The iPod combined the marketing genius of Apple with its superior tech design. It's rare that a product be known for a name that was not associated with the original company that came out with it. iPod versus MP3 player in this case.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPod Turns 10 Years Old Today
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
My first iPod was a 10 gig Windows 2nd generation and it was also the first iPod that the employees of a local Mac reseller have seen! It literally changed my Life, I have never stopped listening to music since then and I was 14 y/o 🙂 I still have it, it needs to opened and filled with some cardboard time to time for it to boot..🙂 Thanks and Happy B-Day, iPod!
PS: please never stop production..🙂
PS: please never stop production..🙂
I have an iPhone, a classic, a square Nano in the car and a spare 5th gen connected to speakers (click wheel was balky after a few years so couldn't be my day to day iPod). With all that, my 2nd gen shuffle makes me happy every day at the gym. It is simple, straight forward, and wonderful. While I don't feel especially wedded to click wheel v. Touch screen interface, I DO feel wedded to the price and feeling like it is a simple, mechanical device that just works. I personally don't get the current Nano, but if it came in at a lower price point, it would be ok, though i still think the shuffle makes an awful lot of sense.
iPod packaing
Remember how big the packaging was for the first iPod? The giant box that remained through the 4th generation.
Remember how big the packaging was for the first iPod? The giant box that remained through the 4th generation.
toddybody
Guest
"All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off."
Wow, a MR member posted that. Jee whiz, they were sure wrong. Har har har.
What did quoting an obscure member prove? Im really looking forward to the 10 year retrospective on the iPhone where you quote "ANDroid694EVER". Fail.
Anyhoo, Congrats Apple! Man I sure loved my first (and every one since) iPod
Wow, a MR member posted that. Jee whiz, they were sure wrong. Har har har.
What did quoting an obscure member prove? Im really looking forward to the 10 year retrospective on the iPhone where you quote "ANDroid694EVER". Fail.
Anyhoo, Congrats Apple! Man I sure loved my first (and every one since) iPod
Genetheninja
macrumors member
Hey I had that one!! Wish I hadn't sold it now! It's worth quite a bit of money on ebay for one in good shape. And NO it DID NOT suck. Mine was awesome! Sold it on eBay when I upgraded and got most of my money back. That's the great thing about Apple products, they hold their value.
Sardonick007
macrumors regular
The Difference
Stupid ass forum comments that are negative against any company and new products are usually an example of the major difference between lackluster pundits and those that are making the products....and the money....and changing the way things work. (there's limits of course, see pajama jeans)
Hardly worth paying attention to for more than entertainment.
Only thing lacking in my iPod Touch is a bigger drive, and even that is not a really big deal. I love Apple products, whether I use them or not. I like droid to a degree too. It's the fan clubs that make me want to puke.
Stupid ass forum comments that are negative against any company and new products are usually an example of the major difference between lackluster pundits and those that are making the products....and the money....and changing the way things work. (there's limits of course, see pajama jeans)
Hardly worth paying attention to for more than entertainment.
Only thing lacking in my iPod Touch is a bigger drive, and even that is not a really big deal. I love Apple products, whether I use them or not. I like droid to a degree too. It's the fan clubs that make me want to puke.
Amazing Iceman
macrumors 603
Oh man not this again. I know you can't name one single component of Android that was stolen from iOS.
Amazing Iceman
macrumors 603
Sure I can, but I would rather not start anything... I was being sarcastic, not trying to start an argument. 😉
How exactly do you come to that conclusion? What's confirmed is the classic was not discontinued this year.
Why do people hate the shuffles and classics so much? If you don't use the product, don't worry about it. It's not inconveniencing you in the slightest.
I remember years ago I was against ever buying an iPod or anything Apple made. I got an Iriver H10 and I thought it was better than the iPod. After using it 1 year and 1 week it died. The following Christmas I and iPod and made me realize how bad the Iriver was. The Iriver would have breaks between songs for live albums and my iPod is still rocking. It's 4-5 years old and yet to have an issue with it.
InuNacho
macrumors 68010
It's the whole "Apple elitist" thing. The people who hate the classic and shuffle are probably the same people who hate Rosetta and optical drives.
Backup hard drive
I'm still using my Gen4 20GB for both listening (and occasional FM radio recording with the Griffin iFM) as well as for a backup drive. 20GB doesn't sound like a lot in this era of "tera"- but it is a handy personal drive for some things I may not want living on my computer all the time!😎
I'm still using my Gen4 20GB for both listening (and occasional FM radio recording with the Griffin iFM) as well as for a backup drive. 20GB doesn't sound like a lot in this era of "tera"- but it is a handy personal drive for some things I may not want living on my computer all the time!😎
SuperMatt
Suspended
You clearly didn't buy one in 2001. It was so much better than anything out there. The only one that didn't take hours to transfer your music. Remember, USB 1.1 was the standard then, so for the other players, it took hours to transfer your music. The iPod, being firewire, transferred it in minutes. It was so easy to use and convenient; the scroll-wheel was genius. I was a broke music grad student and I bought one, and it was money well spent. Helped me learn and memorize so much music.
I still have it, and I noticed that it transfers songs to and from a Mac faster than current iPhones!
----------
Funny how Apple's legal team strongly disagrees and is spending lots of time and money proving it in a court of law.
Will do good
macrumors 6502a
I still remember using it in China the first year, all my friends wants to know what it is and they all loved it.
I may take it out and use it again just for fun 🙂
I may take it out and use it again just for fun 🙂
haruhiko
macrumors 604
Few people have pointed out that the simple NAMES of Apple's products are also one of the factors that have contributed to the company's success: iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook, Apple TV. How can any name be more simple? (Compare: Droid Incredible Insane Omnipotent Galaxy Pro Plus 8.9 with Super AMOLED Plus Pro Powerful screen model i9400slv etc.)
This helps Apple's products to be remembered easily, even in countries that do not use English as their first language. 😉
----------
The iPhone needed the iPod branding in 2007, but not anymore now.....so... that's why. 🙁
----------
When i first saw an iPod nano in 2005 (the one with screen scratching problems)... I just wow'ed... It's a really really beautiful consumer product... But at that time I was already using my mobile phone for listening to music.. and I always wanted Apple to release an iPod with mobile phone. Two years later, it was there! It's like a dream.
This helps Apple's products to be remembered easily, even in countries that do not use English as their first language. 😉
----------
The iPhone needed the iPod branding in 2007, but not anymore now.....so... that's why. 🙁
----------
When i first saw an iPod nano in 2005 (the one with screen scratching problems)... I just wow'ed... It's a really really beautiful consumer product... But at that time I was already using my mobile phone for listening to music.. and I always wanted Apple to release an iPod with mobile phone. Two years later, it was there! It's like a dream.
Stella
macrumors G3
In Europe and other parts of the world 3G had been around for a few years prior to the iPhone, with many phones already taking advantage.
Now, if your talking about the States, correct, 3G was immature and the networks weren't ready. However, the States isn't the world.
But you are right about the battery drain.
SPG
macrumors 65816
SPG said:
Quoting myself from ten years ago. Weird.
I did buy a first gen iPod not too long after writing that. I didn't wait for the price to drop or for Apple to add video features, but I simply went in to my local Mac store (pre Apple Store) and tried one out. Sold. Yes it was expensive compared to what was out there, but at the same time it was miles ahead of everything else once you tried it out. What a lot of people are forgetting is that there were other MP3 players out at the time, and a lot of them were fairly small, but so was the sound. The iPod sounded good and the scroll wheel made sense. That was hard to grasp from the initial reports and hard for some people to swallow when they were expecting so much more from such a hyped up announcement. I vaguely remember people expecting a new tablet (Think Newton 2.0, not iPad) or new imac or something even wilder for the "one more thing". In retrospect it's easy to see how much the iPod changed the way people listen to music every day and laid the groundwork for the iTunes store, the iPhone, and also fueled Apple's resurgence and brought it to where it is today.
Since then I've had a few more iPods and just as many iPhones. I'm going to dig out my original iPod from the drawer it's been sitting in for years and see what's on it. The music I was listening to ten years ago should be interesting.
Wait what? Are you saying Apple have sued Google over Android, and I have totally missed it?
Regardless, the legal team of the opposing side is sure to strongly disagree with Apple's legal team, so why do you suppose Apple's legal team would automatically be right before any ruling?