Background

• When Apple introduced the iPod on Oct. 23, 2001, it marketed the device as possessing the ability to store up to 1,000 songs; virtually unparalleled at the time for such a product. Moreover, it did this with a hard drive that was smaller than other portable digital players. The iPod was designed with a flat rectangular shape, with a black-and-white liquid-crystal display screen and mechanical scroll wheel. The same design carried over to the second generation iPod in 2002.
  
  

Third Generational Changes

• The arrival of the third generation iPod, however, brought some notable changes. Gone was the mechanical scroll wheel. In its place was a touch-sensitive wheel: a feature that has remained with future generation of the iPod and its variants ever since. Apple also introduced a USB port for data transfer, a four-pin remote connector that replaced the auxiliary ring that encircled the headphone port and a lithium-ion battery instead of a lithium-polymer one.
  
  

Other Features

• Dimension-wise, the third generation iPod is thinner and has slightly rounder edges than its predecessors. The lithium-ion battery, however, offers two hours less of audio playback time than the first- and second-generational iPods; the third has eight hours while the first and second have 10. Whereas the first iPod offered 5GB and 10GB choices and the second has 10GB and 20GB options, the third initially had three that consisted of 10GB, 15GB and 30GB.
  
  

Revisions and End of Production

• The third-generation iPod went through two revisions after its debut. The first revision, which took place on Sept. 8, 2003 -- barely six months after its introduction -- involved the replacement of the 15GB with the 20GB. About four months later, on Jan. 6, 2004, Apple replaced the 10GB with the 15GB. The third-generation iPod lasted six more months before being discontinued on Jul. 19, 2004.