Daily Giz Wiz 575: Compaq iPaq Personal Audio Player
Episode 575 of the podcast
| Subject: | Review of Compaq iPaq Personal Audio Player |
| Released: | Friday 23 May 2008 |
| Length: | about 13 minutes |
| Download file: | dgw0575.mp3 (6.1 MB) |
Listen to the episode
Detailed information
Link: Compaq Press Release Amazon
On 12 June 2001, Compaq announced the iPAQ Personal Audio Player PA-2 which included a 64MB memory card, with an extra card slot for MMC card expansion, about the size of a pager, weighing about 3 ounces and running on 2 AAA batteries. It played MP3 and WMA files. Transfer was via a USB port, and management was done via Windows Media Player or MusicMatch Jukebox. Available from July 2001 onwards, it cost $250 back then.This was the successor to the PA-1, weighing 4 ounces, which came out in 2000. The PA-1 also came with 64MB, but on 2 separate 32MB MMC cards.
Dick thinks he got his PA-2 in October 2001. On 22 October 2001, Compaq, having developed these flash-based portable players, decided to tread back, and announced the iPAQ Mini-CD Player PM-1, which Dick talked about on a previous Warehouse Friday, in Episode 140 - which used mini-CDs as the storage medium for MP3s (on the ground that CDs were much cheaper than flash memory).
On the very next day, 23 October 2001, Apple announced the 1st generation iPod for Mac, selling for $399, but with a capacity of 5GB, using a hard drive. The 2nd generation iPod, with Windows support, came out in July 2002. The rest was history.
The Phonemate Just in Case Beeper and More
The Just In Case Beeper (Episode 540) reminded Theodrake, aka Ed, aka Ed Bruce, of a portable electronic phonebook he had 25 years ago. It could store at least 50 phone numbers and had a speaker on the back which you would hold up to the phone, and it would generate the tones to dial the number. An auto dialer.
(source: insidedgw.vox.com)
