Everyone talks about jailbreaking. What does it even mean?

[norcalstadium]

All I really want to know is this: (1) what is jailbreaking, and (2) why do people do it in light of all the potential consequences (I mean, from what I've read, I've discerned that jailbreaking an iPod invalidates its warranty, which is sort of a big deal).

[Luis]

All I really want to know is this: (1) what is jailbreaking, and (2) why do people do it in light of all the potential consequences (I mean, from what I've read, I've discerned that jailbreaking an iPod invalidates its warranty, which is sort of a big deal).

1- it is a method of accessing the iPods/iPhone's file system and be able to modify it to your will.

2-Because you can get a lot of cool stuff in your phone if you do it. Plus if you screw up, normally a restore fixes everything.

[overanalyzer]

All I really want to know is this: (1) what is jailbreaking, and (2) why do people do it in light of all the potential consequences (I mean, from what I've read, I've discerned that jailbreaking an iPod invalidates its warranty, which is sort of a big deal).

You might find this post on TUAW from October of use: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/11/iphone-101-hacks-vocabulary-primer/