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."

Comments

Not as many problems, though...

[Donniedarkness]

Hey, this one doesn't have a screen to scratch!

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.

Re:Not as many problems, though...

[kfg]

..is it not possible that the iPod was developed w/o Apple having any knowledge of this?

No, not likely. They've been seeing electronic gear in a box with a dial on it all of their lives. In fact, just about every electronic piece of equipment I own is some sort of box with some sort of dial on it. The "dial" on my VCR is even a "click wheel."

Who woulda thunk that a thing in a box would look vaguely like a thing in a box. The TR-1 itself looked rather like a table radio except for its size and standing long side up to slip in a pocket, instead of long side down to rest on a table. Form followed function, and the form was largely determined by the fact the case was predominantely a speaker enclosure (plus battery box).

It's not like this is some mega-complicated design... it's a small, sqaure MP3 player.

And honestly, if you saw them side by side you wouldn't think they looked any more similar than a table radio and the TR-1. For starters there's about the same proportinal difference in size. The photo of the TR-1 in the story is about life size. Rather noticably larger than a pack of cigarettes, including (which doesn't show in the photo) thickness.

If you put these two devices next to each other with a modern, slim, pocket calculator you'd think the iPod looked far more like the calculator than the radio.

Perhaps the author is reacting to the entirely overhyped nonsense about the iPod's design "innovation." The reason it took so much work to do the "design" of the iPod was specifically because it's just a project box. You just go try and make a project box unique. It's just a bloody box.

Apple managed to do this. When you see an iPod a block away you know it's an iPod. Period. From a block away it bears absolutely no resemblence to the TR-1. Up close the iPod has "fondalability." The TR-1 does not.

This, however, is not technical innovation. It is marketing, and it is marketing again that has given people the idea that the marketing is itself innovation in the device.

It's just a pocket radio. What do you want it to look like, a bunny or something?

KFG

So what?

[Grench]

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.

Re:So what?

[Jamu]

Really, if "BUT LOOK AT THE SIMILARITIES!" posts were made for every new product, we'd never get anything done.

I'm reminded of our current patent system.

Re:So what?

[tgibbs]

A pocket sized form factor, attractive colors, and a large dial to access a large number of choices (many frequencies on the radio, many songs on the iPod). It is hard to know to what extent this is convergent design, constrained by similar goals, and to what extent the former inspired the latter.

Heh?

[hungrygrue]

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.

Re:Heh?

[Mr. Underbridge]

A little creativity please. The colors that were shown were very similar. The form factors are also similar (the radio was slightly larger), and they were both controlled by a single wheel control. That's a good deal of similarity, though obviously not proof. If you can't see a similarity, I'm guessing you also have a problem with abstract art.

And I have no idea why the apple crowd is going nuts over this. In fact, if it turned out that Apple did use the TR-1 as an influence, I think that would be incredibly cool. What a great shout-out to the past, modeling the most significant portable music player since the walkman after the one that started them all. How is that not cool?

Design is evolutionary, not revolutionary

[saddino]

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).