Kane Kramer has apparently fallen on hard times. Last year, the father of three had to sell his house and move his family to an apartment. Not exactly the life one would expect the father of the iPod to lead.

According to documents recently filed by Apple, the 52-year-old UK resident deserves that title, having invented the technology that allows the device to exist, as a 23-year-old high school dropout in 1979.

The IXI was capable of storing 3.5 minutes of music on a chip. The chip was stored in a player the size of the credit card, which, The Daily Mail points out, looks an awful lot like an iPod--not to mention just about every other MP3 player that's popped up over the past decade.

Kramer lost the patent in 1988, thanks to insufficient funds.

Apple contacted Kramer recently, to help it hash our some legal issues with patents. The inventor is apparently negotiating with Apple, but has thus far only received a consultancy fee for the legal help he provided the company.