A HARD-UP Hitchin man has been recognised at the father of the iPod by Apple. Kane Kramer, a 52-year-old father-of-three, who was forced to sell his home after his business folded last year, has been recognised as the inventor of the technology that driv

A HARD-UP Hitchin man has been recognised at the father of the iPod by Apple.

Kane Kramer, a 52-year-old father-of-three, who was forced to sell his home after his business folded last year, has been recognised as the inventor of the technology that drives the iPod, but will receive no money from the computer giant.

After years battling for recognition, Apple acknowledged Mr Kramer's contribution to the world's favourite mp3 player after he agreed to give evidence in a US court case against another claimant.

Mr Kramer told a national newspaper: "I was up a ladder painting when I got the call from a lady with an American accent from Apple saying she was the head of legal affairs and that they wanted to acknowledge the work that I had done.

"I must admit that at first I thought it was a wind up. But we spoke for some time with me still up this ladder, and she said Apple would like me to come to California to talk to them.

"To be honest I was just so pleased that something I had done which had been a huge success and changed the music industry was being acknowledged."

Mr Kramer's 1979 invention, called the IXI, was the world's first mp3 player, storing 3.5 minutes of music on a chip. His sketches at the time for a handheld music device are remarkably similar to the iPod.

He took out a worldwide patent and set up a company to develop the idea, but in 1988 was unable to renew the £60,000 patent and the technology became public property.

Over 163 million iPods have been sold since 2001 with 100 now selling every minute.