16 Years Ago Today, Apple Unveiled the Original iPod

[JadawinUK]

As an owner of a Diamond Rio PMP300 I found that balatant theft by Apple repulsive at the time - and nothing really has changed, except that Steve Jobs was way better in stealing things and selling improved versions than Cook. Jobs could see flaws in other products and create better ones, Cook just sells stuff.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

Apple isn't innovating anymore! In the past 10 years they've been sitting on their hands and re-releasing old tech and place it in a new housing and call it new tech...but seriously, another victim of Apple cannibalizing their own line of product fusing the iPhone and the iPod together. Even now, phones are becoming obsolete with the Apple Watch LTE streaming music and taking calls without being tethered to your phone (well maybe not ) but Apple is not innovating anymore, right?

 

[Guy Clark]

Steve saw the shortcomings of existing music players—and an opportunity, but Tony Fadell was the talent Apple recruited to ultimately design a solution. Fanboys owe more graditude to Fadell for their favorite mobile hardware than to Jobs and Ive combined.

What is the definition of a Fanboy?

 

[Defthand]

What is the definition of a Fanboy?

Someone who confesses to being a fan or disciple of something or someone, usually with unwavering devotion.

 

[citysnaps]

I laughed at this line in the article:

"The iPhone does everything the iPod did and more, and has served as an iPod replacement since its debut."

Well, yeah, no, not anymore. The iPod actually still has a headphone jack.

I no longer consider my iPhone (I have the 8 Plus) a music player. It works about 80% of the time (since I usually use wireless), but I still on many occasions find myself trying to plug in an audio cable or wired headphones and going... "oh, yeah, that's right..."

iPhone is no longer a fully functional music player -- unless you have a clumsy dongle that I almost never have with me and that degrades the "three-in-one" aspect of the device Steve Jobs heralded when iPhone was introduced. It's a very un-Apple like experience with that horrid dongle.

Steve Jobs mocked other phones for having styluses, noting that it's something to lose and to have to fumble with. That's how I feel about the dongle, only worse, because at least my Treo had a slot for its stylus -- no such home for the dongle on the iPhone, and no wonder, because it would be rather stupid to have a place for a dongle when you could just use the space for the headphone jack.

The iPhone is no longer what it was when Steve Jobs introduced it in 2007 as a three-in-one device. It is still a phone and an "internet communication device", but it's now a crippled iPod -- all so Apple can feed the ridiculous, unnecessary obsession with ultra-thinness (my 6s Plus was fine and had a headphone jack).

You weren't aware that the iPhone 8 didn't have a headphone jack, before spending your $1000? And didn't discover it missing until after the return period?

 

[Lopov Jack]

The product that started Apple rebirth on a big scale.
My first iPod was 2004 iPod photo (I believe that was 5th gen.)

 

[pnvgordinho]

They will bring back the first iPod with an integrated phone.

 

[TrueBlou]

I had all of the main line iPods (not Nano’s or Mini’s and just one iPod Touch.)
But the one I’ve kept and the one I actually still use is the iPod Photo, still a great device and still, IMO, one of the better sounding iPods.
[doublepost=1508790819][/doublepost]

Someone who confesses to being a fan or disciple of something or someone, usually with unwavering devotion.

Does that mean I’m a fanboy of my wife then?

 

[KingslayerG5]

Grateful I owned an iPod. I felt old when one of my previous 20-year old co-workers didn't know what a Walkman was.

Speaking of Walkman, Peter Quill (Star-Lord) got a Zune after his father broke his Walkman. A brown Zune from the trash. I like when he got surprised it could hold 300 songs! Deleted scene is pretty funny too. They called it primitive.

 

[boy-better-know]

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

Can't tell you how much fun it was reading through that.

 

[CarlJ]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the most famous one-line negative review at the time:

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."​

(From a tech website that's far less important today than back then.)
[doublepost=1508794351][/doublepost]

Oh my goodness, those comments are carbon copies of the ignorant tripe we read in the comment sections today about the new iPhones. Nothing has changed in 16 years.

Would be interesting to compare the userids of the "Apple is dooomed" crowd, then and now.

 

[Tech198]

Surly, you'd have to keep a device going for those who don't want the "phone part"

Then again, they could be like . "What is the % of that" ? and if its low enough,it may give a good reason to get rid of it.

I always wanted those origional little ipod nano's

Surprised nobody's mentioned the most famous one-line negative review at the time:

"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."​

Maybe that's because no one can remember it.

 

[Bostic]

I had a Diamond Rio 500 64 meg player for a few years back then. I was not an early adopter of the first Rio that used a parallel port interface! My iPod 4 gig Mini still works! My iPod Classic 160 doesn't, bad hard drive. Still need to get around to ordering a replacement drive and battery along with a lot of patience.

 

[tigres]

Still have this, unopened in the box.

 

[travelsheep]

See how proud the first iPod did carry the headphone jack. All bye bye now. iPhone 6S is the last iPhone I bought and will buy.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I didn't have an iPod until this one.

Still got it and it was my first Apple purchase.
Dread to think what I've spent since!

Happy birthday iPod.

 

[dukebound85]

See how proud the first iPod did carry the headphone jack. All bye bye now. iPhone 6S is the last iPhone I bought and will buy.

I'll make a friendly wager on that

 

[LCPepper]

I thought the guy in the TV advert looked familiar; a lot like Masood the postman in Eastenders...

And so I did some searching, and it turns out... IT IS MASOOD FROM EASTENDERS!

How interesting! Masood the postman was the original iPod guy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitin_Ganatra

 

[rgarjr]

My first one too. Liked it so much I bought a Mac a few weeks later.

3rd gens are nice but, the sound quality isn't as good as the 1G and 2G.

 

[Apple fanboy]

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

That's so funny. Like Apple would make more money with servers than I devices!
How wrong people were!

 

[mi7chy]

Grew up with the original innovator of portable music:

Around mid 2000 I was doing long distance running and wanted something compact that I could hide inside my cap so ended up sticking with the Sony ecosystem which I still use to this day when I don't carry my phone:

 

[Traverse]

I still love iPods. I have a 6th Gen Touch 128GB for a dedicated music device.

It's okay. Not to sound to sentimental, but the iPod pushed me into the digital age. I have a fondness for them. I'd love a final farewell addition.

My dream would be a slimmed up Classic with a touchwheel and touchscreen, OLED Retina display, 256GB SSD, and HiFi DAC. I wonder how that would do vs the HomePod.

I find the HomePod an amusing homage I suppose.

 

[OneMike]

Felt like it was longer than 16 years ago

 

[Sevendaymelee]

Not as revolutionary as Walkman.

Walkman helped tapes take off and iPod helped MP3s take off. The tie breaker is how tapes were physical media while the MP3 was an entirely new medium.

 

[Abazigal]

Not as revolutionary as Walkman.

Serving as the springboard for iTunes wasn’t revolutionary? That thing would go on to form the backbone of the Apple ecosystem and cement Apple’s dominance in their respective markets.

I think the impact of this is much greater than simply being the first “Walkman”.