Assignment 2-1: Weekly Written Analysis 2

iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and launched on October 23, 2001 (Ipod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2009). The product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touch screen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano, and the compact iPod Shuffle. The iPods all use the Apple’s iTunes software which transfers music to your iPod using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems (Ipod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2009).

I own a 3rd Generation iPod Nano that is black. The only problem I have with it is that it freezes up on me once in a while. Other than that, I love it because I don’t have to carry my compact disc cases around everywhere I go. In my opinion, I think that the iPod is the most portable media player there is out in this World today. I also think the price is a little high for any of the iPods because I ended up spending $250 on mine which includes a two year protection plan at Best Buy.

Some of the lawsuits and criticisms Apple had to face were patent infringement, battery charges, reliability and durability, and allegation of worker exploitation. In 2003, class action lawsuits were brought against Apple complaining that the battery charges lasted for shorter lengths of time than stated and that the battery degraded over time (Ipod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2009). The lawsuits were settled by offering individuals either fifty dollars store credit or a free battery replacement (Ipod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2009).