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Today Marks the 20th Anniversary of the iPod
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i remember being a poor kid watching iPod commercials in envy, now I'm a poor adult watching MacBook pro commercials.
I had a 2nd-gen iPod Nano. I loved that little thing! The only downside was having to plug it into a computer to download new episodes of podcasts. Especially daily podcasts! But it also charged while plugged in so it wasn't that bad.
I used it until I got an iPhone 4S. And I've been iPhone ever since.
I used it until I got an iPhone 4S. And I've been iPhone ever since.
Maybe it wasn't "revolutionary" as a product in its own right (There were already MP3 players with hard drives on the market when it came out), but it did two things that were revolutionary.
First, it stripped the controls to the bare minimum. All the other MP3 players of the era were literally festooned with buttons, and the design philosophy of the era was "We must show the public how advanced our new device is by adding more buttons!". The iPod was, on the other hand, designed around the idea that the user should never be more than 3 button presses away from the music they want to listen to. Everything else was extraneous and unless you absolutely couldn't live without it, it was removed.
Second (and this came later), it was integrated heavily into a wider ecosystem that was the iTunes store. The iPod may have launched 20 years ago, but the moment it blew up was when iTunes for Windows and iTunes Store launched. That's when it became a must-have device that not only dominated the market for MP3 players, but the market for music players in general, toppling the once mighty Sony from its top spot. Soon, minidisc players, discmans and walkmans were disappearing from the shelves too.
And just for fun, here's a quote from the original iPod thread that aged really well!
forums.macrumors.com
First, it stripped the controls to the bare minimum. All the other MP3 players of the era were literally festooned with buttons, and the design philosophy of the era was "We must show the public how advanced our new device is by adding more buttons!". The iPod was, on the other hand, designed around the idea that the user should never be more than 3 button presses away from the music they want to listen to. Everything else was extraneous and unless you absolutely couldn't live without it, it was removed.
Second (and this came later), it was integrated heavily into a wider ecosystem that was the iTunes store. The iPod may have launched 20 years ago, but the moment it blew up was when iTunes for Windows and iTunes Store launched. That's when it became a must-have device that not only dominated the market for MP3 players, but the market for music players in general, toppling the once mighty Sony from its top spot. Soon, minidisc players, discmans and walkmans were disappearing from the shelves too.
And just for fun, here's a quote from the original iPod thread that aged really well!
Apple's New Thing (iPod)
Sounds very revolutionary to me. :mad: hey - heres an idea Apple - rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up? :mad: or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer...
forums.macrumors.com
At the time, there were many rumors that Apple was going do to something re: music. One of the rumors was that Apple was going to buy Universal Music. In any case, the event was live-streamed into many Apple stores as a public event. I watched it live at the Santa Monica Apple Store. Those in attendance watched with both shock and awe. When the price was announced, there was much grumbling. Regardless, I like others bought the devices. . . And I still have a large selection sitting in a drawer.
At the time, it looked great.
In 20 years’ time, people will say the same thing about designs from the early 2020s: how dated they look.
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I was working in the Bay Area (SF) back when the iPod was launched. A thrilling device. I got the iPod in the Windows/Mac version and I still have it. Does anyone use it today. I tried to mount it on a Mac a while ago but it didn't work. Maybe one of you knows a way to get access to it?
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Apple user for 20 years, never knew the click wheel came from Bang & Olufsen. Really underreported fact, feel a little stupid now.
Isn’t one an analog dial, no different than a flat stereo knob and one a touch interface?
Like comparing a analog dial to a touch slider isn’t it?
We can draw conclusion with any products. You use your pointer finger to scroll through your roll-a-dex and you use your pointer finger to scroll your mouse wheel for files.
Apple just copied the roll-a-dex later on. 🤷🏼♂️
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The first iPod didn't have a touch click wheel, it was actually spinning with sound feedback from the speaker... an exact copy of what Bang & Olufsen created for their phone.
Apple always called it a click wheel as far as I remember, even on the first iPod.
But the actual click wheel (with integrated buttons) on later models was also not created by Apple. It was invented by Norihiko Saito in 1998, 6 years before Apple first used one on the iPod.
Apple actually had to pay him millions in damages.
Well then, I loved the touch wheel, with haptic feedback, design Apple later (2nd gen iPod) came out with.
Which they’re given so much credit for. 😉
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They ripped off the scroll wheel navigation method of the iPod (from Bang & Olufsen), the design (from Braun), the menus (from Creative) and the touch sensitive click wheel on later iPod models (from Norihiko Saito).
They are still being given credit for things they took from other companies.
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No one is giving them credit for inventing those things, and Apple at no time ever said they did. Like always people want to combine different history’s to make it look so.
The press and public has applauded Apple’s design ideas for combining technologies to make better products. As much as you want to pull from three separate companies and combine it as Apple stealing it from one.
No one had a Haptic Touch wheel to navigate a menu on a single device (2nd gen iPod).
This is what Apple is being praised for, their design foresight. It has always been this not and not their “we invented it” persona that MR comments would have you believe. Lol
"Combining technologies" is not the same as ripping off technology and actual product implementations and later paying hundreds of millions of dollars in court ordered damages for stealing, which is what Apple has done. They never tried to just license these things from the actual inventors and give them the credit they deserve for their years of hard work, because they wanted all the glory for things they did not actually create.
We all remember (one of many examples) Steve Jobs standing on stage claiming Apple invented Multi-Touch!
I am happy after buying 300 shares of Apple one year prior to the iPod release and before it split a few times since then.