Ipod inventor gets a temp job at Apple
IT APPEARS THAT Apple's ever so popular music machine may was actually developed by a Brit back in the 70s.
Hertfordshire based Kane Kramer, now 52, came up with and patented the design of a digital music player when he was just 23. Dubbed the IXI, the original music player had only enough capacity to store three and half minutes of music – although Kramer expected this to increase over time.
However, the idea fell into the public domain in 1988 when he couldn't raise enough cash to renew the international patents. Because of this Kramer has never previously received any recognition or money from his design.
This all came to light when Apple used his designs and patent papers to settle another copyright infringement case with Burst.com. Apple took Kramer in as a consultant, flying him to California to give a deposition about his creation.
"To be honest, I was just so pleased that finally something that I had done which has been a huge success and changed the music industry was being acknowledged. I was really quite emotional about it all," Kramer told the Daily Mail.
The dispute between Apple and Burst.com has since been settled confidentially out of court.
Apart from this brief acknowledgement of his design and the payment for his time at the hearing, Kramer has received no other compensation from Apple, although he is apparently in talks with company and is seeking some payment from the copyright that he owns on the drawings used in the case.
Perhaps now he doesn't get ridiculed when he tells his mates down the pub that he invented the Ipod. µ
L'Inq
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The iPod's selling point was never its technology. Apple never claimed to have invented the MP3 player. Apple is *design* house, first and foremost, and Kane had f*ck all to do with the iPod's interface design.

If Apple were indeed claiming to have invented the MP3 player, they would hardly have used Kane's patent in their lawsuit in the first damned place. 

Nevertheless, an ancient, solid-state prototype built in the 1970s is not an iPod any more than Valdemar Poulsen's 1950s magnetic wire recorder was an Amstrad cassette deck.

Like someone else couldn't come up with that idea. That is why simple ideas like that shouldn't be even the domain of copyright. Soon they'll start protecting farts of a certain pitch as intellectual property.

Apple made it sell and they deserve credit for that (marketing) but the iPod is not the most advanced, feature packed or even reliable player (although it's pretty reliable). 

To be honest, Apple doesn't deserve protection either and the government should finally do something about their monopolistic practices (good luck, I know) as they harm the consumers not only by keeping the prices too high but holding back improvements, and god knows iPod and iTunes could use some.
define 'simple' tain ... if such ideas are so simple and obvious how come you're not a billionaire having invented and protected every 'simple' new invention of the last 20 years? ...