Editing Portable media player (section)

===Early digital audio players===
British scientist [[Kane Kramer]] invented the first digital audio player,<ref name="kanekramer.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.kanekramer.com/#!About|title=Kane Kramer - The Inventor of the Digital Audio Player|website=www.kanekramer.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527132741/http://www.kanekramer.com/#!About|archive-date=27 May 2017|df=dmy-all}}{{self-published inline|date=May 2023}}</ref> which he called the [[IXI (digital audio player)|IXI]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kanekramer.com/downloads/IXI-Report.pdf |title=IXI Systems |access-date=2016-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229101656/http://www.kanekramer.com/downloads/IXI-Report.pdf |archive-date=29 December 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> His 1979 prototypes were capable of up to one hour of audio playback but did not enter commercial production. His UK patent application was not filed until 1981 and was issued in 1985 in the UK and 1987 in the US.<ref>{{cite patent |invent1=Kramer, Kane N. |invent2=Campbell, James S. |country=US |number=4667088 |issue-date=1987 |title=Portable data processing and storage system}}</ref> However, in 1988 Kramer's failure to raise the £60,000 required to renew the patent meant it entered the public domain.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2008/09/briton-invented/|title=Briton Invented iPod, DRM and On-Line Music in 1979|magazine=Wired|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327175756/https://www.wired.com/2008/09/briton-invented/|archive-date=27 March 2017|df=dmy-all|last1=Sorrel|first1=Charlie}}</ref> [[Apple Inc.]] hired Kramer as a consultant and presented his work as an example of [[prior art]] in the field of digital audio players during their litigation with [[Burst.com]] almost two decades later.<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/story/british-man-says-he-invented-ipod-in-1979 British Man Says He Invented iPod in 1979], Fox News Channel, 9 September 2008</ref> In 2008, Apple acknowledged Kramer as the inventor of the digital audio player<ref name="kanekramer.com"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-admits-it-didnt-invent-the-ipod/|title=Apple admits it didn't invent the iPod|date=7 September 2008|website=cnet.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229101323/https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-admits-it-didnt-invent-the-ipod/|archive-date=29 December 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| width             = 150
| image1            = FlashPAC.jpg
| image2            = ListenUp player.jpg
| footer            = Two early DAPs from 1996: FlashPAC and Listen Up
}}

The Listen Up Player was released in 1996 by Audio Highway, an American company led by [[Nathan Schulhof]]. It could store up to an hour of music, but despite getting an award at CES 1997 only 25 of the devices were made.<ref>{{cite web|title=Teknik vi minns – 14 prylar som var före sin tid|url=https://m3.idg.se/2.1022/1.506083/tekniker-prylar-som-var-fore-sin-tid/sida/2/prylar-vi-minns-8-14|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413185756/https://m3.idg.se/2.1022/1.506083/tekniker-prylar-som-var-fore-sin-tid/sida/2/prylar-vi-minns-8-14|archive-date=13 April 2018|access-date=8 May 2018|website=idg.se|language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ha|first=Peter|date=25 October 2010|title=All-TIME 100 Gadgets - TIME|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023681_2023609,00.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020164221/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2023689_2023681_2023609,00.html|archive-date=20 October 2017|access-date=8 May 2018|magazine=TIME|via=content.time.com}}</ref> That same year [[AT&T]] developed the FlashPAC digital audio player which initially used AT&T's [[Perceptual Audio Coder]] (PAC)<ref>J.D.Johnston, D. Sinha, S. Dorward, and S. R. Quackenbush, AT&T Perceptual Audio Coding (PAC), pp. 73–82, in Collected Papers on Digital Audio Bit-Rate Reduction, N. Gilchrist and C. Grewin, eds, Audio Engineering Society Publications, 1996</ref> for music compression, but in 1997 switched to [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]].<ref>J.D.Johnston, J. Herre, M. Davis, and U.Gbur, MPEG-2 NBC Audio&nbsp;– Stereo and Multichannel Coding Methods, Proceedings of the 101st Convention, 1996 November, Los Angeles</ref> At about the same time AT&T also developed an internal Web-based music streaming service that had the ability to download music to FlashPAC.<ref>{{cite conference|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6N5T1Dw_gTQcGt3VWh3SXF2Yjg/view?pli=1 |title=Consumer Devices for Networked Audio|last1 = Onufryk| first1 = Peter|last2 = Snyder| first2=Jim|  conference=Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics|year=1997|volume=1|pages=SS27–SS32}}</ref> AAC and such music downloading services later formed the foundation for the Apple iPod and iTunes.<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Early Digital Music Player – AT&T FashPAC|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXRZX6vOctM|publisher=CNN Business Week 7 March 1997|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510220055/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXRZX6vOctM|archive-date=10 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The first production-volume portable digital audio player was '''{{vanchor|The Audible Player}}'''<!-- Don't delete this anchor, linked from other pages, unless you know the resulting consequences --> (also known as MobilePlayer, or Digital Words To Go) from [[Audible.com]] available for sale at the end of 1997, for $199. It only supported playback of digital audio in Audible's proprietary, low-bitrate format which was developed for spoken word recordings. Capacity was limited to 4&nbsp;MB of internal flash memory, or about 2 hours of play, using a custom rechargeable battery pack. The unit had no display and rudimentary controls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.audible.com/audible/9_15_97.html |title=Audible Player Will Mark the First Time Consumers Can Access RealAudio Programming Away from the PC |access-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980118092012/http://www.audible.com/audible/9_15_97.html |archive-date=18 January 1998 }}, Press Release from Audible Inc., archived by archive.org 18 January 1998</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.audible.com/audible/the_player.html |title=The Audible Player for sale |access-date=20 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980118091417/http://www.audible.com/audible/the_player.html |archive-date=18 January 1998 }}</ref>