Podtats

Infobox Information appliance
name = Podtats

caption = Current podtats consist of anything from HAL 9000 to rocks.
manufacturer = Apple Inc.
type = Portable media player tat (PMP tat)
service = Podtats.com
unitssold = Over 1500 expressed interest worldwide as of May 2006

Podtats are tattoos for the popular iPod brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and launched on October 23, 2001. As early as 2006, the web entrepreneur Jarin Udom [cite web | url=http://jarinudom.com/| title=Jarin Udom | accessdate=2008-09-17] began the first business for tattooing personal iPods, followed shortly thereafter by a number of other entrepreneurs and businesses, most notably Tony Williams and Hewlett-Packard. [cite web | url=http://lifehacker.com/software/notag/how-to-make-your-own-ipod-tattoo-103877.php| title=How to make your own iPod tattoo | accessdate=2008-09-16] Podtats are used mostly flirtatiously, as graduation gifts, during workouts and when riding a bicycle, including stationary, moving, and while backpedalling furiously.

History and design

Podtats came from the mind of Jarin Udom, an iPod enthusiast who collected hundreds of dollars of iPod merchandise including rocks, chairs, and other Apple Inc. items. Jarin used his own personal assets to begin the fad of "podtatting", or tattooing iPods, by purchasing a $1500 laser engraving machine off of eBay. His plans were stalled as the machine turned out to be broken, but he continued to pour his financial resources into the situation. He is known for effectively kickstarting the trend of tattooing iPods by establishing the first website (the now-defunct [http://www.podtats.com www.podtats.com] ) designed to sell iPod tattoos. The first podtats were creating by laser etching, but later designs included the use of stickers. [cite web | url=http://www.applematters.com/article/tattoo_your_ipod/ | title=Tattoo Your IPod | author=C.K. Sample III | accessdate=2008-09-16]

Soon after launch, customers were informed that they had to ‘’wait quite a while’’ before any podtatting would begin. [cite web | url= http://web.archive.org/web/20061107203841/http://www.podtats.com/ | title=Podtats.com | author=Jarin Udom | accessdate=2008-09-16] Sensing the opening in the market, Hewlett-Packard released an iPod tattoo kit for $15. [cite web | url=http://www.applematters.com/article/tattoo_your_ipod/ | title=Tattoo Your IPod | author=C.K. Sample III | accessdate=2008-09-16] The iPod tattoo became more popular as Tony Williams and HotRomz released their own versions of the podtats. [cite web | url=http://lifehacker.com/software/notag/how-to-make-your-own-ipod-tattoo-103877.php| title=How to make your own iPod tattoo | accessdate=2008-09-16] [cite web | url=http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/hotromz-releases-ipod-tattoo-skins/| title=HotRomz Releases iPod Tattoo Skins | author=Dennis Lloyd | accessdate=2008-09-16] The iPod tattoo soon became widespread and covered by a number of gadget websites. Blogger Jillian Myers has covered the entire history of podtats within her blog on Engadget. [cite web | url=http://www.engadget.com/2004/09/27/hps-ipod-tattoos-sometimes-leave-a-little-something-behind/| title=HP’s iPod Tattoos Sometimes Leave a Little Something Behind | author=Peter Rojas | accessdate=2008-09-16] G4TV even did a show on the iPod tattoos and their effect on the world’s current iPod culture in an episode of "The Screen Savers". [" [http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/episodes/3784/Thomas_Thunder_Keller_iPod_Tattoos_Stowboard.html Thomas “Thunder” Keller, iPod Tattoos, Stowboard – Episode 5003] ", “The Screen Savers”, 24 September 2007.]

ee also

*Comparison of portable media players
*Comparison of iPod managers

References

External links

* [http://www.apple.com/itunes/ Apple iPod] — Official iPod website
* [http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2004/11/17/ipod_tattoos.html Tony Williams’ iPod Tattoo Article] — From O’Reilly Digital Media