEXE.
They supply design and supply chips for MP3 players. It is as silly to give entire credit to Apple for iPoD design, if the reproduction is good, it is not due to any new compression algorithm invented by Steve Jobs. Slashdotters know better.

Re:You hear what you want to hear

[groomed]

If you can't hear the difference you might as well send your beloved equipment to Africa.