iPod 60GB mp3 player

Selected because Steve Jobs is trending and we hope that may help us find the answers to some of our questions about this familiar object.

iPod 60GB mp3 player
case solved
Case number - AIBDC : 005973
A boxed 2000s mp3 player, the Apple iPod 60GB, later known as the iPod Classic. This white and silver coloured digital audio player has a screen on the front along with the click-wheel controller. This example of the iPod has a colour screen, 60Gb memory and can display photos as well as play music. It has the capacity of holding 15,000 songs or 25,000 photos.
View more images on the MoDiP site
DesignerUnknown - Wanted
ManufacturerApple
CountryUSA
Date2005
Dimensionsheight 85 mm, width 25 mm, depth 9 mm
Materialsplastic, unidentified - Wanted
MethodUnknown - Wanted
Colourwhite
Inscriptionprinted: "iPod, 60GB serial no. JQ5338XSAZ. Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China Model no. A1099 EMC No 2022 Rated 5-30V 1A max. TM and (c) 2005 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved." (rear)
href=" http://www.10most.org.uk/artefact/ipod-60gb-mp3-player"

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24/04/14

iPod 60GB mp3 player AIBDC : 005973 A classic about which we know so little: can you tell us who designed it, of which plastic it is made, or how it was manufactured?

24/04/14

Designed by Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive, KBE. Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc., (and his product design team).

25/04/14

iPod 60GB mp3 player AIBDC : 005973 A classic about which we know so little: can you tell us who designed it, of which plastic it is made, or how it was manufactured?

25/04/14

Find it here on the 10 Most Wanted website: http://10most.org.uk/artefact/ipod-60gb-mp3-player

25/04/14

Hello Ian - Thank you for your mention of Jonathan Ive - and I am sure he approved the design. It would be so good though to learn of others in the company who do the nitty gritty of design. Do you have views on the particular plastic?

01/05/14

The white plastic part of this iPod case was made by injection moulding. The material it was made out of was recently featured in one of the ten.

06/05/14

Thank you for that Ian - Could you humour me and tell me which of the 10? Looking at recently featured objects polystyrene looks the most likely but it doesn't sound like polystyrene to me... Susan

06/05/14

That iPod is a development of the original one. The design team for that one is referenced here: http://ipod.about.com/od/understandingipodmodels/a/invented-ipod.htm

07/05/14

How very clever of you to find that Rupert. Just what we wanted to know. Only question remaining is the material....

07/05/14

Susan, you are right, it is not polystyrene.

07/05/14

According to several online sources (which may well be wrong) the back is stainless steel and the front is coated aluminium. Apple environmental reports don't go back far enough to check but here's an example of a source: http://www.ehow.com/list_6883842_materials-ipods-made-from_.html

07/05/14

Aha. The back was stainless steel but the front was the same material as the top of an iBook White, which was some form of plastic. But which?

07/05/14

Useful stuff Rupert. Thank you. The attitude to plastics is so typical.... Ian, I'm glad to have the negative confirmed but otherwise at a loss. I think you are playing with us....!

07/05/14

Got it. Polycarbonate, chosen for the iBook White because it allowed the wifi arial greater range. They used the same stuff for the early iPod.

07/05/14

Fantastic! Thank you Rupert. Once you say it, it would be, of course!

07/05/14

I am told that on this particular iPod the front plastic casing is made from Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) otherwise known as Lucite, Perspex or Acrylic.

07/05/14

Hmm, we have two theories.

07/05/14

I think that the problem here may lie with exactly what iPod MODIP has. I think that it is a fourth generation iPod manufactured 2005 and marketed as a 60GB iPod Photo. The fifth generation iPod launched October 2005 was the last model to have a plastic face. See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Photo and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Classic

07/05/14

Wow... Thank you. Riveting... Tomorrow I'm in Brighton and actually I'm not at MoDiP again until next Tuesday. Will inspect packaging etc very carefully then to make sure what MoDiP does have. Sorry chase is a bit delayed.

08/05/14

Ian – I'm with you. From what I can find, the Modip iPod is a 2005 model. I'm surprised that its front face could be Perspex or equivalent, as that scratches quite easily. That substance is also cheaper than polycarbonate, which would be odd for Apple, given that they pride themselves on top quality.

08/05/14

I've now seen a breakdown of an original iPod and it does have some form of Perspex covering white plastic on the front. Later models, like this one, don't.

08/05/14

Rupert - I was only told iPods had Lucite cases, not which iPods. I'll live with your polycarbonate.

12/05/14

We'll be having another good look at the product tomorrow or the next day to see if that helps in any way.

24/05/14

We've taken a look. It's remarkably unscratched so we are opting for polycarbonate. Brilliant. A big thank you to Field Agent Radcliffe and Chief Agent Holdsworth. The case is solved!

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Case notes

Susan Lambert's picture

iPod 60GB mp3 player: Case AIBDC : 005973

A classic about which we know so little: can you tell us who designed it, of which plastic it is made, or how it was manufactured?

Designed by Jonathan Ive

26/04/2014

Thanks again to Chief Agent Holdsworth who wrote: 'Designed by Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive, KBE. Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc., (and his product design team).'

Does anyone have more behind the scenes information: who works in the team? How does the Appleproduct design tem work? We also want info on the particular plastic.

Full design team found

06/05/14

http://ipod.about.com/od/understandingipodmodels/a/invented-ipod.htm

Agent Rupert Radcliffe has solved the mystery of the full team for the first generation iPod released in 2001. The bare facts are:

  • Jon Rubinstein, then the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering; now on the board at Qualcomm
  • Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple
  • Tony Fadell, an engineer and former senior vice president of the iPod division; his next company, Nest, was purchased by Google for $3.2 billion in Jan. 2014
  • Michael Dhuey, an engineer; now at Cisco Systems
  • Tim Wasko, an interface designer
  • Steve Jobs, the company's CEO, who oversaw the project.

More information can be found at http://ipod.about.com/od/understandingipodmodels/a/invented-ipod.htm accessed on 06/05/2014

Case nearly solved: just looking for the material now.

 

Made of Polycarbonate

24/05/2014

Field Agent Radcliffe and Chief Agent Holdsworth have been in conversation as to whether the case was made of perspex or polycarbonate. The consensus was that it is made of the latter which is corroborated by the lack of scratches evedient on the case itself.

 

Case solved

Designer: 

  • Jon Rubinstein, then the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering; now on the board at Qualcomm
  • Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple
  • Tony Fadell, an engineer and former senior vice president of the iPod division; his next company, Nest, was purchased by Google for $3.2 billion in Jan. 2014
  • Michael Dhuey, an engineer; now at Cisco Systems
  • Tim Wasko, an interface designer
  • Steve Jobs, the company's CEO, who oversaw the project.

Material: polycarbonate.

Method: injection moulded.

Participating agents: Ian Holdsworth & Rupert Radcliffe.