Kane Kramer is a British inventor and businessman. He is credited with the initial invention of the

digital audio player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

, in 1979.Portable data processing and storage system, United States Patent 4667088
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Invention of the DAP

In 1981 Kramer filed for a UK patent for his newly conceived digital audio player, the IXI. UK patent 2115996 was issued in 1985, and was issued in 1987. The player was the size of a credit card with a small

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

screen and navigation and volume buttons and would have held data of at least 8 MB of

solid-state Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Solid state may also refer to: Electronics * Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials * Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their use ...

bubble memory Bubble memory is a type of non-volatile computer memory that uses a thin film of a magnetic material to hold small magnetized areas, known as ''bubbles'' or ''domains'', each storing one bit of data. The material is arranged to form a series o ...

chip with a capacity of 3½ minutes' worth of audio. Plans were made for a 10-minute stereo memory card and the system was at one time fitted with a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

enabling over an hour of recorded digital music. His first investor was Sir

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. Later, Kramer set up a company to promote IXI and five working prototypes were produced with 16-bit sampling at 44.1 kilohertz with the pre-production prototype being unveiled at the APRS Audio/Visual trade exhibition in October 1986. In a 2004 interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Kramer stated that the company at the time had "orders worth £60 million" (value at current day) for the device from the recording industry. However, in 1988 a boardroom dispute within Kramer's company and the subsequent failure to raise the £60,000 required to renew the patent resulted in the patent lapsing and entering the public domain, though Kramer is still the owner of the designs.

iPod testimony

In 2008, Kramer was called as a witness by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

to defend itself from charges of patent infringement for its

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

digital audio player.Arno Frank
einestages: Tech-Pionier Kane Kramer: Der wahre iGod
( Der Spiegel online, 19 October 2012)
Apple Computer Inc. v. Burst.com, Inc.
', (California, Northern District Court, January 4, 2007). See pages 9-12.

Current work

Kramer is still professionally involved in the technology sector. He is the Chairman of the British Inventor's Society and Organizer of the British Invention Show & World Invention Awards. He acts as a technology advisor to International Clean Energy Circle (ICI) and a number of multinational companies. Kramer gives talks on innovation around the World, notably to the Directors at Argonne National Laboratory architects of the Manhattan Project, and Kramer followed Al Gore on the subject of climate change at the Royal Courts of Justice. Kramer is director and executive producer of the film ''Disparity'' which completed filming in late 2018 followed with the production of a new TV series and film ''Humankind''. ''Disparity: The Search for Real-Aid'', a 100-minute documentary film and aid face-off, was Kramer's third production. The film was released in 23 October 2019. Other productions are 10CC Live in Concert at Wembley in 1982, his first, and The Sweet Live in Concert at the Marquee Club in London 1986, his second.

References

External links

Official site of Kane KramerOriginal investor's report on the IXI from 1979 (PDF Format)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Kane 1956 births Living people British inventors British businesspeople