16 Years Ago Today, Apple Unveiled the Original iPod

[MacRumors]

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the debut of the first iPod, which was introduced by Apple on October 23, 2001. Then Apple CEO Steve Jobs stood on stage at the Apple Town Hall in Cupertino and showed off a device that could fit in a pocket but hold an entire music library.

The first-generation iPod, which Apple advertised with the tagline "1,000 songs in your pocket," was a rectangle-shaped device with a 5GB 1.8-inch hard drive capable of holding 1,000 songs.

It featured a black and white LCD and the first click wheel, a mechanical scrolling interface that let users quickly and conveniently scroll through long lists of music. The click wheel also included easy access buttons for playing, pausing, rewinding, and fast forwarding through music content. The first iPod's battery lasted for up to 10 hours before needing to be recharged, and the device was priced at $399.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod, he called it a quantum leap forward and outlined three major breakthroughs: ultra-portability, Apple's legendary ease of use, and auto-sync with iTunes.

iPod is an MP3 music player, has CD quality music, and it plays all of the popular formats of open music. The biggest thing about iPod is that it holds a thousand songs. Now this is a quantum leap because for most people, it's their entire music library. This is huge. How many times have you gone on the road with a CD player and said 'Oh God, I didn't bring the CD I wanted to listen to.' To have your whole music library with you at all times is a quantum leap in listening to music. The coolest thing about iPod is that your whole music library fits right in your pocket. Never before possible.

New versions of the iPod were released on a yearly basis following the launch of the original device, and other notable launches included the iPod Photo in 2004, which had the first color display, the smaller iPod mini in 2004, the tiny iPod nano in 2005, the even smaller iPod Shuffle, also in 2005, and the first iPod touch, which came out in 2007 following the launch of the iPhone.

An early version of the iPod Nano​

Today, the iPhone, unveiled six years after the iPod, has largely replaced Apple's original music device. The iPhone does everything the iPod did and more, and has served as an iPod replacement since its debut.

Over the course of the last 16 years, Apple has stayed at the forefront of music technology with the debut of Apple Music, a streaming music service that now has more than 30 million paid subscribers.

Apple retired the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle in July of 2017, and now the iPod touch is the sole remaining iPod the company has for sale. The iPod touch was last updated in July of 2015 and it is not clear if the product will see additional updates in the future.

The iPod touch is available in 32GB and 128GB capacities for $199 and $299, respectively.

Article Link: 16 Years Ago Today, Apple Unveiled the Original iPod

 

[alwaysbeincontact]

Pretty amazing progression! I didn't have an original iPod. My first purchase was the iPod with the screen.

 

[djcerla]

... and MacRumors forum was all “give us more powerful Macs and don’t waste time with toys”. Prescient.

 

[bunnicula]

My first iPod was the iPod mini in early 2004, right after it was released. I moved from it to a regular iPod, for more storage. Amazing how much things have changed.

 

[robeddie]

Maybe it seemed ok at the time, but that dudes dancing seems way too spastic to me now.

 

[scottish]

The forum replies to the article are good to read now:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.500/

 

[zapnyc]

er....isn't that iPhone X pic the wrong one (hornless)?

 

[MacMonkee]

I hate to nick pick, but that picture of the nano is of the penultimate modal they made, not an early version

 

[Xavier]

Still miss my iPod 3rd Gen. I think it still functions but I haven't used it in years.

 

[MacHead84]

A true beauty

 

[TreyCox]

The iPod can now get its driver's license!

 

[Wiencon]

I still use my Nano 7 daily, if it had 64gb of memory I would make love to that little device. It hurts me that Apple killed off the iPod as the Nano 4 was my first Apple device ever and it was great, then iPod Classic and later iPhone and Nano. I would really love another true iPod as I like to listen to my music and not get distracted by anything else. Touch is great and I am sure one day I'm gonna buy it (especially when I move to Android if there's no SE2) but it should be of iPhone 4 size. It would be perfect mobile music player

Anyway happy birthday iPod!

 

[VulchR]

I have both the nano and the mini and both still work....

 

[iShater]

I haven't used my iPods in a while, I should probably prepare for upcoming long road trips using them.

 

[dlewis23]

Whats up with the really bad iPhone X image your using there? The screen isn't even close to what it really is.

 

[F1Turbo]

I still used my iPod Classic regularly until  offered 256GB in iPhone. I still would like my iPhone to be able to do Genius Playlists on the go like I can with my iPod.

 

[Glassed Silver]

er....isn't that iPhone X pic the wrong one (hornless)?

Good catch, totally forgot the X could have looked decent!

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[brdeveloper]

Not as revolutionary as Walkman.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I love that jog wheel. I remember it was the most amazing UX ever. Heck, even today it beats the pants off of this touchscreen crap when it comes to listening to music. It was the epitome of UX, really.

 

[gnipgnop]

Still have mine...this article makes me wonder if I still have the charger and original cable.

 

[obliquity]

I hate to nick pick, but that picture of the nano is of the penultimate modal they made, not an early version

I also hate to nit pick but the first generation iPod did not have a Click Wheel. The first generation iPod has a scroll wheel which was mechanical (meaning it actually spun) and did not allow the user to click with it. All of the buttons (as can be seen in the picture) were situated around the scroll wheel. The click wheel was not available until the iPod Mini was released. Subsequent versions of the regular iPod changed from the mechanical scroll wheel to a non mechanical touch sensitive scroll wheel with the touch sensitive buttons situated along the top. Eventually the click wheel made it's way into the regular iPod, or iPod Classic style and eventually went out with the last iPod Classic.

 

[78Bandit]

I still use my 3rd gen iPod Nano "Fattie" frequently. That thing still runs as well as it did when I got it new almost a decade ago. Just to play it safe I got an 8th gen Nano right after they discontinued them.

IMHO, Apple is abandoning a significant niche market. I realize they want people to use AirPods and the Apple Watch as the primary way to listen to music when your are engaging in physical activity, but I still think there are a significant number of consumers who would buy a sub $100 device with better battery life.

Give me a 5th gen Nano with wi-fi and Apple Music or Spotify apps with offline mode and I would be extremely happy.

 

[macTW]

The first iPod's battery lasted for up to 10 hours before needing to be recharged

Man, some things just never change

 

[Swampthing]

Today, the iPhone, unveiled six years after the iPod, has largely replaced Apple's original music device. The iPhone does everything the iPod did and more, and has served as an iPod replacement since its debut.​

This is essentially incorrect. The iPod Touch was created to replace the original music device, not the iPhone. It's just meant for music and apps. No phone was ever necessary. The iPhone was created for people who had the need to make telephone calls as well. Yes, they use it as an iPod too because that feature is built in. But for those who want a replacement for an iPod, the iPod Touch is still the way to go.

I still use my iPod classic everyday and would never consider using my iPhone as a replacement.

 

[GeekLawyer]

The forum replies to the article are good to read now:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.500/

That will always, always be my favorite MR thread. Especially gems like: Apple's New Thing (iPod)

This isn't revoltionary!
I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently!
Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!

The particular post above has been repeated in some form or fashion following every Apple product launch since.