View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/10/24/early.ipod.development/ Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006 12:15pm Early iPod development demystified A new book is shedding light on the early development of Apple's iPod digital media player, describing the day-to-day life of Apple employees while the revolutionary device was under development. At every go or no-go checkpoint and on every detail, engineers were told to finish "builds" -- in-process prototypes of software and hardware -- on Fridays rather than the more typical midweek deadlines, according to a report from Forbes.com. "I think [...] they were giving the build to Steve [Jobs], who would take it home for the weekend and play with it," one engineer said. Mondays started with long 'to fix' lists, and "Steve would be horribly offended [if] he couldn't get to the song he wanted in less than three pushes of a button," according to another engineer. Journalist Steven Levy's 'The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness' is a collection of essays about the iPod.