Happy 24th Anniversary, iPod

[HVDynamo]

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

I like this one just a bit further down that page:

"Raise your hand if you have iTunes ...

Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port ...

Raise your hand if you have both ...

Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device ...

There is Apple's market. Pretty slim, eh? I don't see many sales in the future of iPod.

~LoudMusic"

 

[OGdrknight]

I have 3rd gen iPod that doubled as a hdd backup! It probably needs a new battery but it still works after all these years!

 

[StoneJack]

This was the device that broke Sony's monopoly on mobile audio, laid foundations for Apple's iphones and headphones, speakers and audio work, propelled iTunes to one of largest audio stores in the world and transformed the outcast computer company, which was making strange translucent computers with a strange translucent OS, into a leading corporation in the world.

 

[dominiongamma]

This is the one device I wish Apple will never discontinued, sometimes people just wanna listen to music without the phone distractions.

 

[TFrank2]

Yup, Just a classic with USB-C, Bluetooth, optional WiFi for syncing, and like 2TB SSD. Leave the UI and interface otherwise alone!

Now we’re talking…didn’t know how good we had it until it was gone. Loved the UI. I’d be much more interested in this than the rumored 20th anniversary iPhone features so far.

 

[NativeMac]

There is a part of me that wishes this device still exists. Its mechanical controls were so elegant and fun. It added something to playing music.

 

[JGowan]

My birthday falls on November 12 and I purposely waited 2 days to go buy it right after work. I won’t forget bringing it home, unboxing and setting it up with the FireWire cable and little charging base. It was epic. All of my office coworkers thought I was nuts to buy it for $400. I’m sure they all love their smartphones now and have access now to thousands if not millions of songs now. Those that bought were simply ahead our time!

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Crazy to me that iPhone was released not even 6 years after iPod.

 

[MrkJensen]

Luckily, Bang & Olufsen didn’t patent the wheel that they invented for their stereo— if they had, they’d be rolling in money.

 

[ButterF1ngers]

Making it compatible only with a Mac was savage. 😂

 

[tonywalker23]

Not in too great shape, but have two of them in my office.

If anyone is interested I made a playlist containing the songs that were on the Ines given it to journalists.

 

[svish]

Don’t think Apple will ever bring it back. But would be interesting to see how it will be priced today and to see the colors in which it will be available.

 

[sevoneone]

I think we need a 25th anniversary re-release

Make it look exactly the same from the front, but one solid glass front cover, use a monochrome OLED display, all solid state click wheel and buttons, built on the same thin titanium frame as the iPhone AIR.

 

[klasma]

For perspective, the only real competitor the iPod had as far as storage in an MP3 player when it was released was the Creative Nomad Jukebox, which was the size of an ugly Diskman and extremely thick. The iPod was unthinkably small for when it was released.

I had an Archos Jukebox at the time. Featuring a 2.5" HDD, it was larger than the iPod (1.8" HDD), but still quite compact, not much larger than the contained HDD, and smaller than a Discman. So I wasn't particularly impressed by the iPod (and it was Mac-only in the beginning anyway).

Archos Jukebox here in the bottom middle (not my photo), and I also had a MiniDisc player like on the right, which I originally had been more impressed with in terms of form factor:

 

[Sam24bstroke6]

Luckily, Bang & Olufsen didn’t patent the wheel that they invented for their stereo— if they had, they’d be rolling in money.

Actually, Bang $ Olifsen stole the idea from Intellivision video gaming counsel from 1978. Look at the controllers from 1978!

 

[Sam24bstroke6]

The price of used iPods are now skyrocketing. They sound great with 44.1 music rips. If you look at companies like Astell and Kern. ibasso and fiio there selling iPod like units like crazy. Apple should look hard at a product they lost and bring it back. They could tie it into there fitness apps as a new market.

 

[lazyrighteye]

That CNET article about the iPod changing computing, just days after it was released, was spot on-

Music - CNET.com

Man… that really takes me back. Reading it felt like it was 50 years ago. Such a different world. Thanks for sharing.

 

[locovaca]

For perspective, the only real competitor the iPod had as far as storage in an MP3 player when it was released was the Creative Nomad Jukebox, which was the size of an ugly Diskman and extremely thick. The iPod was unthinkably small for when it was released. View attachment 2578166

I had a nomad, cracked it open and stuck a 20gb drive in it. It was the best alternative if you a had a pc.

 

[Hildy]

It would be nice if Apple wasn’t trying so hard to replace the star ratings. What a great workflow for high grading a music library. Too bad they keep trying to force the like/dislike as an alternative. It would be great to have access to star ratings in CarPlay, now they’ve even removed them from the mini player in Music for macOS.

 

[KaliYoni]

In a statement, Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak said that the "Spirit of the iPod lives on" across all of the company's products, from the iPhone to Apple Watch to HomePod.

The iPod will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.

Given the lackluster launch of the iPhone Air, Apple could both solve a problem and commemorate the anniversary cheaply: rebox and rebadge all the unsold iPhone Airs as the iPod Air. Done and done!

;-)

 

[RMo]

I find it interesting that people were complaining about the $399 price -- if only we knew what cell phones would end up costing! (Or at least the ones from Apple and ones that are essentially its spiritual descendants, albeit ones that include more things.) That being said, they did end up going down in price later, from what I remember, and apparently $400 in late 2001 is more like $730 now (source: CPI Inflation Calculator), so I can understand this a bit more looking at things that way.

On the other hand, the iBook G3 was introduced the same year at $1299 (about $2400 now), which I guess would be something like MacBook Air now, and those prices have even gone down a bit ($999 for the base model now). So, I'm not really sure to compare electronics like this -- this doesn't seem the best way. But still interesting!

 

[applefan8254]

Re: 'With the ‌iPhone‌ that does everything an iPod does, there's no longer a need for the iPod. "

That's not exactly true. That would sort of be like saying there's no longer a need for apple watch. What I'm getting at is that I think there is still a need for iPod nano. Maybe not the iPod classic. But the iPod nano could benefit those of us who might want to sync some of our playlists to a device that's smaller than a smartphone, but bigger than an apple watch. iPhone mini could sort of be the solution, but they'd have to make a new iPhone mini for the 18 series, as the iPhone mini 13 is getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

[dan110]

I really wish Apple could wake up and realize that this type of music consumption is far more superior than subscription based streaming.

I would have a streaming service AND this type of device with music I actually owned in perpetuity. No need for silly licensing games.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

I have a 2nd gen Mini that can still sync with Tahoe.

 

[NetMage]

I still have an iPod with an upgrade 256GB SSD installed but unfortunately the battery has gone bad and it hears up badly when plugged in to USB.

I bought an old iPhone 128GB to replace it, but the iOS implementation of iPodmode is unbelievably screwed up. It thinks playing songs in alphabetical order is the best choice when you pick an artist! Sadly the Apple employees who cared about music are apparently long gone.