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From TR-1 to iPod mini
karvind writes "BBC is running an interesting scoop on first transistor radio which has fair resemblance to iPod mini. The Regency TR-1 transistor radio, made in 1954, had a decent claim to be a genuine piece of innovation, however. It was, by popular agreement, the world's first commercially sold transistor pocket radio. Incidently technology watcher John Ousby realised the modern day parallels and matched photos of the transistor with photos of the iPod mini. The similarity between the two has 'created quite a stir' particularly in the Mac community."
Seriously, though...is it not possible that the iPod was developed w/o Apple having any knowledge of this? It's not like this is some mega-complicated design... it's a small, sqaure MP3 player.
Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
They're both small, come in different colours, and have a wheel-driven interface.
So does lipstick.
And radio-controlled toy cars.
Really, if "BUT LOOK AT THE SIMILARITIES!" posts were made for every new product, we'd never get anything done.
He's Jesus, for Christ's sake.
Run for the hills! Jobs' reality distortion field is about to explode!
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
here & here.
All this time I thought iPods were really cool, but now I find out they're unoriginal! Now I hate iPods. I only like things which bear no resemblance at all, accidental or otherwise, to any product previously created in the entire world.
steampunk web design
Ten bucks says someone's already tried to do a retro shoehorn mod to make their iPod look like a TR-1.
First one with a link gets +5 Informative!
I saw this article yesterday and thought it was rather silly. There really isn't much resemblance. They are both rectangular - as are most electronic devices. They both come in multiple colors, but the tr-1 came in many many more colors than the ipod and only the silver really looks similar. That is pretty much where the similarity ends. Nothing on the face of either looks similar at all - The speaker grill on the radio, for instance, the shiny metal dial which looks nothing like the ipod control thingy other than being round.
I've seen at least 3 ACs post this in the past week. Whether or not they are the same person remains to be seen. But what each of them has failed to do is proofread the text they copy and paste.
Please change the text to "1% marketshare" if you really mean to be a troll.
...is like shooting fanboys in a barrel.
Suddenly I feel that the inventor of the broom is gonna get an awful lawsuit upon himself, because someone obviously had to invent the stick.
This is problably the lamest article to date.
Full Tilt
Isn't the mini just an evolution of the first-generation iPod design? The first-gen looks absolutely nothing like the TR-1 to me.
Old slashdot article
This is hardly surprising. Design has always been an attempt to define the current cultural atmosphere, but the truth is, there are some colors, shapes, patterns that humans covet, and others they don't -- this subset is constantly re-used and re-invented. "Trendiness" is short-lived, and thus design movements are simply a shift from one family of design to another: the result is something that "feels" new but is not. One can see this trend in every consumer product, from sofas, to automobiles, to dresses, to watches, and yes, even to electronic gadgets.
Just about every "trend" in design today can be found in some form or another existing over the past 100 years (possibly multiple times).
"Really, if "BUT LOOK AT THE SIMILARITIES!" posts were made for every new product, we'd never get anything done."
But look at Grench's post and it's similarities to others. With the letters, and the punctuation, and the grammer. It's obviously a conspiracy by the Posters Union to take over slashdot by filling these little comment boxes repeatly.
Assuming 64kbps (rough FM stereo number),
and I doubt we had stereo FM in '54 then
it would take something like 5.74 days to
"fill" a 4GB (3.8 useable) TR-1.
Hmm perhaps the battery wouldn't last that long,
or was that a truck full of lead acid batteries
which you pulled along behind you ?
Compare Lisa with this.
I can't afford this, but http://cgi.ebay.com/Beautiful-Regency-TR-1-Transis tor-Radio-w-case-GRAY_W0QQitemZ6564339586QQcategor yZ932QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Now you just need to buy a pair of white headphones to go with it...
It just looks like the iPod mini, it is only a bit bigger, and only available in white. The name is the Apple iPod!
I think there is no connection to the regency TR1 except the colors maybe. But the colors can also come from the mind of a designer or marketeer wanting to make it even more trendy, doing market research and discovering that people want more than just a white iPod.
If the wheel on the TR1 would have been at the scrollwheel location of the iPod mini, and it would have featured a little screen (analog) to indicate what frequency you were on, than it would have become much more likely that the designers would have seen this device and copied it. They could at that moment even have made it retro on purpose by presenting it as the next evolution if portable audio together with the TR1 (need permission of Regency, if they still exist).
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
'Quite a stir', eh? Blimey - no wonder those guys only get one mouse button. Any more and they'd soil themselves in wonder.
That the tr-1 was featured in BruceBrown's epic surf flick Endless Summer
In various shots throughout the film you can see Surfer Mike Hynson sporting the little radio throughout their surfari in Africa!
-if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
I really doubt an ipod would be usable after 50 years (with a normal day to day use), it would be interesting to see if some of these radios are still usable.
In some article they stated the radio was like almost US $300 (on today's dollars). But of course I am sure the "Use N' Throw" culture was still not abundant in the USA.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
I'm thinking the fact that they _don't_ proofread it and keep getting replies about it (this is the second of the nature I've seen) _is_ the troll. I have to admit, 'tis pretty clever.
The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches. -- ee cummings
How long before someone guts an old TR-1 and fills it with the internals of an iPod?
If I was a hardware designer, I'd do things like that all the time and wait to see who noticed.
You have wasted my bandwidth and I will NOT forgive you. I wish I had saved a mod point just for you. ;(
All rites reversed 2010
"The wheel is still circular."
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
The i-wuh? is a new kind of PDA tablet that bears no resemblance to anything you have ever seen, yet you instinctively know how to use it. Now describe it in 500 words or less.
...in this original advert. The comparison pictures hide how deep (front-to-back) this radio was.
This just in, it appears that Apple has also copied their name and logo from some ancient fruit! News at 11.
Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
For instance, almost every handheld product, including music players, are a rectangle. The short is sized to fit across the hand, while the long end is made form a pleasing proportion. This works, is comfortable, and many people already know how to utilize it.
Second, the wheel is round because that is how many of us know how to control things. This comes from the fact that in pre-digital age many things were controlled by rheostats. Rheostats used rotational motion to control things like radio tuning, volume, and the like. In the case mention, the radio was likely tuned by turning a large gear on the wheel, which turned a rheostat, which adjusted the resistance in a circuit that tuned the radio. Under a piece of clear plastic, which was marked with an indicator line, the frequency numbers were printed so the user might know approximately the tune frequency. This was a great design,as it provided a simple way to make the radio usable, but was probably more a result of expedient. The combination of the need to fit in the hand, and the need to simply and reliably indicate the radio tuning, gave the device in question it's shape and characteristics.
Over time changes were made. Some mechanisms were added so the rotational motion of the rheostat could be converted to linear motion so a linear indicator might be utilized. Digital electronics made the rheostat obsolete, but since people knew how to turn knobs, the knob motif continued to be used. Which leads to the iPod. It fits in the hand, which gives it the shape. People know how to use knobs to select, and the knob provides a more continuous experience than up and down buttons. So the big circle transforms from the display to the selector, while the display becomes a square LED. The colors are added to differentiate the product in the market, but are expensive to stock. Really, there is not similarity between the radio and the iPod, except that both devices fit in the hand, and the transistor radio perhaps taught us how to use knobs.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
This is just further proof that highly complex forms suited to particular functionality don't just happen randomly. It takes a mysterious spark of intelligence to create such an elegant form.
Of course, micro-adaptation might explain the subtle differences between the TR-1 and the iPod, but the genesis of the form is surely supernatural.
Also, have you noticed that the Wheel Interface is actually just perfect for anyone having a Noodly Appendage?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
The device went on sale just in time for hip young gadget freaks to hear Elvis Presley singing That's All Right - recognised by many as the moment at which rock'n'roll was born.
It is also "recognized by many" that the earth is flat. That doesn't make it so.
A 1949 song by Little Richard is more commonly and correctly credited with being the first rock song, although it could be argued that John Lee Hooker's 1949 blues song "Shake, Rattle and Run" (later ripped off in tune and most of its lyrics in the late 50s as "Shake, Rattle and Roll") was the first rock and roll song.
However, the term "Rock and Roll" was coined by Ohio disk jockey Alan Freed in September 1952, a full two years before Prestly's song came out and a full three years after Little Richard's and Mr. Hooker's songs were made.
One would think a real journalist could do the tiniest bit of research. But I suppose one would be incorrect about that as well.
If the TR-1 was in fact the first pocket radio EVAR, then it is a technological and cultural milestone worth remembering even if (as many people here point out) it doesn't look nearly as much like an iPod Mini as TFA claims.
where there's fish, there's cats
While the two products may resemble each other, this is analagous to saying the PC is really a duplicate product of the typewriter and that the PC is not really an innovative product because the typewriter came before it. Ok, nobody is denying that the two products have a similar look or are capable of doing the same types of things, but the approach taken is so drastically different that saying that apple is lacking in innovation by producing the iPod is ridiculous. The key difference in the product is that they have taken something that was previously an analog interface and without making any changes to our physical interaction with it, converted it to a digital controller to meet the same end.
You mean, Apple might have copied the aesthetic design of an old Walkman, and the functionality of an ancient transistor radio?? Could this possibly be an image of the long sought after missing link, between the TR-1 and the iPod?!? Oh no! Technological evolution!! Say it isn't so!!
Honestly! If Apple's aesthetic design team hadn't researched successful designs of years gone by, I would be absolutely astonished! The innovation here wasn't in the physical appearances of the iPod, (as shown by these images of the TR-1 and that random Walkman on the link above) or in the functionality of the iPod (MP3 players already existed from other companies) or even in the interface design (as indicated by recent patent issues brought up by Creative Technology). Apple's innovation here was the integration of all these distinct elements into a single elegantly designed device: the iPod -- which as everyone knows by now, caused the fledgling MP3 market to finally take root! Simply put, Apple did what others had already been trying to do... but they did it right.
(Oh yeah... and I guess the iTunes Music Store may have had something to do with it too.)
I've been known to grumble when people gush over their iPods- especially when words like "revolutionary" are thrown around. The iPod is a good implementation, but Apple gets far too much credit considering that the Diamond Rio and Creative Nomad Jukebox had already taken the title of first portable MP3 player, and the first one with a HDD respectively. That being said, claiming that the iPod isn't innovative is a bit harsh. Innovation doesn't come just from being the first to have an idea, but from successfully combining two existing ideas together (come on, who wouldn't call the chocolate and peanut butter guys innovative?). Apple saw a need in the market for a smaller, lighter HDD-based player with better battery life, and they filled that hole. That's innovative. Similarly, they realized that most of the people who own iPods are fashion/trend-conscious (which is part of my problem with the iPod- but that can be saved for another post), so they added colors to the lineup. Once again they took an already successful idea, and added to it. And once again, I'd argue that they've innovated.
By the article's logic, neither the TR-1 nor the iPod are actually innovative. The car industry came up with the concept of a product in multiple colors well before then, and the concept of a smaller lighter radio just builds upon the pre-existing transistor radio. What the author doesn't seem to see is that almost all technology builds upon pre-existing ideas. The automobile is based upon the pre-existing idea of the wheel, and the engine- which in turned is built upon the idea of a steam engine. The CD player is the child of the radio, the laser, and the record player. It isn't so much about coming up with the idea first as it is about improving upon it. To be an innovator you don't have to re-invent the mouse trap, you just have to make it better.
If the TR-1 has a single wheel control, then what the hell is that other wheel on the top left of the device? Oh that's right, a volume control entirley independent of the tuner.
If the tuner and the volume had been controlled by the same wheel, I might say there was some similarity (even though the dial is not at all in the same place). But as it is it's like saying the Nano is just like a jucier, or antyhing else with a spinning piece.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's a little difference between matching an old design and ripping it off. TR-1 didn't have the touch pad, or a view screen. The fact that they look the same is an homage if anything.
Look at the great books through history many of them are similar, especially in Sci Fi. Some are blantant rip off but others give honor to those they reference. There's a difference there and that's the difference between Windows and the Ipod. Windows has constantly ripped off the Macintosh's interface, and yet given no credit, acting like it's their own idea (as well as tabbed browsing, and other special features that they have "given" us) The TR 1 was a small device that played transmited music with a knob to tune, the Ipod is a small device that plays music stored on a 1 gig hard drive. Now to me that doesn't sound like a rip off, it's a homage they look similar.
I have to say the retro idea is a good move for the Ipod, that's worked in the past, and they just updated it to look better, feel better and work better. No one ever though a Transistor radio would do Mp3s or such and they wouldn't but something that looks similar that does what the Ipod does is ok in my book. Especially once I get my Time Machine working. 1950s here I come!!
The similarily is noexistant. The TR-1 has seperate wheels for volume and tuning, it's as deep as thirty nanos, and the placement of controls is totaly different. Surely in the past there were radio devices similar in design to the nano given the size and control constraints, but this ain't it.
Some people have an odd obsession to bring down Apple a few notches whenever they can by whatever means possible, this just continues the tradition.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You know I just noticed that my computer monitor looks an awful lot like an aquarium. The monitor has glass on the side...my monitor has glass on the side. The aquarium has black strips on the border, my monitor has black strips on the border. Do you think Dell ripped off the design for my monitor from the aquarium manufacturer? Come on people, this is not news. There is no connection, and we just wasted thousands of Slashdot advertising dollars piping this worthless chunk of bits across the Internet to millions of readers across the world. And yes, we will waste several more thousands pumping my worthless complaint across the Internet as the giddy mindless slashdotters click to read all the comments. Unless of course I get modded down to -1, then we will only send out my subject :-)
I tried for 5 years to come up with a clever sig...only to realize that I am not clever.
I hate to piss on the proverbial parade, but this insight is as old as the mini itself... If you haven't either read about this or made the rather shallow comparison yourself, then you are living under a rock.
Our greatest enemy is neither a single man, nor is it a nation, it is, as it has always been, our own greed.
You must ignore these obvious, but correct, thoughts you have. Listen to the crowd shouting foul!
My take on this it that Apple and the folks who did the TR-1 investigated what design would be best, and then implemented it. It's not uncommon for two different people to come to the same solution to the same problem. It's even common in nature where for example a flying fox a bat is pretty similar, as are a shark and a dolphin.
On the other hand.. Jonathan Ive have previously confessed that he does look at other designs and are influenced by them. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they new about the TR-1 while designing the mini.
- Henrik
- when the Shadows descend -
Okay, I give up, what are the similarities?
The TR-1 has a round metal dial that rotates, mounted on the center shaft of a tuning capacitor.
The iPod has no metal dial does not rotate, and no tuning capacitor.
-----
The TR-1 has a speaker grille with a plain old voice-coil and permanent magnet speaker behind it.
The iPod has no speaker grille and no speaker.
-----
The TR-1 came in a very fragile styrene plastic case, which was likely to shatter at the first drop.
The iPod comes in a metal and poly-butyl-acrilate case, very sturdy and hard to break.
------
The TR-1 had exactly FOUR transistors, one diode, and a handful of parts, all hand-soldered to a single-layer PC board.
The iPod has, oh, at least 100,000 transistors, many many parts, all automatically placed and soldered onto a four-layer PC board.
---------
OH I GET it NOW! They both have PC boards! WOw!!!
... influences the design of pocket things e.g. pocket radios, pocket mp3 players, pocket protectors.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
Apple has been "lifting" COOL ideas/design before the inception of the Mac. Apple "lifted" the graphical interface - GUI/DESKTOP/ICONS - directly from XEROX's PARC research development (settled in court- Apple paid) - PARC also initiated/developed the MOUSE. Many recent Apple products look like direct knock-offs of Dirter Rams designs for Braun's 1950s and 60s sound products. Check out the shirt pocket portable radio/record player. The Braun "Phonotransistor TP1" from the 1950s - played back music from small discs (eh!) as well as radio playback. See down to the bottom of the page at http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/rams.html
Me thinks you got more karma this way
...and those four records went nowhere. He didn't have his first hit until the mid-50's.
There are many songs from the late 40's that claim to be the first rock and roll song. Those songs include Ike Turner's Rocket 88, Wynonie Harris' Good Rockin' Tonight, and Fats Domino's The Fat Man. None of those cited, however, are Little Richard's.
It uses a "Standard" 22 1/2 volt battery... Not soldered in.
It comes in colors, not just black or white.
It has a built in speaker (For the music, the click speaker doesn't count.)
And my favorite... It has a GENUINE superhetrodyne circuit. Not more of those knock off fugazi superhetrodyne circuits!
Engineered for lifetime performance... or at least for as long as 22 1/2 volt batteries exist.
Looks like Apple is just taking a page out of the old history books. Nothing wrong with that.
Powerbook G4/1.5GHz 12", Toshiba Satellite 1135-S1554
...once in a while. But the truly great artists STEAL OUTRIGHT!
"Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
Rheostats used rotational motion to control things like radio tuning, volume, and the like.
Wrong. Tuning was with a variable capacitor or variable coil, ALWAYS. There was never a radio that used a rheostat for tuning. The earliest radios (catwhiskers and their progeny) used a variable coil, while later radios used a variable capacitor, which is a series of metal plates that came together, controlled by a knob or a wheel.
And the parent poster is confusing a rheostat with a potentiometer. The volume controls were potentiometers, not rheostats.
You could use a transistor radio to make a guitar fuzzbox. Simply rip out the antenna, the volume potentiometer and the speaker, connect a 1/4 inch input jack to the two outside of the three potentiometer leads, and a 1/4 inch plug to the leads that were previously connected to the speaker.
When I was a teenager, transistor radios were ~ $10 while fuzzboxes (like all other musician's toys) were expensive as hell. I made a few bucks here and there converting old radios to guitar fuzzboxes.
I compare the Ipod to the Palm handhelds more than anything else. Which is exactly why i havent purchased an ipod yet. Sure the ipod may be "revolutionary" but its integrateable technology. Soon to be assimilated(already even) into the cellphone. Just look at the PSP, its halfway there. MP3s/videos/web/gaming(minus cellphone). All of these techologies will be integrated into each other in the next few years. Making the ipod as insignificant in the future as a stand alone palm handheld is now. We can thank them for their contributions, but its going to be shortlived.
I would say that there isn't really THAT much resemblance between them--it's coincidental as TFA quote says.
:)
I'd be more worried about the similarities between Tiger and Vista!
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
I don't think the whole iPod nano itself is visible from ten feet. From the looks of other pictures it seemed like you could just about fit a whole iPod nano in the space of the TR-1 tuning dial.
To me the volume control stood out just as much as the tuning wheel, since it just rather prominently from the front.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
so the 2 posts above me aren't offtopic eh? well, ghuck you to whoever saw fit to mod me offtopic.
...because Plutonians are teh suck
Up close the iPod has "fondalability."
1. I think you should spell that "fondleability".
2. I don't think you should fondle your iPod in public.
Check this out, pretty close to the original iPod
Modell T4
Probably more of a coincedence, however.
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
At least it's user-replaceable!
Now the question is, did Triumph steal their car names from it or the reverse?
The revolution will NOT be televised.
this guy is a moron. society thrives by improving things that were already created. It's called moving foward and making progress. I tempted to fly to london and smack the bbc around some.
Later,
Phil
The inflation calculator reports that the TR-1 would have cost $343.45 in 2005 dollars (it cost $49.95 according to a flyer on the TR-1 site).
www.lonseidman.com
Creative Labs patents TR-1 interface.
Let's see. It is rectangular in shape with a round thing on the face. ... so I would argue a buck note could fit the shape!
Could it resemble to a launderette?
Or could it look like a pendulum clock?
Well, it is to be pocket sized
Fair resemblance is a tough beast!
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
The ./community seems to be filled with too many topic-nazis for lack of a better term. I'm all for modding someone off topic if they begin to deviate the subject into something having nothing to do with the article, but a slight deviation like the parents post (in which the linked article did mention "before the iPod, there was the TR-1") doesn't seem off topic really. Now if someone replied and started talking about transistor radios in general, that would be off topic.
Can I get MP3's into this radio?
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
are we excited because they've reinvented the wheel? It is kind of interesting that the old-school radio came in a bunch of different colors like the ipod, but I guess I'm just not impressed otherwise.
You would think that psychics, tarot card readers and shows like Sci-fi Channel's "Crossing Over with Jonathan Edwards" would prey on those with less intelligence. Actually individuals who are not clever will often be very concrete and literal in their thinking, while more intelligent, creative people will make unexpected connections. "I don't know an Alan, but my recently dead uncle used to look like Alan Alda!" I think an intelligent person, or group of people, saw the resemblance here, when it is really just a coincidence. On the bright side, you can congradulate yourself for being a creative thinker if you saw some mysterious connection between the nano and the radio! Suckers.;-)
I don't understand how your monitor got glass on the side. I mean, this is news. Is it a monitor screen with a 90 degree bend? Why has Dell kept quiet about this? BTW Have you tried an aquarium screensaver? It has increased my productivity 100%!
Are you still talking about the radio?
Stuff like this happens all the time, like that old computer that looks like a PS2 which try as I might I cannot find a picture of, so if someone could find a link it'd be great
Duh.
You fail to understand the intent of the story whcih is to point out that Apple has no original designs.
How popular was the TR-1 anyway?
I see you carry the same torch.
I am of course not tied to Apple in any way, you seem to have a rather curious negative attachmnet to them though in that you insist on deriding Apple supporterd. I guess everyone needs a hobby.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Don't people have better things to do with their time than moo around about something like this?
Oh. I forgot. This is Slash.dot.
KID: Look at that Lexus, Ma!
MA: Eh?
KID: It has four tires, two headlights, and a windshield!
MA: (Perplexed) Eh?
KID: Just like our Studebaker!
MA: (Smack kid upside the head.)
Retails box #1
Retails box #2
I, Tamas Feher of Hungary hereby protest publicly over plagiarism. I submitted the very same iPod vs. TR1 story to /. almost a full week ago. It is very offending to me to see the front page give credit to someone else, when I have prior write-up. The lack of transparency in story selection on /. is very disturbing.
They're both rectangular! And have circular shapes on them!
I noticed the iPod mini also bears a suspicious resemblance to the flag of Japan. Someone alert consumer watchdog groups.
and my tv remote control too and britney spears hand. you figure it looks like a deck of cards also. wake up stop dreaming ! it is not like those things ! nor like the radio the article is wrong ! it looks crappy.
But these things look like the Mini's and not the Nano's.
Pooty tweet
Big surprise, there's a lot of things out there that will bear a resemblance. Kind of like how the hammer handle is pretty much the same as an axe handle, both of these objects are designed to be held and operated in say one hand. It's only natural the designs will be formed around oh say where your thumb would land and what range of motion it has.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
I had already my own crazy theory about the inspiration for the iPod. (Note that I don't think it's necessarily the case, but the similarities are nonetheless interesting, at least to people that knows this synth! If you don't care, stop reading now and sorry for the two clicks you wasted!)
:)
The Casio VL-Tone (aka VL-1) was the first Casio synth released, in 1981, at a time when they only made watches and calculator. It has been very popular and sold more than a million in the first half of the 80's and one of it's high-pitched rhythm was popularized by the German band Trio, in a song called "Da Da Da".
http://www.synthmuseum.com/casio/casvltone01.html
http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/casio_vl1/
(the seconth linked page says it was released in 1979, but I think it's a mistake)
How is it similar to the iPod? Both are "portable" digital music playing gadget encased in white plastic and featuring LCD screens. Granted, one is a music instrument and the other a music juke-box, and the VL-Tone is too big to fit in ones pocket. Still the rounded white plastic case, gives a similar feeling to the synth. I don't think it was the first white synth, but still one of the rare synth primarily sold in white at the time. Just like the iPod, it really stood out of the crowd, when at the time. The VL-Tone came with a fake-leather sleeve, so you could avoid scratching it
Functionally, while the original iPod could hold 1000 songs, the VL-1 could store a whopping 99 notes, and that even when the power was turned off! Both have headphone jacks. The screen displayed notes on the VL-1 while on the iPod it can be song titles and lyrics. Both had non-music secondary functions, the iPod has a clock, a calendar and contacts, on the VL-Tone it was a built-in calculator, on a synth! (The story goes that Casio was afraid to go in the synth market, and this has been like a compromise) While the iPod has Linux as a geeky feature, one of the instrument included in the VL-1 had a programmable ADSR instrument, where each digit of the number stored in the calculator memory (M+) would modify an instrument property like, attack, decay, sustain, release and others.
About 1 or 2 years after the release of the VL-1, Casio released a functionally identical but much more portable version of the VL-1, called the VL-10, it was small enough so you could actually put it in your pocket and had an aluminum casing, just like the iPod mini.
Obviously there are also many things that are not similar... The VL-1 runs on AA batteries, it has much more buttons (but it's a synth keyboard!). Though it had some professional features like a screen, a real-time and step note sequencer and ADSR programming, the basic sound engine was ehmmm primitive but can be powerfull, very Nintendo-ish, and you couldn't play two notes at the same time. I actually suspect that many japanese NES music composers used the VL-1 to compose some of their tunes.
Anyhow, since the UK is a very synth-friendly country, and that the VL-Tone design is very iconic and a classic in electronic product design of the 80's, I wouldn't be surprised that Jonathan Ive, owned one of these and was inspired by it.