iPod portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. was launched in October 2001. The arrival of iPods was a result of digital hub strategy by the company. While dealing with various manufacturing of various electronic gadgets, the company found that the existing digital music players were "big and clunky or small and useless" which led them towards the production of iPods. It took more than a year to get the product developed and the launching took place with the catchy caption “1000 songs in your pocket."

The name iPod was the idea of Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who was called by Apple to figure out how to introduce the new player to the public. The first public demonstration of the iPod kiosks took place in New Jersey in March 1998, and commercial use began in January 2000. The trademark was registered by the USPTO in November 2003, and Grasso assigned it to Apple Computer, Inc. in 2005. Apple iPodwere developed in the way that they can play MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AC, AIFF, WAV, Audiable audio book and Apple Lossless audio file formats.

All iPods function as mass storage devices that can store data files. The main difference between MP3 players and iPods is that simply copying audio or video files to the drive with a typical file management application will not allow iPod to properly access them. It is a must for the user to use software that has been specifically designed to transfer media files to iPods, so that the files are playable and viewable.

There are different accessories that have been made for the Apple iPod. The market of iPod accessories are sometimes called as the iPod ecosystem. There are different accessories that can add extra features that other music players have, such as sound recorders, FM radio tuners, wired remote controls, and audio/visual cables for TV connections.