iPod dirty secrets

Ben Knauss, a former manager at PortalPlayer, the company which created the guts of the iPod, dishes all the scandalous tidbits behind the birth of Apple's digital audio player, like that Steve Jobs is partially deaf, which is why the volume on the iPod is so loud (he may also be secretly blind, which could be the real reason why there won't be a video iPod), and that IBM was planning its own MP3 player using its MicroDrives that would sport a circular screen and wireless Bluetooth headphones, but that PortalPlayer dropped all its other clients when Apple committed to the iPod. Knauss also had the brilliant foresight to quit right before the iPod came out because he thought it'd be a failure.

[Rakeman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

...and now the guy is contracting for Microsoft. How ironic!

[J.B. Zimmerman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:03AM]

So I got mine today after returning my 1-wk-old 3G (I love the phrase 'remorse period'). Only a couple annoying surprises: One, apparently the price drop was achieved in part by no longer including a headphone remote or carrying case, even on the 40GB version. Not a huge deal, and I suppose understandable given the razor-thin nature of the margin on these things...but the $30 or whatever it is price of the headphone remote is a tad annoying. I'd rather have gotten the remote and not the headphones; I prefer Koss's The Plug.

Still, NO MORE FOUR BUTTONS...ah, the clickywheel ecstasy that is mine...heehee.